Breeding Delawares to the Standard of Perfection

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NYREDS said:
One last answer. No, I don't find that they feather slowly, quite the opposite. However, since I've never had any other Delaware strain I have nothing to compare them with that would be "apples to apples". They feather as fast or faster than anything else I am currently raising. I am in F6 now. I single mate, as I do with most breeds. That said, it seems to be a female line. The females seem to be better than the males.

That about does it for me. To those of you who have literally sent me hundreds of emails & PMs over the years-hope I was able to help. To the 500+ who gave me "Ovations"-thanks for your support. I think I'm about BYC'd out. Tired of the whining. Tired of people unable to engage in adult exchanges which sometimes involve disagreeing passionately.

YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN WALT!
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This group is mostly Kathy Line Del owners and they are not like some other threads that I know you are referring to.
Since Bob died I don't post on much except the Delaware threads either. But its a open forum and hard to control posters.
A forum within a Delaware breeders club would work maybe ?
Walt is a great guy and very helpful and knowledgable but doesn't have the head start on this line you do.
Were your Del Champion rows Hens or Cocks or both ?
Maybe the feathering is a good genetics and quality issue and the good heritage lines feather the same. Never had any so don't have a comparison.
And we thank you for your replies
 
finnfur said:
Walt is a great guy and very helpful and knowledgable but doesn't have the head start on this line you do.
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Walt is very familiar with this line. He went to Kathy's place and took a close look at the birds used in the recreation and the offspring. I've hauled my F4s to him for evaluation, twice. and have emailed him many times. His overall knowledge and experience with breeding and showing standard bred fowl in general is exceptional. So, I don't want anyone to disregard him.
I have so many questions, so often, not only about this breed but about my other difficult breed. So, I bug Walt all the time. I know that I'm far from the only one who does this to him. It would be nice to have additional resources for our questions, to give him a break. He needs some time to take his mind off fowl and race his car.

NYREDs is an especially good resource because he has experience breeding Kathy's Dels. Combined with his general experience raising standard bred chickens, his insight would be a valuable asset for those of us who are serious about breeding Delawares. Yeah, he's a little cranky and gruff. But he's nowhere near as nasty and downright mean spirited as most on the other show forum.

If there aren't any experienced mentors on these SOP threads, they aren't going to work. That will be a shame, because that leaves the other forum for those of us who want to breed to standard.
 
capayvalleychick said:
Walt is very familiar with this line. He went to Kathy's place and took a close look at the birds used in the recreation and the offspring. I've hauled my F4s to him for evaluation, twice. and have emailed him many times. His overall knowledge and experience with breeding and showing standard bred fowl in general is exceptional. So, I don't want anyone to disregard him.
I have so many questions, so often, not only about this breed but about my other difficult breed. So, I bug Walt all the time. I know that I'm far from the only one who does this to him. It would be nice to have additional resources for our questions, to give him a break. He needs some time to take his mind off fowl and race his car.

NYREDs is an especially good resource because he has experience breeding Kathy's Dels. Combined with his general experience raising standard bred chickens, his insight would be a valuable asset for those of us who are serious about breeding Delawares. Yeah, he's a little cranky and gruff. But he's nowhere near as nasty and downright mean spirited as most on the other show forum.

If there aren't any experienced mentors on these SOP threads, they aren't going to work. That will be a shame, because that leaves the other forum for those of us who want to breed to standard.
Click to expand...
Thats a good expanding on what I said, I think? LOL But some times I don't say what I think.
Since I type with two fingers I have a tendency to condense things. LOL
And yes Walt, if I remember correctly, pointed Kathy to the original lines used for the re-creation.
But I could be wrong as there have been a lot of posts thru my brain since then .
 
NYREDS said:
For my money there's no better place to start than chicks from Kathy Bonham-if she's still selling them that is.. Mine came from her & they've done very well for me. I even got a couple on Champion Row last year. They got a lot of attention everywhere I showed them. People said they didn't know there were any Delawares like them. They are so much larger than the birds most people have seen. They grow fast & lay well. I only kept a pen of 4 over the winter this year & I gat 3 eggs almost every day. They even laid through the molt! So far I've set 58 eggs & all but 1 has hatched. There may be other good strains out there but I've been around for quite awhile & until Kathy created these it had been decades since I last saw decent Delawares.
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Can you share some photos of your birds? I'm just now starting to hatch some of these same birds (I have a trio from that same line), but mine are still tiny. Here are a few with their foster hen (she's a mutt) exploring the tall grass in the run ...

 
desertmarcy said:
Shucks, I just found out this thread has started for the Delawares, and now NYREDs is leaving us. I think a nice Delaware is a beautiful bird, it is too bad they were let go. I do not have the time nor space to raise as many Delawares as I had wanted. If anybody is interested in some started F5 chicks from Kathyinmo's recreated line, I'm selling my youngest ones.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/886512/delaware-started-chicks-kathyinmo-recreation-line-f5
Click to expand...

Ditto! I just got here ... I've just got my first batch of chicks ... so I'm just starting to think about how to keep an eye on them so I can start to breed for improvements. I have zero previous experience with breeding, so appreciate words of wisdom and experience.
 
Side note to the slow feathering - I was told by a couple of breeders (one for barred rocks and one for cuckoo marans) that you want the feathers to come in slow as it directly affects the quality of the barring. Maybe the slow feathering is a good thing for the barring quality for the Delawares. I'm about to head out to my breeding pens and I have some of kathy's line and some of my own and can take a photo of the difference (the chicks are about a week a part).
 
newmanmichael said:
Side note to the slow feathering - I was told by a couple of breeders (one for barred rocks and one for cuckoo marans) that you want the feathers to come in slow as it directly affects the quality of the barring. Maybe the slow feathering is a good thing for the barring quality for the Delawares. I'm about to head out to my breeding pens and I have some of kathy's line and some of my own and can take a photo of the difference (the chicks are about a week a part).
Click to expand...
My theory has been that with quality the bird is taking all available and putting it to growth of frame . But what they say may be it . I don't really know just guessing.
 

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