Breeding Delawares to the Standard of Perfection

[capayvalleychick]

Kim, I was referring more to under color more than the outer color. Of course it matters to, just not what I had in mind. Often it will go together.

The yellowing is brassiness, but I could not speak to the cause of that brassiness.

The Dels with the solid black (Columbian type) hackle seem to be the ones with the gray undercolor. Will be breeding away from that.

Unfortunately the Dels do get exposed to a lot of direct sunlight during our hot summers. Most other strains have turned quite golden. This line had just a few with a very slight yellowing.

 

[newmanmichael]

What are you trying to improve with the tail?

Pinched tails mostly. The tails on my line of Delawares aren't that great. I have a nice New Hampshire cock with a gorgeous tail that I'm using.

 

[newmanmichael]

They will contribute nicely marked and formed tails. It should help with feather quality to. I can think of a lot of ways it might help. Of course, everything comes at a cost, and there is places that it will hurt.


Where it will hurt the color is brassiness and red bleed through. The second generation cross will be cleaner than the first, but will still be an issue. It is a persistent problem, and it is nearly impossible to get rid of it breeding silver to silver. An option is to use black, blue, or barred. In your case a Plymouth Rock would make the most sense.

I have some barred rocks chicks growing out now that should be really nice to use as well with this project. If I get the tails I'm looking for with the New Hampshire cross but have too much color bleed through then I may take those and cross them back with a barred rock. For me, this is more of an experimentation in genetics. If I don't end up with anything good then they will go the layer flock or be eaten.

 

[har]

I have some barred rocks chicks growing out now that should be really nice to use as well with this project.  If I get the tails I'm looking for with the New Hampshire cross but have too much color bleed through then I may take those and cross them back with a barred rock.  For me, this is more of an experimentation in genetics.  If I don't end up with anything good then they will go the layer flock or be eaten. 

I have some Del. Roos over NH hen chicks and they are looking good and growing fast . They have a lot of smut on there back but otherwise they look pretty good.

 

[Zanna]

I have some Del. Roos over NH hen chicks and they are looking good and growing fast . They have a lot of smut on there back but otherwise they look pretty good.

Are the Roos from Kathy's new line? If so, how is rate of feathering? Are you seeing some orange feathers?

 

[newmanmichael]

I have some Del. Roos over NH hen chicks and they are looking good and growing fast . They have a lot of smut on there back but otherwise they look pretty good.

Do you have any photos? How old are they?

 

[rharwellnc]

I am considering breeding Delewares. I saw the mention of Kathyinmo. I went to her website and it is very out of date (2 years). Is she still breeding? What are other sources of quality Delawares? I'm having serious trouble finding any real information about the breed and it's breeders

Is there a particular website or forum that you'd recommend? Thanks for any and all help!

 

[har]

My chicks were hatched the end of March. What I have and not in any big numbers are using a Del rooster over a NH pullet and a project F2 pullet. All the chicks from both pullets were fast feathering less then a month were feathered out. They kept up with my NH and my Black Sex Link that I had bred for. Without weighing them I would say the NH chicks are growing the fastest. They have the most smut on the back but are very white ortherwise. I only got one pullet out of that breeding and about ten Roos. The F2 chicks are not as big has the NH chicks but are colored better meaning not so much smut on the back and are white with the black where it is suppose to be. Again very fast to feather out. I have about eight pullets and a few of them are very nice. I will see if I can get some pictures soon

 

[finnfur]

I am considering breeding Delewares. I saw the mention of Kathyinmo. I went to her website and it is very out of date (2 years). Is she still breeding? What are other sources of quality Delawares? I'm having serious trouble finding any real information about the breed and it's breeders

Is there a particular website or forum that you'd recommend? Thanks for any and all help!

There is a thread on BYC for Breeders that have Kathys line :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/777172/delawares-from-kathyinmo

She still has the line but not sure she is breeding to sell - you might Bmail her though-
There is also a Del club website [ not active ] with some info and it is linked at bottom of my post-
There are people trying to get that active again if we can get enough interest.
Good luck on your search. Where are you located ?
And

and the Delaware group

 

[har]

 Pinched tails mostly.  The tails on my line of Delawares aren't that great.  I have a nice New Hampshire cock with a gorgeous tail that I'm using. 

From this mating you should get brown sex link. The male will be white Delaware looking and the females should be brown NH looking. I used a NH Roos over BR this Spring and got black sex link