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Yes and according to Henk69 of the great chicken calculator fame the color of a Delaware is called dilluted barred I got straightened out on that last year when I was calling them barred columbian just thought I'd add that in for good measure.
Here some info that I posted on the Heritage New Hampshire thread figured I ought to post it here on the Delaware thread beings it more info on Delawares.
Here's some info I found at the library the other day on Delawares. I got this out of Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. I thought this was an appropriate place to post it as it does involve Delawares.
In 1940 george Ellis, a poultryman form Delaware, was using a common cross of the time, Barred Rocks roosters with New Hampshire hens, for broiler production. Through the breeding of one special sport of this cross with New Hampshire hen, Ellis developed the Delaware breed.
Normally the Barred Plymoth Rock-New Hampsire cross resulted in barred females and either black or red males, but sometimes it happened to produce some sports, or bird with a distinctive and different color than is normal. Ellis's cross produced a bird that was mostly white, with black barring on the hackle, tail, and wings.
This type of sport had excellent qualities for broiler productoin, yielding a meaty carcass that, thanks to the white feathering, did not have dark coloring under the skin at butchering. But the production of such sports was inconsistent. However, one of Ellis's sports, a rooster named Superman, was an exceptional specimen, and when Ellis began breeding Superman to New Hampshire hens the cross stabilized with the sport's coloring, and the foundation of the Delaware breed was established.
The Delaware quickly acsended to dominance in the broiler industry of Delaware's Delmarva Peninsula, which at the time providied chicken for the entire East Coast. Though the Delaware's dominance was short-lived, giving way in just twenty years to the Cornish-Rock cross it still makes an excellent dual-purpose barnyard breed. Unfortunately, it is now quite rare.
Delawares can adapt to either confinement or free-range operations. They are hardy and early to mature and have a calm disposition. Hens lay large, rich brown eggs and will go broody, and they make fairly good mothers.
The Delaware was first admitted to the APA in 1952.
catdaddy
