Breeding Delawares to the Standard of Perfection

[caychris]

I am also looking for some Delawares, especially from Kathy's line. I am willing to travel or meet.

Kim ( @capayvalleychick ) I think has the best birds around here (Kathy's line) but I think her culls have all gone and she isn't planning on selling any time soon.

Neal (@1zooman12 ) and I are planning on breeding some of the birds we got from Kim and in fact have started setting eggs from the birds Neal has unfortunately they are not completely Kathys birds as he has 2 Roosters 1 from Kathys line and 1 from Jules (@fortyfivefarm ) in the pen (Kathy's is dominant) 2 of Kims girls and 1 production (not sure the hatchery) birds. Here are some pics of the boys mainly.






















We are working on getting a better breeding pen setup going where we can start separating the lines and include a couple of girls I got from Kim along with a couple production birds I have.

 

[shorttimer]

That would be great. I have wanted Delawares as soon as I read the thread Kathy started.

 

[caychris]

That would be great. I have wanted Delawares as soon as I read the thread Kathy started.

We will keep you posted. I love Delawares they are smart chickens and very personable full of personality too. Not a lap chicken necessarily but great birds. Lay like champs and the eggs get quite large.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Kim ( @capayvalleychick ) I think has the best birds around here (Kathy's line) but I think her culls have all gone and she isn't planning on selling any time soon.

Neal (@1zooman12 ) and I are planning on breeding some of the birds we got from Kim and in fact have started setting eggs from the birds Neal has unfortunately they are not completely Kathys birds as he has 2 Roosters 1 from Kathys line and 1 from Jules (@fortyfivefarm ) in the pen (Kathy's is dominant) 2 of Kims girls and 1 production (not sure the hatchery) birds. Here are some pics of the boys mainly.






We are working on getting a better breeding pen setup going where we can start separating the lines and include a couple of girls I got from Kim along with a couple production birds I have.

It would be great if you could split those two different lines into separate cages. I know it's a pain, and it is exactly why I am only working on one line of one breed. For what it's worth, I found that the t-post style hoop coops go up faster and less inexpensively than other options.

 

[caychris]

It would be great if you could split those two different lines into separate cages. I know it's a pain, and it is exactly why I am only working on one line of one breed. For what it's worth, I found that the t-post style hoop coops go up faster and less inexpensively than other options.

We have lots of up-cycled materials to work with. Time is more the limiting factor but I have a quick box design that should go together quickly and work for the property. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

We have lots of up-cycled materials to work with. Time is more the limiting factor but I have a quick box design that should go together quickly and work for the property. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I have really good & simple design ideas for building things, but not a lot of strength, stamina or skill. So find my helpers go off on a tangent and then what we end up with is a complicated, time-consuming, expensive mess and lots of mutual frustrations. It's rather a "limiting factor" around here. Finding time to do things is never easy.

 

[caychris]

I have a question about sexing Delaware chicks. Ive only raised 5 delaware chicks to date 4 were feed store pullets and 1 hatched male. I was wondering if the feather sexing techniques work on this breed or if at 2-3 weeks stance and leg size indicators give any clues. Ive raised some Pita Pintas now and they are easily determined at 5 weeks.

The dels seem to take quite a long time to see differences appear.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I have a question about sexing Delaware chicks. Ive only raised 5 delaware chicks to date 4 were feed store pullets and 1 hatched male.  I was wondering if the feather sexing techniques work on this breed or if at 2-3 weeks stance and leg size indicators give any clues.  Ive raised some Pita Pintas now and they are easily determined at 5 weeks.

The dels seem to take quite a long time to see differences appear.

I don't know about feather sexing them at day 1. It would be cool if that worked.

Last year I could only tell the sexes at about this stage ... pullet on the left, cockerel on the right.

This year I hope to tell a little earlier as I have more experience.

 

[caychris]

Here is the first of the Delawares from Neal's combined pen
Fair amount of color on wings at the moment. Just over 2 weeks old.
I should get another tomorrow. (PetRock hatched them)

Here is the growth data so far weight is in grams
Hatch Age Days Age Weeks 5-Apr 12-Apr Gain
Del 3/29/2015 16 2.29 40 65 25 63%

 

[Cptmorgan177]

Anyone have any dels bred to the SOP around North GA? I'm having a hard time locating some.