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Absolutely agreed. Let's hope we can get more folks working on improving the stock that's out there, whether hatchery or heritage (or non-hatchery, breeder stock, if you prefer that term).
If my understanding of Delawares is correct, they were once widely used in the broiler industry...
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Hey, Cyn Yes, Isaac is a lot like like George. And, unlike my male, he has George's size. This fella isn't going to be as big as Ike, but he's got some ginormous pullets in with him, so we'll see...
29 Ikelettes! My goodness, that's great. I hope you get a good hatch.
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The combs on Delawares are really messed up for the most part. Almost all are too low, with too many points and very irregular looking. I think yours are the first I've seen where they are beginning to look a bit like they should. Nice birds!
Thanks, McSpin. I still have a ways to...
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hens should be a little lighter/less barring in the hackle. The picture of the hen you posted has about the same hackle pigment as the one I posted. This hen in particular, which was actually an older pullet at the time of the picture has ideal coloration and body confirmation. Many...
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Also, just to add by way of further clarification, by a lot of tail black, I did not mean that the roo only carried one barring gene, but rather that the black bars predominated a bit more than usual. Mind you, the black bars are supposed to predominate. But sometimes, the black is a...
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First, I was talking specifically about barring, as the standard seems to call for clean, black tails.. which makes it sound like any evidence of barring would be penalized, which could potentially encourage a double mating using a line lacking or not pure for barring, itself. Also, I...
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Hi Kev,
Yes, the Delaware standard calls for males to have barring and hens to have black with only white lacing in the main tail feathers. Females are allowed to have some barring in the coverts only.
I can only assume that the reason for this requirement is because of the color...
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Hi JoAnn,
You've hit upon one of the tough issues in Delaware breeding. Most breeders I've talked to suggest that in order to consistently get females with the proper tail color (black with no barring in the main tail feathers) you need to do a system of double mating, as you...
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Be careful what you wish for!
They like to go off like that.
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Yes, as Kris says, we're talking about genes and effects. I'll give you a short version
We're discussing e locus base color (the color underneath the silver and barring on Delaware). Y'see, chickens are...
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The standard specifies the undercolor as white. But I have very darkly marked birds with white undercolor (that had streaks of black on the head as chicks) that I have thought were eb. I'm going largely by the very different degree of black saturation and the way in which black...