33 Eggs Due to Hatch Oct 25 (Hatch Complete)

[Laney]

I think I'm a bit to far north for ya... I'm in the Eastern Piedmont area of North Carolina. Smack in the middle between Raleigh and Rocky Mount on New 64.

I wish. I am totally interested. Delawares are the breed I've decided to concentrate on for now. Right now all I have is a hatchery trio. Unfortunately the only pictures I have of them don't show much detail as they were taken with my phone, and while it takes fine pics for gatherings etc, it's not good on the mostly white... you get a lot of overexposure.

I do have a pretty decent one of my Roo, Biden. My hens are Emily and Helen named after My Other Nana, and my 3rd grade teacher Sister Emily who was related to my family and very dear to me.

This is Biden and one of the Hens. To be honest I can't tell Emily and Helen apart anymore.

Here is a back shot, I kept reading everyone complaining about not seeing a back shot in the other Delaware post.

A side view of one of the hens. I'm sorry for the lack of detail, but the white just doesn't turn out for some reason...it's always over exposed. I'll have to get my husbands good camera out there.

Here is a side view of Biden. The barring on his tail isn't very distinct, but I have hope that it will darken over time. He is 16 weeks to the day in this picture.

Laney

 

[speckledhen]

I've only hatched a couple of batches this year, some in February, then in the last month for two different BYCers, who are picking up their chicks this week. The rest was done by the seven or eight broodies I had so I haven't had much chickie dust in the house this year.

Laney, you are a bit far for a comfortable trip (dont even talk to popcornpuppy, who sent her very generous hubby down from Massachusetts to buy Delaware eggs from me! Not your usual, huh?) Biden has very nice leg color and the girls have good tail black. Can't tell much else with the exposure in the pics, though

 

[popcornpuppy]

Okay, I saw my name come up.

I have to laugh when people say they are too far to drive to Georgia and get egg/chicks from Cynthia after sending my husband on a 2 day trek from MA to get me eggs. (He won't admit that he offered to do it, and he never would have gone if he thought it was a bad idea. He likes to say he did it for me because he loves me and it's what I wanted.

)

I will say that for the love of the breed, the trip was well worth it. I can't make that statement often enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's worth the drive folks to get some of these Dels from Cynthia

 

[Laney]

Hey, I may not be able to make the drive myself, but I have friends who regularly drive to Florida and use my house as a stopping point!

.

Seriously though, if I was capable of driving that far I would do it in a minute. I will get you better pics of my trio. They are such cuties. Still not full grown, but since I free range I think my chickens take a bit longer to fully mature.

I will say that Delawares are smarter than other chickens, I know that for a fact. When my other chickens are all outside in the rain, huddled up where ever they usually huddle up for the night, where do you think the Delawares are? That's right, in the COOP that I built for them!!! The Cochins, as much as I love them are huddled up in a mass against the OUTSIDE of the coop. And my Silver Phoenix, well I can just picture in their minds the line "We don't need no stinkin' Coop".

Inside the coop, dry and warm Biden is taking care of his girls. "More Straw over there Helen? No? Very well then." "You Good there too Emily? Excellent, shall we just settle down then?"

Outside with the Cochins "It's my turn to be on the bottom!" "No, mine" "Hey, I was in the warm spot you jerk" "Did anyone else notice it was raining out here?" "Just shut up and snuggle up closer"

The Silver Phoenix on the Goat Staunchion "Oh there were 5 in the bed and the little one said Roll over..." "oops, you OK there Roo?, didn't mean to knock you off, coming back up are you?" "Hey, that's my head, NO I was in the middle..squaaakk" "Who knocked Roxy off? She was keeping my left side warm. Hey your foot is on my head!" "Fritz stop it, you can't get in the middle now, no we're all settled. Stop it Friiiiitttzz..."


Ah yes, Delawares, I'll take them!

Laney

 

[speckledhen]

LOL, LOL, so true!! My Dels are not the ones standing in the rain, either, no sirree! I do think they are more intelligent, as chicken IQs go. So are my Barred Rocks, of whom Dels share an ancestry.

 

[speckledhen]

Tonight, this batch is into Day 7. Of the 30 Delawares, 29 are growing and one wasn't fertilized. The one BR is growing fine. Neither of the two Orps appears to be fertile, which surprised me a great deal, but one's shell had some striations that made it hard to be 100% sure so I put it back in to recheck in a couple of days. Makes me wonder if Suede is really beginning to lose fertility.

Obviously, Isaac is getting the job done, though.

 

[kathyinmo]

Oh yippeee .... babies are comin' soon. Love those little chicks.

Good luck with the hatch!

 

[speckledhen]

You'll have some of these little crazy Delaware babies soon, too.

They are awesome. Someone came here tonight to pick up some 5 day old ones and I tell you, I got a hitch in my stomach. They really are so spunky and fun, you get attached really quickly!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Day 7 already? Wow, that went by fast! I hate those kind of shells, especially on brown eggs. They are already hard enough to see through without being 'weird'.

 

[speckledhen]

And I have a super high powered candler, my 300 watt slide projector! Still, some of those with shell stripes or speckles or other irregular patterns on the shell can be a bit confusing till later on in the incubation.