Answer to the Delaware Dilemma

[joletabey]

Kathy is great, and I think TNchickenut might send eggs, I am not sure. I honestly would suggest waiting till spring, though.

 

[Lotsapaints]

I will have eggs in the spring also mine are fast growing and not perfect by any means but the pullets are great layers and the culls dress out nice

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

Quote:
I'm thinking this has become the official NEW Delaware thread.

Anyway, I sell my culled girls to locals only interested in eggs. Just cause they ain't perfect don't mean they don't make excellent layers. My best three laying hens I've got are absolutely in NO way show chickens.

In the future after getting my girls to show standards, I hope to begin selecting for egg laying abilities as well. The perfect Del would be all the good show qualities with high egg production. I also hope to work toward egg size and also fast growth rate. I know I'm pushing my Dels to the limit.

Dave

 

[joletabey]

Dave, breeding to the SOP should get you better egg production, it isn't truly a separate issue. The SOP for the hen gives you the kind of body you want for good egg production. That is why the Del was considered a good dual purpose bird in the first place, I believe.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Well, they aren't going anywhere at the moment. Still too scrawny to eat.

But, like I said, one of the things I am selecting for is growth rate so the fact that he's SO much more filled out than the other two at this point is major. The other guy you're talking about might be good for a different program, though. He's definitely promising and I think he will turn out nicely, I just have different priorities at this point. (Both of the culls have pretty funky combs, though, be warned!)

Thank you for your feed back, everyone!

 

[popcornpuppy]

Hi guys. Remember me?
I have been silent on the forum for a while but have been following the threads. I finally got a new laptop so I can join the fun of posting with you all again. I have a question that is related to the "delaware delema" and I am looking for imput.
I have been hatching eggs from my Dels since spring, but I am not happy with my second generation. I have culled many and kept few. I have hatched out mostly roosters (well my broodies did the hatching) and culled all but one. I am seeing crooked tails, squirell tails, to light markings, million point combs (slight exageration

) wavy combs----- none that I can say "that's a great looking Del." So I have kept my best cockeral to date from my hatchings and want to do some selective breeding with mother to son. My choice cokeral has some of that controversial "green sheen" in his tail and I think I need that color to keep my future generations from comming out all white.
I have some pics of my second generation. My pullets are too light. They have black in the tail but hardly any in the wings and almost none through the neck. I also have several pics of my choice cockeral. I just can't decide on him. He was the best marked (darkest-- the rest are more gray where they should be black). He had the best comb and tail angle, but his wing carrage is not the best. Because he is in with my adult Dels, he looks small and scrawney to me so I need objective opinions and imput from others who can see what my bias prevents me from seeing. I am looking to selectively breed so that my markings on future generations don't wash out and I end up with all white birds. So do you think he is a good choice, or should I cull and keep hatching in an attempt to get a better specimen?

These last 2 pics are of my pullets so that you can see the markings or lack of of them

edited for spelling

 

[speckledhen]

Hey, Kathy, good to see you back here! I think your boy isn't bad, but yeah, the wing carriage isn't the best. Still, he is better than many I've seen, quite broad. You hatching out all these culls is a prime example of what we have to go through to get any great Delawares, even starting with great stock. His tail angle is better than Isaac's, which started out perfect when he was a teen and got progressively higher. It's not squirrel tail, but it's too sharp still.

 

[jeremy]

Del friends, can anybody offer up some advice? -> https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=411026

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
No, I don't remember you ....

Hey there! How ya been? Sounds like you have been busy hatching and culling. I know what ya mean. I don't think your boy is so bad. His comb follows the shape of his head, nice. Wing carriage is a bit low. NICE yellow legs and beak, with no black at all on his beak! He looks a good size. Yes, I see that your girls are light. I had a few girls like that too. How do ya get more hackle color anyway? I dunno .... I am working on, "building the barn," and haven't look at paint colors yet. It helped me alot when Walt said to use this SOP picture to compare to. See if it helps you ....

 

[popcornpuppy]

Thanks for flashing the SOP pic ( and forgetting me

). Come on now, my name is Kathy how could you forget a name like that???

But seriously now, I just checked my calander and my cokeral is actually only 15 weeks old. That's why I am being so hard on him, cause I thought he was 18 weeks old. He still has some growing up to do.

So Kathy, I need you to save that pic from the SOP and repost it in about 5 weeks so I can compare my guy to it when he is all growed up. So far I have been happy with the size of my second generation. All of them have been chunky, even the pullets. I just get so jealous when you show pics of Jacob and how dark he is, and then I look at my washed out pullets and think "a nice dark roo like Jacob could fix this". [Hold on, I think I have some brown stuff on my nose. Ok, all better now.

]