Delawares from kathyinmo

[LeslieDJoyce]

Thats encouraging ! I I thought I had it figured out

We sold our remote business and working on house sale - then to the farm and Sharon does Ebay and I raise chickens- well maybe a little hunting and fishing too.

Can you get a bear hunting permit?

Here are a couple of the Delawares left in the Cockerel Colony ... I've got ten guys in there to grow for a while longer (though one was an obvious cull that I missed on "send them to the butcher" night). Possible hatch dates spread out from like April Fools Day to like Independence Day.







That one there on the left is the one we marked as a potential breeder back in September. I'm concerned about his color.

Tails are starting to come in and lift up a lot.

These guys take FOREVER to show their quality.

 

[finnfur]

Can you get a bear hunting permit?
Yes - as a landowner you can harvest wild game with in normal license limits. No permit required.
my problem is seeing it during open hunting season.



Here are a couple of the Delawares left in the Cockerel Colony ... I've got ten guys in there to grow for a while longer (though one was an obvious cull that I missed on "send them to the butcher" night). Possible hatch dates spread out from like April Fools Day to like Independence Day.







That one there on the left is the one we marked as a potential breeder back in September. I'm concerned about his color.

Tails are starting to come in and lift up a lot.

These guys take FOREVER to show their quality.

The bottom left in bottom pic looks like some brassiness but it could be off color in pic.

How is the eye doing ???

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

That's the one. His white color is off. I think his mane looks dusky, too. He has the right frame, though. Because frustration is fun.

One further up the hill looks whiter and about as deep. In the photos anyway.

Eye is doing well enough today that I'm catching up on the Internet. Not quite well enough to vacuum, though.

 

[Zanna]

One of my potential chosen breeder Cockerals for next season. Lousy pics but please give input on what you see

 

[rancher hicks]

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

I am thankful for the Delaware chicken and you all who are helping me improve my flocks.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I tried to take some photos of the cockerels yesterday ... they are starting to "pop," it was a pretty day. But I underestimated the wind.






The pullets came to see what I was up to. Their tails have started to come up in the last week or so, so they're looking more "correct." Though I think many of mine have a tilt down toward their front. You can see the dark barring in her tail.



I have not evaluated the pullets at all. If my eyes improve, I'll do a pre-sort myself, where I divide them into two piles: ones with any ting of salmon/buff/brown/red, and ones without ... and go from there. Waiting isn't bad for that exercise, as last year some of the wrong color started to pop out just at POL ... I'd expect some of these pullets are getting close.



And ,,, just for fun ... here is PapaDel, finishing up his molt and just about to regrow his tail, and his now shadow, the most adorable lavender DelaEgger cockerel. That little guy is getting bigger. It is so cool how you can see the barring in his lavender feathers. I think he's going to be a really neat bird, but he can't stay here. I have a little pullet, too, and I'd for sure make many, many more of those adorable little fluffies, but I must stay focused.



I like how PapaDel continues to fill out. He has always been VERY wide, but now I'm seeing more substance in the lower front portion of his chest, too. His color is very nice for my flock, even with the black feathers in his tail, but I'm not in love with the position of his wings. With the wing issues we've had in this line, I'm not sure I'll use him next spring. Need to pop those spurs off again.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

[rancher hicks]

Can you get a bear hunting permit?

Here are a couple of the Delawares left in the Cockerel Colony ... I've got ten guys in there to grow for a while longer (though one was an obvious cull that I missed on "send them to the butcher" night). Possible hatch dates spread out from like April Fools Day to like Independence Day.







That one there on the left is the one we marked as a potential breeder back in September. I'm concerned about his color.

Tails are starting to come in and lift up a lot.

These guys take FOREVER to show their quality.

You need to come here. Fayetteville is passing a Bait and kill for the deer. We are over run with them. Not me personally. I rarely see a deer.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

You need to come here. Fayetteville is passing a Bait and kill for the deer. We are over run with them. Not me personally. I rarely see a deer.

We can get agricultural kill permits for deer for the farm. I used to have deer in my kitchen orchard all the time, but not much since that became the chicken orchard, and we got a dog. A couple times deer have jumped the fence to graze with the birds, but not the whole families like we used to get.

One of the farm workers spotted a wild cat stalking the poultry area recently. He described it as about the same size, shape & color as my dog (65 lb trim leggy golden labrador), but with a stumpy tail and cat head. It's the second time we've seen something like that here, but what they're describing is a cross between a Mountain Lion and a Bobcat, so I don't know what to make of it.

Our worst problems this year have been from hawks. There are several sets of them, various kinds, all around the circumference of the poultry area, and we had our first ever losses of chicks. Not good. I'm not sure what to do about the grow out area next year. If I breed more selectively, I'm not going to have chicks to spare for the hawks.

Something got into the duck pen this past week. We lost our drake and one of our better layers.

I believe that must have been a raccoon or a skunk. The ducks refuse to sleep inside, so all that protects them at night is a thick boxwood hedge and some flimsy chicken wire inside that. I'm surprised we have any ducks left, to be honest.

And we've not yet mentioned the coyotes. I had to build more fencing this year as the coyotes have become MUCH bolder about coming near the house, and were picking off hens from the laying flock with regularity for a while. I pretty much consider the laying flock to be Spear Bait, but ... I don't like encouraging a bad habit. I'll be culling most of the laying flock soon, which will pretty much just leave the Delawares, and they are very aggressive & bold foragers with a very large "comfort zone" compared to the other breeds we've had here.

I don't know what I'd do if I were finnfur and had to contend with BEARS.

 

[finnfur]

One of my potential chosen breeder Cockerals for next season. Lousy pics but please give input on what you see

Nice wide stance , good head , well shaped front - could have a little more tail angle and is that brassy on back or is it pic. Overall much better than most - but its opinion and I don't know it all - if I did I would already have superboy

I tried to take some photos of the cockerels yesterday ... they are starting to "pop," it was a pretty day. But I underestimated the wind.



I thought you were raising the new line of Delaware Frizzles

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

@finnfur ... I've noted it takes a long time for the tails to come up on these birds, both the male and the female. I think last year it was like February when some of the cockerels ... who had been pretty much flat across the back ... suddenly had almost squirrel tails.