Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY* - Page 1010

She just said that she is "not happy with the results in shipped eggs".

Oh, I haven't talked to Beth in forever!!!  How is she doing?  Shipped eggs are really hard.  It really depends on where you are in regards to the airport, and how many switches it goes through via the land post offices etc.

Most of my Dellies are SpeckledHens...some are from other sources although at this point my brain is so fried I can't remember where?
I also have a few Barred Rocks, and one Splash Orpington from her.

I have really missed hearing about everyone.  How is Cyn?  Kathy how about you?  Beth and her classes?  Scott and his new (when I left) Job and his boys?  Shannon is now a 2nd degree black belt, and is in Drivers Ed!   Plus this year she won Grand Champion, 1st Place and Best of Breed in the 4H county Chicken show.  (They were New Hampshire Reds)

I spent some time out in the pasture today staring at body type, and I took more pictures.  I think I'm going to go with the best shaped hen without a pinched tail, as several seem to have that and I just don't want to pass that along.  Then, I believe I'm going to go with the Rooster missing his tail feathers as he seems to have the best body type and I can tell that his tail carriage is not too high from the feathers he has left.

I think it will be about 3 or 4 generations before I can "paint the barn" so to speak.  We might even be looking at years here.  But eventually we will get this breed back up to a place where it will shine.

Laney

No, you're mistaken Nick. I'm full up here for the foreseeable future. I'm happy in just being able to say that I have actual Del's for now.

Welcome home Laney. I'm sorry to hear of all of the troubles you and your family have had to struggle through in the last year. I know how hard that is to loose family that are near and dear. I too lost my father in 2002 and I still miss him. But, it does get better over time dear lady. It slowly gets better.

I'd love to see more pictures of your little sport if that's possible. It just fascinates me that two such opposite breeds can produce a bird that is at nearly complete odds with her parentage. Amazing! I'd also love to see a picture or two of her parents as well if you have the time.

Have you given much thought to perhaps starting a breeding program with that pairing? You mentioned that it was one of Cyn's BR roo's over a NHR hen that produced this sport. Do you know for certain which roo is responsible for the covering of which NHR hen?

Boy! What fun! I think if I knew the answer to that, and if I were in a position to do so, I'd be trying for some more sports. You just never know. It could be that the one you have already was destined to be small. [it happens ] Subsequent chicks from that same pairing might just produce larger chicks in the long run. With what little I know of the history of the Del's and how they came about, seeing the results of your BR/NHR crossing would have me dancing on air. As I understand it, the sport is quite a rarity. Congrats on getting one without actually trying for one! Isn't that the way these things sometimes go?

Again, welcome home Laney. I sure hope we'll be getting to see more of you in the future!

Amy, her BR's are a couple generations for hatchery stock. I'm not sure that they'd be pure. You can test by crossing the NH dams to the BR sire, and if all chicks come out barred than they are pure and it should work. It takes 3 generations, I think... But if there are Delaware chicks in F1, I guess that you could use them, but I think it would work better if they were pure and you wait until F3.

I guess if they're pure and are of quality it would work. If you do it, good luck! You can find more info on it on the Heritage LF thread.

ETA: I just found this info.

I'm not sure I would try a deliberate cross.  The Barred Rock came from Cyn, and the NHR came from the Extension office (Hatchery I'm sure) as part of my daughters Poultry Project.  While I know the exact Rooster, I have no clue which hen. 

The breeding was accidental, we had a coop taken apart by some straight sheer winds, and the roof was left on the ground until such time as we had the forks on the tractor ready to put it back up.  A silver phoenix hen started stealing eggs and hiding them and we got 12 Barnyard Specials.  Now there are some gorgeous birds out of those 12. We just sent away a few Roosters that had spectacular Black/White coloring from either a Java or a Delaware father, over a phoenix Hen, that bred true to Phoenix type...Gorgeous Mutt.  We have one that we call a Crokin.  It has a Java parent, but it is completely black, comb, legs, ears, lobes, eyes everything.  We joke that a Crow mated with one of the hens.  So, it's possible that this "sport" could be a Dellie Roo over a Phoenix Hen, but I just don't see it staying so true to type, it has no phoenix shaping in it at all....

Now you see why I have to choose my hen, then isolate her from all rooster for 3 weeks minimum.....running true free range gives you great eggs, but a pain in the but for breeding.

Laney

Oh I can certainly empathize with you there Laney! I've got four adult boys and 12 hens, all of which are mutts that I hatched out a little over a year ago, from the neighbors flock down the road. Hey, it was my first time incubating. I had no desire or confidence to try my first time out with expensive purebred eggs!

The neighbors flock consisted primarily of purebred stock, but they also had three roo's of different breeds covering all of the hens simultaneously. I've spent many happy hours trying to figure out what went into each of my little brats! It's a total crap-shoot! I really have no idea! Probably some BR over RIR, hence my little black sex links, and maybe one pure [though only of hatchery stock quality] RIRxRIR in the bunch. The rest is anybody's guess!

But they sure are pretty, IMHO, and definitely a ton of fun! There's a great deal to be said in favor of the mutt. They're hardy, adventuresome, intelligent, friendly and let's not forget, CHEAP!!

they are growing

Speaking of Mutts!  We had a couple of hens go broody, and now have at least 6 little Del crosses.  A couple we can be sure about, because of the egg colors - def. one Delawegger, and one Delaran (Del x Maran).  Yesterday a chick hatched out all black with a white patch on its head - possible Delalorp?  I'll get pics as soon as Momma lets them out!

Oh, and it's also possible there may be a Delaware or two among them... we do have 4 Del hens... could get lucky!

A little diversion from all the breeder talk... how about some mutt pix?

We let a Speckled Sussex hen sit on some eggs from our mixed flock, fertilized by Rexx, our wonderful Delaware rooster.  Here she is with the four she hatched, plus four we picked up at the feed store (when we mistakenly thought the eggs were duds!).  The four in front are the ones she hatched; one of them came out of a blue egg, so it's a Delawegger.  These hatched over Easter weekend.


Here is the Delawegger (Delaware over Americauna) chick today - I love the eye-ring, and the golden mantle:


This one might actully be DelxDel, or maybe DelxNH:


Anyone care to guess about this one?  Possible candidates for the hen: Australorp, Barred Rock, Del, NH, BO, GLW, Speckled Sussex, or possibly even Dark Brahma:

I would like to see what that chick looks like...I have one that hatched this morning that is almost exactly what you describe.  I had a pure delaware roo and have 2 pure australorp hens.