Answer to the Delaware Dilemma

[Lotsapaints]

Quote:
It's a hard task judging at a big show with deep classes it then comes down to the judge's pet peeves when the top 10 could easy win at a small show but to win a big one that's a wonderful feeling that you don't soon forget. I read those old articles when the one farm or person would always win and I'm sure the losers still said politics too. I was at someones site and I loved that they posted their wins telling you how many birds at the show and in their variety if a bird wins over 350 of the same kind it must be nice.....

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
It's a hard task judging at a big show with deep classes it then comes down to the judge's pet peeves when the top 10 could easy win at a small show but to win a big one that's a wonderful feeling that you don't soon forget. I read those old articles when the one farm or person would always win and I'm sure the losers still said politics too. I was at someones site and I loved that they posted their wins telling you how many birds at the show and in their variety if a bird wins over 350 of the same kind it must be nice.....

I have had second and third place wins that meant more to me than some class champions. It is all about who and what you are winning over that makes the victory important. I showed a gray call female in the 80's that beat over 45,000 birds in 4 years. The ABA wanted to take the bantam ducks out of the 7 classes so that ducks could not compete against bantam chickens because of that one duck. It created a civil war of sorts in the ABA and Poultry Press refused to post letters to the Editor because of that one little duck. Most bantam Old English classes are over 3-400 birds.

Walt

 

[kathyinmo]

 

[Goose and Fig]

Hi everyone! I had to "unsubscribe" from the delaware threads- toooo many emails!
Anyway- I have a beautiful little roo from Scott (yard full o' rocks) and I had a pullet, but racoons dug under my juvie pen and took her and a few others. I still have a gorgeous delaware x rock cross (she's blue barred on the neck only), but I'd like to find my little roo a dellie pullet or 2. They're going on 3 months.
If anyone has some to sell that can ship, or is close to SE TN, please PM me. I can't keep up with this thread. Thanks!

Oh- and where we live there is "no such thing" as express mail

 

[joletabey]

Kathy!!!!!

That is the best picture!

 

[aveca]

I have a few ribbons like that too.. It was 2nd amongst the best in the east coast and a class os 27.. He said the hen that won was just that..tough to fault her....He said the eye on mine just edged her ahead again and again equally matched in almost every way except size..but he thought quality over quantity in this case,, , a lot of those birds were related..Mine was not related toi them..He said she just went ahead because she didnt tend toward beetle brow or sunken face even slightly so he kept bumping her up one..important feature..she was slightly smaller than the rest..but the face and comb were superb , he showed me how when viewed from the front her face bluges very slightly out, and eyes also then showed me another hen and how her face was slightly concave when viewed from the front..When we first got there the only thing I could think was OMG look at those hens they are bigger thsn mine , the games over..thought I would be thrilled with 6th place but probably wont come near that...so many little things to lnow..

I always go to these shows with it in my mind that Im out gunned so that was a suprise and I learned a lot of things about the breed that are not in the standard that day such as grissle in pelvic area ,and how sometimes the beetle brow gives that away.its a sign of a corseness... and the concave vs convex face and eye shape and size the little things that can set you apart or give you an edge that I just didnt know..The judge was a bit of a specialist in the english breeds and very good at helping to understand things ..I didnt know about the importance of the eye shape and size along with all of the other componants.. he said grissle is the bain of the australorp breeders world but I never got to ask why..might have something to do with egg laying? not sure. He asked me why I chose her..I said I liked the eye too thought it was good and knew she had good width and meaty nice wide feather ect...she just appealed to me..kept rocords of her egg laying habits and she laid 302 eggs last year. Said I didnt thinkmthat I stood a chance when I saw these bigger birds, he said again...quality over quantiy, the right rooster can give her offspring more size ..but its tough to work out sunken eye and fishtail combs. He said I wouldnt call her a corner stone but a very good building block to a good show flock.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
Ducks rock!!

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
What is "grissle"?

Walt

 

[joletabey]

Walt and everyone - I have a question concerning the influence of the NH in the Delaware breeding. Somewhere, and maybe it was on BYC, I have read so much stuff lately I am all jiggled in my head as to where- ANYWAY- I read that there is a great suspicion that the NH was NOT developed from just the RIR, that there was probably Buff Orp stock in there, otherwise where would they have gotten the brighter, lighter, orange color? And that makes sense also because of the SHAPE of the NH. They are not brick shaped like RIR- they are much rounder and bowl like. Anybody know anything about this?

It's just curiousity on my part- I am trying to learn about NH in case we move ahead with the "New Indian River" project.

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

Quote:
I have to tell you I've raised NH and Barred Rocks and they were all meaner than snakes. How can two breeds that are so naughty to one another produce such sweet, affectionate, easy going birds? I have to agree, they MUST have some sweet Orpington in them.

Dave