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Delaware

Delawares are a fairly heavy-bodied, white (silver) bird with black markings. They were...
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General Information

Breed Purpose
Dual Purpose
Comb
Single
Broodiness
Average
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
Medium
Egg Size
Large
Egg Color
Brown
Breed Temperament
Friendly, Easily handled, Calm
Breed Colors/Varieties
One variety, barred silver columbian.
Breed Size
Large Fowl
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Delaware aka Indian River was developed in the 1940s in the United States by George Ellis in the state of Delaware. He selected the occasional light colored sport produced from the popular broiler cross of Barred Plymouth Rock roosters and New Hampshire hens. The light coloring of the sports made for a commercially more desirable table bird. The Indian River was later renamed the Delaware for its state of origin, and was the most popular broiler on the east coast for twenty years, before being replaced commercially by the Cornish-Rock broiler.

The Delaware comes in one color, white with slight black barring on the ends of the hackle, wings and tails.
It is a very good choice for a dual purpose flock in general and are decent forgers for a free range dual purpose flock. The hens are good layers of very large brown eggs, are occasionally broody and good mothers. The cockerels especially have rapid growth and make for a nice table bird. They have excellent calm temperaments and are good with other large breeds. It is popular today for small flock owners, and is still used in commercial red sex-linked crosses.

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Delaware chick

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Delaware hens

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Delaware rooster

For more information about this breed and their owners' and breeders' experiences with them, see our breed discussion here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-delaware.1131094/
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Latest reviews

Mary Poopins Love
Cute, friendly
Pros: cute

friendly

good layers
Cons: none
I have super good friendly birds. Nothing bad to say about them....
Amer
Cute, friendly, stupid gluttons
Pros: Fast growing, friendly, high carcass quality, healthy, vigorous
Cons: Low intelligence, high food consumption, lazy
I am by no means an expert on the Deleware, but I am currently raising 9-week-old growouts, most of them cockerels. (No issue, since I want to eat them anyways.) When I go outside, they peck at my feet and complain. They are very docile and friendly, but they are also quite stupid. The Delawares want all of the food in the cups that I have while I am feeding other pens, despite the fact that they can walk over to the many feeders I have. Additionally, they beg for water from waterers I am filling for other pens. I tried to teach them to use the nipple waterer by carrying one over and making the water come out and he just pecked another nipple, as clear as saying “I already knew how to do that, I just didn’t want to walk all the way over and go into the work of pecking it.”
They also eat a lot of food. A LOT of food. They understand the free range concept, but some young birds feel safer inside, so I don’t know if it’s just flock dynamics. I don’t know whether they convert feed efficiently but compared to the Marans and Welsummers their age, they are much beefier with more frame and weight. They look like they will be delicious some day, and they’re really sweet meaters. But they are exasperating, would never survive on their own, and don’t meet my standard of intelligence. I really do love them, but am definitely not going to make them any more than a laying hen and some chicken dinners.
Last edited:
Laciebug2005
Pros: Extremely docile, sweet, and friendly. Love my Delaware, she also gets along wonderful with my larger breeds.
Purchase Price
$4
Purchase Date
6.23.19
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Comments

jake and pippa
I will start a thread when I have more information on my breeds. I do not have white rocks. So far, we have tasted Black Copper Maran, Red Sex link roos, Delaware and Barnvelder. Of these, the Barnvelder has by far the best chicken taste. The Maran is very tender, but also very mild. We are looking for birds with real chicken flavor, and do not value the very large bland breasts on the Cornish Cross grown commercially. This is all very subjective. We do plan to have a formal blind tasting later this year, but need to arrange this with professional chefs. We are raising some of the most famous birds (for flavor). These include Buckeye, Dorking, Maran, Bielefelder, Bresse and quite a few others.
 
jake and pippa
I have very few birds as layers. We do not eat that many eggs, and I am not set up to sell eggs, maybe next year. Even a modest layer will provide more then enough eggs for us. I do have a few birds that will lay blue, green or dark brown eggs. Just for fun, essentially.
 
EggSighted4Life
I hope I see when you do your blind taste test. I started raising the Marans but they are still chicks. I want them to also raise their yoyng for us to harvest. My hubby is especially curious about the Breese. I will be curious to see how their meat is when they aren't caponized as they do in France. And also if the American version is the same. Also, the Bielfelder is one of my considerations to replace the Marans if I don't enjoy the feathered legs in our wet season. With the added benefit of auto sexing if I decide to sell chicks. If you think about it, try to get my attention when you start the comparison thread so I can follow your experience. This information is valuable to me and sound like you are going about it the right way! Thanks for sharing.
 
jake and pippa
I have adult Maran, Bielefelders (super sweet birds, fast growers) Bresse (independent, pretty fast growers, nice personality) Barbexieux (a little aggressive, grow well) and many others. What section should I post in? Meat birds? I gather some people do not like reading about killing or eating birds. I spoke to one chef yesterday, and he is interested. I need to speak to others. The Dorking grow very slowly, are quite sweet. Buckeye also grow a little slowly, but are gentle. My Marans roos are a tad aggressive, but I think I could select for gentle roos over time. My Speckled Sussex are more aggressive than I expected, they started out very sweet.
 
Foristers
After some research I found that for dual-purpose birds the buff Orpington was largest and best tempered bird that still lay good eggs and hens broody. Have you tried them?
 
jake and pippa
I have 6+ Buff Orphington chicks, fully feathered, in the yard in a sheltered environment. They are living with some young bielefelders, neiderheiners, cream crested legbar, blue copper Marans and Isobar. I also have older blue gold brahma, too beautiful to eat, light brahma, wheaten Sulmtaler, speckled Sussex, buff Wyandote, RIR.
 
S
Can anyone tell me if they've ordered from Cackle Hatchery, especially any Delawares, Rhode Island Reds or Golden Comets, Buff Orpingtons, White Rocks, Barred Rocks, Wyandottes, or Easter Eggers? I got a batch of Black Australorps from Chickens from Backyards (which has great service) that are extremely skidish and unfriendly. Also, if I get any new breeds again, I want to try to make sure that are somewhat friendly, fairly docile and/or at least will fit well in a mixed flock without much aggression (allowing for a normal pecking order of course) and be easy to handle.
 
maddiespoppa
I've had a total of approximately 50 or so over the years and have found them to be both heat and cold tolerant, good foragers and excellent layers. The down side has been a widespread penchant for egg eating and aggressive roos. The last one I had Ninja'd up on me one too many times. He turned out to be tasty after some time in the slow cooker.
 
starryhen
Our Delawares are quite unusual. The roosters were totally docile. ... and did not grow spurs!!! The hens are aggressive unless ... I pet them!! The down side around here is that they love to roam ... with predictable results. So I need another rooster but I am afraid of introducing "typical" characteristics. I may just do without. The constant crowing attracts young coyotes and foxes. I was going to go back to Buff Orpingtons but these birds are so interesting I may stay with them. Great and unfussy layers of large eggs and ok moms.
 
feathermania
We have 2 Delawares. One has more black markings (Laverne) on her neck than the other (Ethel). Laverne is the second in command of our flock (our older Barred Rock is the boss). Laverne is a little skittish, but she will come up for a back rub and gentle tail pull when I'm cleaning the coop. Ethel constantly gets in my way when I clean the coop, loves her back stroked and a gentle tail pull. I actually have to move her in order to finish cleaning. They love to free range, eat and dust bathe. We love our Delawares!
 
C
Does anyone in this thread know how I might be able to get my hands on a DE blue hen? The only other thread I can find on the breed has been 'inactive' since 2016.

Thanks!!
 
Carolei
I am wondering if the females can have barring on their tails. I have an 11 week old Delaware who looks like a pullet, but her tail feathers are barred. Do pullets ever have barring on their tails or is she actually a cockerel? Thanks!
 

Item information

Category
Chicken Breeds
Added by
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Watchers
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Comments
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Reviews
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Last update
Rating
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