Just wondering

What is the difference between a barred rock and a dominique and how do you tell them apart?

This is Jeffery, my (I'm assuming) Dominique roo.

Different combs: Barred Rocks have single combs, Dominiques have rose combs. Jeffery looks like a Barred Rock to me, although he has unusually dark barring for a rooster.

Cajun, Yikes! where did you get that rooster. PorkPal is kinda right but I'm not convinced that is a barred rock Rooster. Strangely enough I'm not convinced of just what it is. It has or at least appears to have the body of a cuckoo maran and the head of a barred rock. Generally a barred rock rooster is much lighter and has much more white especially when you get around the lower part of the body. I have raised many a barred rocks and lots of marans and I'm totally confused. It doesn't look anything like a dominique to me. That was no help to you at all was it.


Cajun this is no attempt to embarrass you so I hope you won't take it that way, I saw a pic of you, (I Think) and you looked like a cute little sixteen year old. So my question is was that you or a daughter, or??? Are you just a kid...Don't laugh, I'm serious...Hay

I got this roo in a mix of "big stock" chicks I bought at the market. He is quite gentle to not have been handled much. He stands next to me when I'm feeding the other chickens and will come up on the porch to eat. He will also eat out of the bucket while I am holding it.

He has a large single comb. He is not quite a year old. I will try to get a better pic of him.

Here is another pic of Jeffery. Wish it was closer.

These are 3 of my 4 free range roos. The white one is Dumplin. He is a White Rock. The other is Buff. I'm guessing he is a Buff Orpington cross.
He is very heavy.

I think this is the best pic I have of Jeffery at the moment.

This message was edited Mar 1, 2010 11:16 AM

This is one of my 2 Dominique (?) hens. Mayhap she is a barred rock? The 2 hens look alike. One is heavier but she is about 6 months older.

And here is Gumbo, my EE roo.

I think your hen is a Barred Rock - right comb and stocky build. But Jeffrey...? As Haystack said, he is too dark and not as stocky as I would expect for a Barred Rock.

I think both the pullet and the roo look almost more cuckoo than barred....

The original US Dominique came in a single comb variety as well as rose.

That's right, totally confuse us all!

Wow, I have to tell you in the pic where you say one of my dominique hen's and the previous pic, that dark bird looks just like cuckoo marans. Your birds are beautiful, but confusing to me. I just don't know if it's my poor eyesight or what.

I just remembering thinking well she is just a cute lil kid...but you talk so mature...You have me as confused as your birds do...LOL. Hay

Hi PorkPal, You read my post! So tell me what you think as you ponder these birds of her's.

Hi Catsy, I was hoping to hear from you on this, I just have never seen a marans rooster that dark, but the body looks totally maran??? I was wondering if I was just going snow blind...LOL. Have you ever seen a maran rooster that dark, Catsy?

Nope, Hay, I haven't...

Marans would have white legs, Barred Rocks and Dominques yellow. However, it may be that Dominiques are actually cuckoo, not barred...which would fit.

I also wondered about Holland Blues...

This is an interesting description of Dominiques (page 89)...The first pages are descriptions of feather patterns and gives examples...very interesting.

http://books.google.com/books?id=m2YXUOJEMeIC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=cuckoo+feather+pattern+chicken&source=bl&ots=4DFkKFAlo4&sig=gVPFFKvNU3t2HfFCjE56scLWm3Y&hl=en&ei=b_yLS4mnLY_ymwOStY21BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CBYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=cuckoo%20feather%20pattern%20chicken&f=false

This message was edited Mar 1, 2010 2:18 PM

So cuckoo colored roosters are not lighter than their hens? Which is the case for Dominiques?

I have never raised any Dominiques, I only have pic's of them, so I don't have any practical experience to go by. Her pic's (Cajun) just don't look like the pic's I have but that doesn't always mean a lot either. I thought the description on the site you just shared was very interesting also. Thanks Catsy, I alway appreciate your input, especially when I am really confused, which is most of the time...LOL Hay.

No, Cuckoo Marans roos are lighter. But I don't know the genetics of it and if the fact that Dominiques have black Javas in their background (maybe Barred Rock do too?) might affect the colour.

I think in Barred Rocks and probably Marans and Dominiques, the reason the males are lighter is that that they do not get a double dose of the genes that control the pattern. Which is one reason Barred Rock hens are used in making sex-links.

I will have to pull one of Jeffery's feathers and get a good look at it.

Hay, That pic is one of my school pics from back in the day. I am 29... with almost 20 years experience. LOL

I might mention that Jeffery has a bit of a yellow tinge in his mantle and saddle feathers.

This is fortuitous...I incubated some Barred Rock eggs I won on eBay. They hatched two weeks ago and I have been mildly puzzled by the chicks' combs. They looked flat and the little roos' comb was not growing. Now I realize it is because they are rose!

I bought these eggs very cheaply....I suspect that the seller does not know they may have Dominiques and not Barred Rock...or a cross of the two.

Some Barred Rock eggs, won from a different seller, hatched last week and all the chicks have proper little serrated combs.

I would be interested to hear how they compare in colour as they mature.

It would...except I sold them to a woman Saturday and am delivering them this evening...I sold them as straight run...which she understood...but then she said she hopes they are girls, so I am going to have to give up the ones I was pretty sure are pullets. I was hoping to keep one, but I would feel bad if she ended up with all roos (there are only 3 and then 3 from the later hatch, plus a Black Australorp and a couple RIR of undetermined sex.)

Bummer!

New pics of Jeffery.

Here are his feathers.

This is a feather from each of the girls in question and the feather on the right is Jeffery's. Are they different?

Hmmm....hard to tell, but I think very narrow barring means something...I just can't remember what.....

That last pic of Jeffery looks nothing like the dark bird I saw earlier, the last pic looks to me to be totally dominique along with the tail. I just can't figure out why he looked so dark and tailless in other pic's. Anyway with the last pic and what I saw I agree with you he is Dominique...Wheeew that was interesting. Hay

Cajun are you playing with our minds here???LOL. Catsy did you notice the difference in color of that last bird compared to the first darker ones? I think Cajun in her youth is messing with us...Behave Cajun I know where Kentucky is and my brother in-law is from Ky and he'll show me around so you'd better be good. Hay

I think it was the lighting in the first pic... it was dark and distant.. (In Cajun's defense) LOL

edited to add


Just to stir the pot further, Jeffery does not have the rose comb in the first pic.... can't see it in the second pic.. The mystery continues?

This message was edited Mar 2, 2010 5:14 PM

The snow might have caused him to look darker in the first pics. He had lost a bunch of feathers earlier to some kind of predator that caught him on the roost. I think it was a stray cat. He is free range and roosts in the trees. He has a single comb.

So you think I have a dominique roo and 2 barred rock hens?

To confuse you further, Hay, what are your thoughts on this guy? His name is Flame and he is less than handsome.

Why is Jeffrey not Barred Rock? I don't have any roosters, but he looks quite a lot like my Barred Rock hens and has a single comb.

It's true PorkPal, Dominiques come with both types of combs, single and rose. They are just two different varieties. The barring of the barred rock is totally different than the Dominique, if you can find a pic of both and put them side by side it becomes very clear, the difference can easily be seen. However if you look at one and then the other it can be very confusing. A real study of the pattern is what will help in identifying one from the other. All I can say at this point is i'm satisfied that it is a Dominique, and I'm outta here...LOL Click the link Catsy gave us and you'll see what I mean.

Okay, I see now. The pullet barring is more like the Dominique, the Rooster's feathers are quite different. (I only have hens - no wonder I'm confused!) Thanks Hay.

I'm not satisfied... LOL

I can find no documentation that Dominiques have both combs.. I can only find that they have Rose Combs.
I agree about the feather patterns.. It appears this roo has the Dominique feather pattern..

Maby I just wanna aggravate Haystack!

It is so good to have you home so you can agravate me, so just agravate on darling.

That boy is very handsome Cajun, I think he is very pretty, he reminds me of the of creme sickle they used to call it 50/50. Half vanilla and half orange sherbert. I think he's my kind of guy, I was always considered less than handsome also...LOL. Hay.

You are a handsome gent, Hay, with a spirit to match! I think this roo is just odd looking. What kind of comb is this? He must be a strange mix of breeds. He stands a bit more upright like a game roo.

Oh-oh, Cajun has started another rooster controversy!

LOL Haystack, I think you're a HUNK! (shows my age with a statement like that) anyway... I saw your video! Karen is a lucky woman, even with all she has to put up with. LOL GOTCHA!!

Uh Oh Cajun! Here we go again! If I could see that pic head on.. I would guess that's a Buttercup cross? That comb looks Buttercup to me anyway..