Answer to the Delaware Dilemma

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Whoa! I just came across this website, check out the "Rhode Island Silver":

http://adkersonfarm.webs.com/poultryonthefarm.htm

Based on this, my guess would be the Delaware would be an easy breed to recreate from the foundation breeds. That's a nice looking Delaware pullet! (Aside from the RIR body.) We should talk to this guy about his development of this variety. Maybe the Dels weren't some kind of rare sport that popped up, after all?

 

[fowlman01]

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Why not do it the way it was done originally: with New Hamps and barred rocks. The bantam Dels are from sports, not the large fowl Dels.

Walt

 

[kathyinmo]

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Tadkerson is also on BYC. Look at the top of the page "Breeds, Genetics, & Showing," and you will see a sticky entitled, "Sex-linked information," that he wrote.

 

[jeremy]

So essentially you should be able to create a new line of Delawares by simply crossing a BR male with a NH female, for LF, Walt? Just like they were originally created?

I thought the LF Dels were sports too?

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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Yeah, that's what I thought. I figured there must be SOME reason we couldn't recreate the Del to add new bloodlines...or get some birds that have the type and color we want.

I think the birds I'm working with are so washed out with hatchery influence that it would take less time to start from scratch than work back up with the birds I've got! (And trust me, I'm not underestimating how much work it would take.)

 

[jeremy]

I've always wanted to try and recreate the original bird by crossing a BR & NHR. I know there are folks out there who are actually trying to do this project, hoping for the elusive Del that may come out of the mix.

If what Walt is saying is true though, it might not be as hard as one may think.

I honestly just don't have the room for that kind of project. You'd have to track down quality, pure BR and NHR stock. Then pair them together and hatch everything that the hens lay. Ideally you'd want to have different roo and hen combinations so that if by chance it did work you could already have biodiversity by having 2, 3, 4 or however many lines you started with.

Wouldn't that be fantastic though? New, "fresh", unpolluted Delaware blood to help us bring back the breed! The idea is almost tempting enough to try it...

 

[fowlman01]

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Nope, they were made with BR Males and New Hamp females. The SOP calls them sports but in the true sense of a sport....they did not just pop out of a true breed. The popped out of a cross. (The bantams just showed up from sports in BR bantams..no cross). The large were made. The large fowl "sports" lacked the black extension, so I guess in a broad sense they could be called sports. That is just not what I think of as a "sport" though.

I'm kind of rambling here because I am thinking as I type and that can be dangerous. I am also adding my opinion, which is also dangerous.

So..bottom line.. if you make that cross SOME of the offspring will lack the black extension and will have a lot of white. Those are the birds that make the Del.

Walt

 

[jeremy]

So you would have to cross the parent birds, BR male with a NHR female, then cross their offspring that lack the black extension (what on earth does that mean?) and then you should get something that is, or resembles a Delaware?

What do you cross the offspring to? Each other? Or do you cross them back to their parents? How many generations would this take?

 

[fowlman01]

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I'm not an expert on this by any means, but I think once you get the white ones they should have the barring in the tail (male) and lacing in the female tail. Then mate them together until they breed true. This is my guess only. try to find a color expert who may be able to tell you the correct way to do it. I have no idea how long this took in the beginning.

Walt

 

[joletabey]

Anyone interested in the Delaware club should probably go to the yahoo Delaware group and join up - there is quite the discussion going there, and things will be moving forward. Its a great group, and lot of Del breeders there.
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