Breeding Delawares to the Standard of Perfection

If I remember right, the yellow legs are recessive and therefore partially sex-linked. Meaning a male can show yellow legs but also carry the white-legged gene. Females will show the white. So if you have white legs showing up in your flock you have to do test matings of the males to be sure to breed it out. I once read a chart of how to do that. I think some hatcheries are possibly crossing Light Sussex into their Delawares to get the color of the feathers more right (and probably also to make heavier birds?), but that sacrifices the color of the legs.

If it's just a paler yellow on the females that could be a non-issue ... just an expression of how the leg color works on females with other complex color genetics at play. But it's still probably something you could breed away from if that's a priority. Here, the better the leg color of my females the worse the feather color.
 
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Oregon Delawares has had a buyer need to change dates and will have a shipment of chicks ready to be mailed April 24th. For details on prices, etc. go to our Facebook Oregon Delawares page. Feel free to comment here, send a private message or message from the Oregon Delawares page :)
 
Ooo thanks!
I messaged Mr Reese, man that looks like such a shot in the dark but a girls gotta try. Sending up a prayer, if I can find a few birds to start a real working flock they'd be worth their weight in gold- just hope I'm not asked to pay that much!
Time to haunt this thread!
@Katonk might be some more leads here, though it's an old thread.
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Ooo thanks!
I messaged Mr Reese, man that looks like such a shot in the dark but a girls gotta try. Sending up a prayer, if I can find a few birds to start a real working flock they'd be worth their weight in gold- just hope I'm not asked to pay that much!
Time to haunt this thread!
He's.....an interesting fellow. Yes, it is a shot in the dark, and it might be expensive. He'd definitely have what you're after though, so nothing ventured/nothing gained.
 
Wow this thread is a goldmine, but what if I'm not looking to sell any of my flock? Hey all, newbie here. Im a reclusive chicken lady with a very small flock of mainstream birds, but I'm looking for delawares to replace this flock completely because they have the potential to meet all the chicken needs of my family. I'd be breeding for broodiness, forage instinct, hardiness, ease of pluck, final weight, egg layering, slower but fuller growth, and lastly friendliness. I'm thinking I'd have two flocks one focused on eggs and another on table meat. I use my chickens to till as I hate garden work and it keeps them silly friendly, and they take care of my veggie fruit house scraps.
Basically delawares, as they once were, are the perfect bird for us.
Willing to work hard to get us there but everyone can only work with what they have and right now that's nothing.
No intention of selling eggs or meat- too much paperwork and people pleasing for that, I'm just trying to provide for me and mine using an incredible efficient breed.
That's me! Nice to meet everyone and I'll be watching this thread for sure for updates on your adventures
 
If I remember right, the yellow legs are recessive and therefore partially sex-linked. Meaning a male can show yellow legs but also carry the white-legged gene. Females will show the white. So if you have white legs showing up in your flock you have to do test matings of the males to be sure to breed it out. I once read a chart of how to do that. I think some hatcheries are possibly crossing Light Sussex into their Delawares to get the color of the feathers more right (and probably also to make heavier birds?), but that sacrifices the color of the legs.

If it's just a paler yellow on the females that could be a non-issue ... just an expression of how the leg color works on females with other complex color genetics at play. But it's still probably something you could breed away from if that's a priority. Here, the better the leg color of my females the worse the feather color.
Yellow legs are actually recessive, so cannot carry white, but the pigment will fade in females in production.
 

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