Breeding Delawares to the Standard of Perfection

[finnfur]

Anyone have matings figured out for next year's breeding yet? If so, would you care to share photos and tell us how/why you've made your choices?

How about breeding goals for next season?

Has anyone actually started setting eggs yet? With the growth rate of my Delawares, I'd think you'd have to start super early if you wanted to try to show them next year. (Not that I think mine are show-quality yet).

I'm waiting for my pullets to start laying before I move the culls into the laying flock, which will leave me with just the breeding females in the breeding coop (there won't be many). I don't think I'm to the point yet of making individual pairings, so I'm going to do two (possibly three) flock matings, each with a different male.

Keeping in mind my flock is part of a restoration project, and last year we hatched F5s, so we're still in the "Build The Barn" stage ...

Here is one of the two cockerels I'm currently considering using (I'm comfortable with both the cockerels I've marked, and still really like the sire, but also have some younger cockerels coming along). He has a little more depth than his sire and is comparably wide (sire is very wide). He has better wing carriage than his sire (that was one of last year's goals). His tail color is better than his sire and the structure of it is a little more organized (also a consideration from last year's breeding ... sire has better tail angle). This cockerel doesn't seem to have any brassiness (sire is somewhat whiter in the fluffy parts, but showed a faint lime green tinge in hackles and saddle ... not super sure what's up with that), but this cockerel has more gray/black in the wrong places than his sire showed at the same age (this cockerel is still getting a little lighter bit by bit). This cockerel might end up being a smidge heavier than his sire, but I'm hoping still within the standard description. I could use a little extra size at this point as my females are a tad light.




And here is one of the pullets we've tagged so far. I should have intelligent things to say about the pullets, but they are confusing me at this point. We chose this pullet because she didn't have too much excess black and is nice and wide. They all seem to have nice lower lines, but it's mostly feathers at this point. Tails seem a little low. Some have more color issues than the others, so once they start laying I'll move those into the laying flock and get a better idea of what's left to choose from for potential breeding. In general the females need to get bigger and whiter. Eggs would also be useful for breeding purposes.

Of course I'm thinking about color ... it would be great to get a female next year with better neck barring and still presenting a white-edged black tail. I seem to have either/or this year. We shall see!

Yes I have made selections but feeding daily side by side I am having some second thoughts. I made my original list over three weeks of daily observation then when I went in to pull/ separate them for breeding I changed 4 of the 5 F5s . Now I look and think i am seeing to much of what I call high tail on the selected ones- I may go back and look at my original picks and change some back- Cocks are all F4s - no F5s survived the cull.

I like your picks so far - and with this breed coloration is always going to be a project - you seem to have some good wings on the Cocks

 

[capayvalleychick]

Some finalist pullets. Feel free to discuss them. Click on the photos to make them full size. These are 5th generation recreated Delawares, so the color is not correct, yet. Do any have what would be considered a cushion?


G13- 6lb 11oz


G16- 5lb 11oz - wing looks slipped here, but I didn't notice it when handling her.


O42- 6lb 3oz


G74- 5lb 12oz - This one was culled for a dip in the keel.


G1- 5lb 13oz


G18- 5lb 13oz


G3- 6lb 2oz


G7- 6lbs 6oz


R73 - 6lbs 1 oz

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Some finalist pullets. Feel free to discuss them. Click on the photos to make them full size. These are 5th generation recreated Delawares, so the color is not correct, yet. Do any have what would be considered a cushion?


G16- 5lb 11oz - wing looks slipped here, but I didn't notice it when handling her.

I'm so excited to see these photos! Thanks so much for posting them! Were any of these "Big Girls" the ones you took to the show a while back? I for sure will be looking at these photos ... I haven't made my pullet selections yet.

The ones with low wings scare me. If you do decide to breed this pullet, it would be interesting to see what happens in the next generation with the wings. You seem to be set up well enough to get good records of something like that.

 

[crazyhen]

Kim, I am not a breeder but the last part of the backs looks a bit short. Sort of the cushion affect. They are full breasted and healthy looking birds. Keep up the good work. breed for less cushion and flatter longer backs. Egg laying is better in that type of hen too. I have a few hens from Kathy. My roo died in early winter. It about killed me. No visible cause.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I'm so excited to see these photos! Thanks so much for posting them! Were any of these "Big Girls" the ones you took to the show a while back? I for sure will be looking at these photos ... I haven't made my pullet selections yet.

The ones with low wings scare me. If you do decide to breed this pullet, it would be interesting to see what happens in the next generation with the wings. You seem to be set up well enough to get good records of something like that.

The ones that I entered in that show are molting, these are different birds. I do need to choose three of these to take to a show the end of this month. So, would appreciate advice from all on that. They are filthy and their feathers are not in good condition, some are stained. I probably shouldn't have entered them in this particular show, but will do my best to clean them up.

I will probably cull the one with the slipped wing. I saved her because, as you can see, she's one of the few with yellow legs.

These pullets are laying like crazy btw. Huge eggs.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Kim, I am not a breeder but the last part of the backs looks a bit short. Sort of the cushion affect. They are full breasted and healthy looking birds. Keep up the good work. breed for less cushion and flatter longer backs.

I'm confused on which have the best topline. George said something a while back about not choosing long backs. Yes, I have the Standard but still not sure. The old Schilling art example has a slightly different topline than the Jacky example.

I'm really sorry about your male. I hope someone can find you another.

 

[crazyhen]

You want a wide back and no cushion much on the female. The male is more like a U shape back that is wide. Both need full breast, yellow legs esp. when young. The feet fade with laying and time to more of a creammy yellow. Take care. gloria Jean

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'm confused on which have the best topline. George said something a while back about not choosing long backs. Yes, I have the Standard but still not sure. The old Schilling art example has a slightly different topline than the Jacky example.

I'm really sorry about your male. I hope someone can find you another.

What strikes me about both versions of the SOP images for this breed is how symmetrical the birds are front to back if you divide the bird in half lenghthwise. The male is more of a U shape from the side and it is easier to find the lowest point on the back and call that the mid-point, the female more of a slightly flattened C ... both are balanced so the bird doesn't appear to tip forward or backwards. Either way, the backs of both the male and female illustrations look "shorter" to me than on the illustrations for many other breeds. It is one of the things I like about this breed ... the compact, balanced shape with short-ish backs. They look alert and "happy" to me, and can be big birds without looking huge, awkward or dumpy.

Presuming I have a choice, I'd like to choose birds with a symmetrical sweep in their back instead of a check mark type sweep (where the break happens closer to the neck, for example). That's when the bird is moving around or standing erect but relaxed. It isn't easy to get a photo of a bird standing erect but relaxed and perfectly square to the camera.

With my birds, the older male (PapaDel) has a really nice balanced top line, the two older females are a little lumpier across the top, and part of that is their feathers ... otherwise they have pretty good top lines. But the next generation is more of a mixed bag with generally lower tails and more variation of where the "break" in their back happens. I don't want to lose the nice top lines of the first generation, so hope to make my breeding choices to maintain it.

Kim, I think I am also seeing darker orange legs on the birds here with lower wings. I didn't have many with evidence of slipped wing, but the ones I did had generally nicer color of both the white body feathers and orange feet. Interesting, hun?


Like this poor guy! Nice top line, nice white fluff (comparatively speaking for my flock), nice yellow/orange legs. Terrible wing. His comb wasn't awesome, either.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Some finalist pullets. Feel free to discuss them. Click on the photos to make them full size. These are 5th generation recreated Delawares, so the color is not correct, yet. Do any have what would be considered a cushion?




O42- 6lb 3oz

I think I like the Top LIne best on this bird.



G7- 6lbs 6oz

I think I like the wing placement best on this bird.

 

[Zanna]

I am with leslie, I like 042 the best overall. I would be concerned with the underline on many of these pullets. This is just my opinion and I am learning too but I am not seeing the nice bowl shape and the backs do look too long with a slight cushion. I have one F-5 pullet that looks like many of yours. The keel bone looks like it is jutting out of her and the underline is too straight rather than bowl. Compare her to my other F-5 pullet and the NH pullet who is a month or two older. They have the shape I prefer, be it right or wrong. I think my pullets are about 2 mos. younger than yours.