Last updated: July 7, 2006
This is a very old Hyman strain hen. Her pose was not the best, but you can still detect the sloping back and upright carriage. Notice the clear laced barring on her feathers. This is accomplished by having light bars are are wider than the dark.
This male is being presented for two reasons, one the excellent slope to his back and his comb shape. On his back notice that there is no flat spot, instead his topline flows down from his neck and up to his tail in a continuos open curve. The important thing to note about his comb is the upturned spike. Color is average and sickle feathers are a bit short.
There is very little about this male that is good. First notice the horrible coarse comb. Next notice his wings, they do not fold neatly up to this body. His tail is "stringy" and the feathers are twisted several different direction. And finally, notice the flat spot in the middle of his back.
The female pictured may have won Best of Breed, but is not a good Dominique speciman. She is over-sized, coarse and poorly marked.
There is only one good Dominique in this picture.
From the left side, the pullet second from the bottom is nice.
The pullet on the bottom left is dark, and has a very flat back as does the young male in the lower right corner.
The male in the middle of the picture has nice flowing sickle and saddle feathers but notice the various shades of barring on his body.
The three cockerels in the background all have long, flat backs.
If you have a Dominique that you'd like judged, send us a photograph. We do not give clues to who owns the bird, our intent is not to embarrass anyone - we are doing this to help educate the beginner.
This male has excellent color. Too often we are seeing dark colored specimans. As for type, I'm not sure, I believe part of the problem is the pose. His back is short and "U" shaped but the tail is too high. Remember, the Standard of Perfection calls for an angle of 45 degrees. Chest could be carried a little higher up. The blade on the comb appears a flat instead of round, but it is difficult to tell from the photograph.
A view of the hens that go with the rooster above. Many fanciers would improve their flock color if they bred from females of this hue. There is none of the dark smuttiness seen soo often today. The pattern is also nice. The backs appear a little long and the tails pinched, but that may be the pose as it would be difficult to produce the above male from long-backed females. Of greatest concern is the crease down the middle of the comb - something I know all too well. This furrow or "hollow comb" will breed through to the next generation and is considered a fault.
This male is not in an ideal pose, but is still worthy of note. In particular, notice his comb. It has that wonderful "sweep" that begins low, raises on the head, then slightly down before the spike sweeps back up. Also, notice his color and clear barring. I'm very impressed with this Dominique male's general color. I do however, think the color in the tail may be a little faded or light, but it's hard to tell from the photograph.
This photo comes to us from a 4H youth.
This pullet has respectable coloring in the bars.
I’d prefer it was a shade lighter, but this pullet is better than most shown in a youth show.
Next, the backline is good.
Even though the pullet isn’t posing well, we can tell by the sweep of the back that this bird should have good type.
The tail appears well spread which will help the overall appearance as the feathers develop.
The black on the beak and legs is darker than I’d like, though the yellow that shows seems to be of good color.
I cannot pass judgment on the comb as it isn’t developed well enough to judge.
This photo came with the one above from the 4H youth.
Sadly, if this bird were on my place it would be culled.
The comb is very poor quality – rough and missing the spike entirely.
Also, it appears that he is wry-tailed – holding his tail to one side.
I don’t like seeing black on the legs of Dominique males and here it is clearly visible.
On the positive side, his stance is tall and proud.
His color is good and clear, though it does seem the bars are a little too even – almost parallel.
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