Delawares from kathyinmo

[LeslieDJoyce]

You know that NYREDs a APA judge has posted he has won [Not sure what] with this line of Kathys dels. Maybe Walt can expand as NY says not posting on bYC anymore

That's also great news.

I recently posted over on the newish Delaware club page at Facebook asking if anyone was showing their Dels , and if so how were the results?, and could we see photos of show-worthy birds? I was told it isn't show season but not much else.

I don't care so much about competition or ribbons and certainly won't be showing birds, except that show results are an indication of the state of the breed. And in a breed that "needs a lot of work" like the Delawares, show results are very encouraging.

Thank you, Walt, for sharing this news and offering your experience to us who are working with this line.

 

[Zanna]

Way to go Kim!!!!!! Yes, pictures please when you have time.

Been so busy lately no time to post but I do keep up. Don't think I have a young pullet from this years breeding that has a correctly coloured tail but I sure like the type. All are still a little too young to know for sure. If I could get their tails to look like my NH offspring this year I would be one happy camper Anyone know how I can do that???

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Way to go Kim!!!!!! Yes, pictures please when you have time.

Been so busy lately no time to post but I do keep up. Don't think I have a young pullet from this years breeding that has a correctly coloured tail but I sure like the type. All are still a little too young to know for sure. If I could get their tails to look like my NH offspring this year I would be one happy camper Anyone know how I can do that???

I saw photos of your NHs. They look amazing.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I judged the Heirloom Expo here in Santa Rosa, CA yesterday and gave Reserve Large Fowl to a Del pullet owned by Kim of capavalley. She showed 4 very nice pullets. Not perfect, but certainly good enough to win over several other good large fowl. I think Kim is very close to having birds that could win in a big show. Great job Kim. I'm sure Kathy would be delighted to see your progress.

Walt

Huge congrats Kim!

 

[finnfur]

There are some pics of Kims Dels at show with Walt here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/849075/heritage-large-fowl-phase-ii/6620

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

There are some pics of Kims Dels at show with Walt here 
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/849075/heritage-large-fowl-phase-ii/6620

Those are really solid looking Delawares. But now I'm TOTALLY confused!

 

[LindaB220]

So LindaB220 asked me if I knew where to find the study she read that discussed the influences of maternal nutrition on gender selection of poultry offspring ... I don't. I could start googling different interesting/unique combinations of key words and phrases, but as I'm not the one who read the study I don't actually know what interesting/unique combinations of keywords and phrases might have been used in that particular article that could help a person google it more efficiently.

I did do some test googling and found this one study involving some type of seagull, I think, that suggests there is a bias towards female hatchlings in less-well-nourished mother gulls ... "Experimental demonstration that offspring sex ratio varies with maternal condition"
http://www.pnas.org/content/96/2/570.full

The idea of that study is that male hatchlings are bigger, and need to grow more. So more nutrients in the eggs, and somewhat larger eggs, might shift a bias towards the opportunity for more male hatchlings ... and the study achieved "enhanced" eggs by offering the potential mothers baked eggs ... and they did note an increase in egg size and an increase in male offspring.

There isn't a lot of science, I don't think, about feeding eggs to chickens, probably because eggs are an important product of the poultry industry so poultry farmers tend to prefer to sell/hatch eggs rather than feed them back to the birds. My instincts tell me eggs are great nutrition for birds, not due to the exact protein percentage of un-dehydrated eggs, but because of the nutritional profile of the eggs. I offer my breeders and babies scrambled eggs. I've usually got plenty of "funky" eggs to use for this purpose.

Hi Leslie, good to see you. I haven't seen this post until today. Sorry. Very interesting. Not the study I'd read but it has something in common.
I traded my 2 hatchery Delawares and 2 smaller super blue egg layers for a Blosi White Plymouth Rock pullet 5 mo old. It'll be a start on my new project. I also bought 3 jwip white rocks and a cockerel. Trying to get rid of all my first practice hatchery birds Lesson learned.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Hi Leslie,   good to see you.   I haven't seen this post until today.   Sorry.   Very interesting.   Not the study I'd read but it has something in common. 
I traded my 2 hatchery Delawares and 2 smaller super blue egg layers for a Blosi White Plymouth Rock pullet 5 mo old.  It'll be a start on my new project.  I also bought 3 jwip white rocks and a cockerel.  Trying to get rid of all my first practice hatchery birds  Lesson learned. 

Many of my hatchery birds are laying nice big eggs in my General Population coop. Their Freedom Mutt chicks from this year are looking SO fabulous. I've got a few blue & white eggs under a persistent broody as we speak ... totally dubious breeding in those birds, but maybe we'll get some more interesting mutts to give us interesting eggs for the egg customers. I can't wait for this year's Delawares to grow up so I can see what they look like!

Eventually most of the hatchery birds will be replaced with their mutts or the Delawares. We are starting to think about feed efficiency vs. egg counts, and though older birds make bigger eggs which the customers like, they also eat more food per egg. We want to break even on feed without having to raise our egg prices too much.

 

[finnfur]

Those are really solid looking Delawares. But now I'm TOTALLY confused!

Expand please why ?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Those are really solid looking Delawares. But now I'm TOTALLY confused!

Expand please why ?

Based on Walt's follow-up comments, it seems the whiteness of the white, the width of the bird, and the bottom line of the silhouette were his priorities in judging these birds. Those are the things he complimented and are very clearly superb in these birds!

I'd been focusing more on the top line and the coloration of the hackles and leg colors (I'd love to consider the coloration of the tails, but my birds don't have very complete-looking tails at the moment, so I'm out of luck there).

So up to now I've been focusing on the opposite of what Walt was judging. Except: tail spread ... we both are looking at that.

Confusion!

Partly this is because my birds are still young compared to these show birds. Only the oldest few pullets are getting to the point where I could realistically assess them for body size & shape (cockerels will take longer). My birds sure start out ROUND, so I am not too worried I'll have solid birds in the end. I'd like to have more birds at or above 20 weeks before I make decisions. But it's not too soon to start gathering info.

Maybe I won't be so fast to be fatalistic about low tails, solid hackles, and pale legs if the birds are wide, deep, and white.

I'd love it if more people could chime in with their observations and examples from their own flocks.