Answer to the Delaware Dilemma

[aveca]

Quote:
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

So what is the answer? Could that it be much worse than adding light sussex or coumbian? mostly unrealted birds except slightly similar color. I just read an article where one of the heritage breeding farms was working on correcting the barring in the tails, darkening the barring and working to eliminate the washed greys and lightness...How bad can it be to add a little of the foundation stock back into the breed..Australian breeders did it with australorps they were deliberate and knew what they were after...they re-introduced the cooper type blk orps to reduce tail size and give the birds a better curved shape back on the great bird of curves...granted not a color breed like dels...So Im just asking wouldnt it strengthen slightly the critically endangered del breed that according to a few breeders Ive talked to seem to go infertal younger than some other breeds..It just sounds like the whole thing kind of needs a shot in the arm , but not a breed that just looks similar color a delaware in color.


Boy if you ever judge a show walt, your not going to take this breed lightly are you..LOL

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Beth, I just went over there. I hate those yahoo groups. Either it is too difficult to navigate or I am a total idiot at it. Anyway, my 2 cents ..... we are not anywhere near asking for money for dues. I think education and a website are a good start. Maybe get advise from another group on how they got started. But, asking for dues at this point is just not looking good to me. Officers, I imagine we will need those. But, how is that done? By volunteering or by nominations and voting?

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
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

We do have a few genetics experts and authors of poultry genetics books on here. I will PM a couple of them and ask.

ETA: I sent a message to David (blackdotte) and to tadkerson. I am anxious to hear details on how to re-create the Delaware.

This may be a fun project. NO, I can not do that ...... I can not believe I even said that!

 

[joletabey]

Kathy, I agree, we need a web site and organization before dues. There are some of us volunteering to put a little money forward if we need it for the web site. I would also like to get APA sanction, but am getting nowhere with that so far.
I keep saying we need a chat room, I keep getting ignored.

I don't like having to jump from post to post to get all the info either - too clumsy. We need to be able to TALK.

If it's so easy to get a "sport" from that breeding, wouldn't a lot more people have tried it already? Maybe I am being a grump, but I keep seeing hundreds of little weird BR NHR crosses running around with no place to call home before you get one sport.

 

[tnchickenut]

Quote:
I'm attempting it in spring. Then when I get my SQ BRs and NHs I'll try it with them too... I will ultimately and ideally have three trios working on it. Surely that would be enough to get some "sports" going.

Like I mentioned before... 2011 will be the year of the Del here. I may have to sell almost everyone else!

 

[joletabey]

Stacey, good luck with it, I hope you get something fairly soon. I think the word "sport" is confusing me, as I always thought they were rare, one time things. Maybe not in this case. I wonder how frequently that lack of extension thing shows up.

 

[jeremy]

Oh, I wish I had more room and a bigger incubator. Probably another income too... that's the only way I'd be able to help with that project.
Stacy's gonna have her own line of Dels, I'm SO jealous.

sigh

(She will share though!

)

 

[jeremy]

Beth, I just replied to you and Kathy both on the Del group. I agreed that it's time for a chat session.
The folks who are interested in seriously starting up this club need to be somewhere at the same time in order to start hammering out the details!

To address your question about officers Kathy, I think at this point it should be whoever volunteers and if everyone (somewhat, you can't please 'em all!) agrees then they should be chosen that way. We might have to have another (look at me getting ahead of myself again, we haven't even had the first!) chat session to see if everyone agrees with the folks who have stepped up to the plate. Utilizing the US map I broke up into "districts" could help us in the initial selection.

Let's get this thing moving!

 

[kathyinmo]

Well, I have some great Barred Rocks. If you can find equally as nice New Hampshires, I will work on the first mating. BUT, I will send all the chicks out to all of you to work on. Wanna try it?

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Kathy, if we can look in to how to ship day old chicks to Alaska (it CAN be done!) then I will take on a bunch of them, GLADLY.

I got no problem with "projects". The culls are all just eggs or meat to me, anyway, certainly not in a big rush to show. No shows up here, anyway!

Edited to add that I would love to have ANY birds out of those gorgeous BRs that I saw, anyway. But Del project birds from them? Even better!