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This is, strictly speaking, true. But what they considered a "broiler" in the '40's, we'd still consider a dual-purpose bird today. Also, by the time the Delaware was admitted to the SOP as a separate breed (and therefore no longer a broiler hybrid), it grew pretty fast, but not like the orginal crossed hybrids.
A Delaware carcass just can't compare with today's meat birds as a broiler, and as far as laying goes, well, they always laid a bit better than Rocks, because of the NH blood. See Henderson's comparison chart for a comparison:
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
Delawares today are categorized as a heritage dual-purpose breed.
The other thing I'd point out is that since Delawares nearly died out in the 70's, most of the remaining stock was pretty inbred, and had lost much of its fast-growing broiler potential and hybrid vigor.
To compensate for this lost production, some hatchery Delawares today have been outcrossed with production reds to improve vigor and laying ability; this gives a less meaty bird. As I said above, some have been crossed with Columbian Rocks, though, and that strategy better keeps the heavy breed look of the original birds as well as a cleaner silver/white.
There are very few of the original pure Delaware bloodlines left today (the ALBC estimates fewer than 500 birds; obviously, that rules out a good number of the hatchery birds being sold as "Delawares" on a mass production scale). So talking about that original NHxBR cross, well, that's a matter for the history books.
This is, strictly speaking, true. But what they considered a "broiler" in the '40's, we'd still consider a dual-purpose bird today. Also, by the time the Delaware was admitted to the SOP as a separate breed (and therefore no longer a broiler hybrid), it grew pretty fast, but not like the orginal crossed hybrids.
A Delaware carcass just can't compare with today's meat birds as a broiler, and as far as laying goes, well, they always laid a bit better than Rocks, because of the NH blood. See Henderson's comparison chart for a comparison:
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
Delawares today are categorized as a heritage dual-purpose breed.
The other thing I'd point out is that since Delawares nearly died out in the 70's, most of the remaining stock was pretty inbred, and had lost much of its fast-growing broiler potential and hybrid vigor.
To compensate for this lost production, some hatchery Delawares today have been outcrossed with production reds to improve vigor and laying ability; this gives a less meaty bird. As I said above, some have been crossed with Columbian Rocks, though, and that strategy better keeps the heavy breed look of the original birds as well as a cleaner silver/white.
There are very few of the original pure Delaware bloodlines left today (the ALBC estimates fewer than 500 birds; obviously, that rules out a good number of the hatchery birds being sold as "Delawares" on a mass production scale). So talking about that original NHxBR cross, well, that's a matter for the history books.
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