Answer to the Delaware Dilemma

[Inkheart]

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Honestly i have considered trying a Plymouth Rock with my hens - as i understand the "sports" of the Rock / Hamshire cross were what were used to start this breed? Might be worth a shot i suppose

 

[fowlman01]

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Honestly i have considered trying a Plymouth Rock with my hens - as i understand the "sports" of the Rock / Hamshire cross were what were used to start this breed? Might be worth a shot i suppose

It might be worth a try, but the large Dels were made crossing New Hamp females with Barred Plymouth Rock males. Most bantam Dels came from barred Plymouth rock sports.

Walt Leonard

 

[Inkheart]

Quote:
Honestly i have considered trying a Plymouth Rock with my hens - as i understand the "sports" of the Rock / Hamshire cross were what were used to start this breed? Might be worth a shot i suppose

It might be worth a try, but the large Dels were made crossing New Hamp females with Barred Plymouth Rock males. Most bantam Dels came from barred Plymouth rock sports.

Walt Leonard

Thanks Walt - any other thoughts on what might be a good cross ? BTW on a seperate note - love the pembrokes - there was a dog i loved a few years back that did quite well named Harry Potter that i really liked - nice dogs.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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Just a couple of pages back I was asking about crossing my very light hens once with a high quality, preferably heritage stock, Barred Rock. I posted a picture of what I suspect to be a BR x Del cross. I think it would work well, if your starting stock is very light with no indication of smut on the body.

Ideally, we would avoid outcrossing, but this might be the next best thing. Especially for me up here where I find it VERY difficult to get stock since hatching eggs have a terrible track record up here and no one will send me day-olds.

I don't believe this outcross would be a "short cut" in the long run, but it would prioritize the body type and, hopefully, function so that you had good, useful birds to work with while you perfected the more cosmetic traits.

 

[joletabey]

Rachel,
why won't anyone send you day olds? Are you too far out in the boonies? We need to help you find someone who can ship you some chicks!

BTW, folks, someone gave me the "new" address for the old Delaware club site - if you want to take a look, it is the same as it was when I first tried to join sometime last year:
http://www.mashiyu.com/DCA.html

I wouldn't have guessed it had anything to do with Dels, or chickens or anything just looking at it. I have contacted Chris Fernandes to tell him what we are up to, and to get his feelings on whether we should try to combine, or go our own way. I will update when I hear back from him.

 

[Serrin]

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Hmmmpff!! Well, I'm going to voice my two cents worth here. After having looked over a few of the pages at that site, I'm not the least bit impressed. Regardless of what Mr. Fernandes wants to do, I think we should just go ahead with our own plans, plots and schemes.

As near as I can tell, he hasn't posted anything new or relevant to the site since March of last year. [as evidenced in the "Updates" section] It doesn't exactly instill confidence in his club, now does it? I understand that real life has to take precedence, but if you're going to ask people to fork over $15 a year for a general membership, then by golly, you had better be able to offer up timely content worthy of the membership fees.

Did you check out their "State and District Director" page? Nearly every single state lists the position of Director as "Vacant"

How the heck do you have a club if nobody joins it or runs it?

Truthfully Beth, I think this one might be a dead end. Heck, they only have three directors listed PERIOD!! I think we can do a much better job on our own. Though it might be worth while to ask Mr. Fernandes where he thinks they might have gone wrong. Over two years and they still haven't gotten off the ground? They must be doing something wrong!

Or maybe they just lost interest. Or their priorities in life have shifted......A lot can happen in two years!

But don't loose heart Beth! I really appreciate how you've completely thrown yourself into this project. You're the best woman for the job!!

If ever a club had a chance of getting off the ground and becoming a success, it would be one that you've had a big hand in creating Beth!

Thank you sweetie!

 

[jeremy]

Here's something for those of you interested in the Del Club. I'm probably getting waaay ahead of myself by doing so but I though I'd propose a (very) rough draft how the US could be divided into districts for the club. I tried to break everything up by population according to state, obviously this isn't set in stone or perfect by any means. Each district would have a director or chair, and there would be a president residing over the club in it's entirety. I labeled the districts according to their placement in the US, this can be changed or altered to better represent each region. As can how the districts are broken up. I didn't want to divide the map in very many regions due to the fact that there aren't a lot of Del breeders out there, though we could have more or fewer districts if necessary. So I want to hear your thoughts... what do you think?

BTW... the west is mine!

 

[joletabey]

Jeremy, I think it's a great division, and what we should aim for - right now we probably need a president, maybe a vp to run chat meetings if the president isn't available, and a secretary/treasurer for handling dues and stuff. As we grow, we can aim for those divisions, especially for use in finding new members and promoting the breed at shows. Lots of work, but well worth it.

Amy, you are sweet. Where is the blushing smiley when I need it? I am leaning toward just going ahead, but feel it is only fair to TRY to contact the other club and see where they are at and how they feel about combining forces. If I don't hear from Chris or someone else from the club within a few days, I think we are free to go forward.

 

[fowlman01]

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Yes, Jeremy chopped up the US almost exactly as I have seen it done before. It is a viable division that works well for a club that will start out on the small side. Four sections/four Directors is plenty at this stage. The existing Del site seems pretty complete, but has had no activity. Maybe you folks can work something out. If not just do your own thing as it appears that the other club has died on the vine.

There seems to be a lot of potential interest and existing interest, so it should be a viable club.

Walt

 

[Serrin]

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Oh it is, is it??? **Insert evil grin smiley here** Wanna bet?!?!

Just because I have no Del's of my own at this point, doesn't mean that I couldn't do a bang up job of leading others down the primrose path to complete Delaware World Domination!!