Delawares from kathyinmo

[1zooman12]

Hello Finnfur,
I'm going out on a limb again and guess that JFYI means, Just for your information. I cannot think of any other series of explanations which make any sense. As for having given you the Bruce Jenner treatment, Mea Culpa! I do apologize for the error!!!! Not that there is anything wrong with being female; I'm rather fond of them myself! I was married to one precious woman for 35 years, 8 months, 2weeks, 2 days and 35 minutes! I could see a timepiece at I do! and pronounced dead. And yes after her having been gone almost 11 years, I still miss her beyond any measure which can be measured or stated! I'll go so far as to say under the right circumstances, I'd do it again. I won't hold my breath as the right one is not likely to come along and besides nobody wants an old has been. Enough of that…
Thanks for the opportunity to make a significant and important course correction!
Now about those birds…
Sincerely,
Neal, the Zooman

 

[fowlman01]

I've got two breeding males of this line, one for each generation. Sire and son. I only started last year, with a trio.

There aren't a lot of these birds running around yet. Maybe people working with more established breeds can toy with the idea of bringing in fresh genetics without losing quality and introducing a lot of nasty surprises to the line. But we don't have a ton of extra birds with this line of Delawares, so I don't see a big benefit in worrying over this issue until it is somehow relevant.

Until then, we either work on moving this line forward the best we can using what we've got, or we essentially start over by using birds from other lines.

Certainly trying to share the best quality trios possible with other interested breeders would be cool ... does anyone really have much extra quality to spread around? Once you let go of good birds ... it's a risk.

The info of who started with the F4s from this line is lost. I only know from participation in this thread who has some now, and hope those that do have some will focus on keeping them "pure" and breed toward the SOP.

This recreation that Kathy first started and others are working on, Is the closest to the APA Standard of any of the lines I have seen. Yes, there are some color problems ,but that will be corrected as there are some dedicated people working with this line and serious progress has been shown. In my opinion putting in another strain will do serious damage to the work that has been done. People like yourself, Kim and others are making very good progress. These things always take some time when starting from scratch. Outside vigor is pushed by some people on this site.............to me that is what bad breeders or inexperienced breeders need to do.....and it causes so many problems by introducing many other problems. I have had my line of Leghorns for over 40 years without introducing any outside blood and these birds have vigor that won't quit.

I am all for making breeding as easy as possible, but many here want to make chickens as complicated as possible. To breed to the Standard is very difficult but there are no quick fixes like adding "outside vigor".

Walt

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

@

You might try the Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheDelawareClubofAmerica/

I think it would be nice if we did have a listing of breeders of Kathy's birds. I know there a a number scattered across the country.

My attempt at making a list ... and I know I've missed some people, so please reply and add corrections. And then maybe some enterprising person can find a way to keep this list available for future reference

So ... Based on what I see here in the first 25 pages of this thread, and you can see how few are still posting to it this breeding season ...


Breeders working to keep the line pure:

@capayvalleychick ,
@Zanna ,
@finnfur (who isn't hatching this year) and
@LeslieDJoyce (me, I got my starter trio from Zanna)

I don't like the word "pure," but can't think of a more accurate or efficient word, so will use it for now.


People working with at least SOME Delawares from Kathy

@caychris ... are you keeping the line pure or working on a cross?
@Jake Levi (got hatching eggs from Kathy)


I know of at least one person who got a batch of chicks from Kathy but chose not to breed them ...

@Beekissed



People who suffered losses in their flock so hit a wall:
@crazyhen



Other names that showed up early in this thread, but are now MIA ...

@Mahonri
(moved and had to disperse all his chicks)
@DelDels
(received hatching eggs from Kathy at about the same time other people got chicks)
@desertmarcy
(got some chicks from Mahonri)

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

This recreation that Kathy first started and others are working on, Is the closest to the APA Standard of any of the lines I have seen. Yes, there are some color problems ,but that will be corrected as there are some dedicated people working with this line and serious progress has been shown. In my opinion putting in another strain will do serious damage to the work that has been done. People like yourself, Kim and others are making very good progress. These things always take some time when starting from scratch. Outside vigor is pushed by some people on this site.............to me that is what bad breeders or inexperienced breeders need to do.....and it causes so many problems by introducing many other problems. I have had my line of Leghorns for over 40 years without introducing any outside blood and these birds have vigor that won't quit.

I am all for making breeding as easy as possible, but many here want to make chickens as complicated as possible. To breed to the Standard is very difficult but there are no quick fixes like adding "outside vigor".

Walt

The advice I've received that sounds the most appealing to me is exactly the part I've put in bold above. The reason It appeals to me is the part I've put in blue.

Waiting around for chicks to show their quality, and then getting them to produce more chicks is a trial of patience, but making it all more complicated to fill the time would drive me insane. And seems more expensive.

So I'm glad keeping it simple is sensible, efficient and effective.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Interesting input on the wing issues some of us have seen over in the Breeding Delawares thread in the SOP forum.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/882979/breeding-delawares-to-the-standard-of-perfection/470

 

[caychris]

Interesting input on the wing issues some of us have seen over in the Breeding Delawares thread in the SOP forum.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/882979/breeding-delawares-to-the-standard-of-perfection/470

When I was talking about using more males I was only thinking about taking from the variations within Kathy's line of birds as it is difficult to get all the best qualities from a single bird.

It all comes back to expense in the end. How many birds can you afford to keep and grow out.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

When I was talking about using more males I was only thinking about taking from the variations within Kathy's line of birds as it is difficult to get all the best qualities from a single bird.

It all comes back to expense in the end. How many birds can you afford to keep and grow out.

Right now I think it also comes down to a lack of breeder-quality birds.

 

[desertmarcy]

@

My attempt at making a list ... and I know I've missed some people, so please reply and add corrections. And then maybe some enterprising person can find a way to keep this list available for future reference

So ... Based on what I see here in the first 25 pages of this thread, and you can see how few are still posting to it this breeding season ...


Breeders working to keep the line pure:

@capayvalleychick ,
@Zanna ,
@finnfur (who isn't hatching this year) and
@LeslieDJoyce (me, I got my starter trio from Zanna)

I don't like the word "pure," but can't think of a more accurate or efficient word, so will use it for now.


People working with at least SOME Delawares from Kathy

@caychris ... are you keeping the line pure or working on a cross?
@Jake Levi (got hatching eggs from Kathy)


I know of at least one person who got a batch of chicks from Kathy but chose not to breed them ...

@Beekissed



People who suffered losses in their flock so hit a wall:
@crazyhen



Other names that showed up early in this thread, but are now MIA ...

@Mahonri
(moved and had to disperse all his chicks)
@DelDels
(received hatching eggs from Kathy at about the same time other people got chicks)
@desertmarcy
(got some chicks from Mahonri)

I am no longer keeping them. Good luck all who are still working with them.

 

[caychris]

Right now I think it also comes down to a lack of breeder-quality birds.

Yeah Neal and I have 5 of Kathys birds between us 1 Cock(erel) not sure his hatch and 4 soon to be if not already hens or plan is to get the current mixed pen separated and give the other cockerel Neal has some hatchery dels to see how that works out.

Later we will swap the boys to see how those pairings go.
The 2 crosses will probably get mixed together and we will take best birds out of that to keep the out crossed lines going while maintaining the Kathy line pure as well. The hatchery/project line will primarily remain layer/meat birds and if any show promise they will be kept to repeat the process with Culled crosses.

At least that's my general thinking as of now.
I have 3 birds hatched from the mixed pen now and about 15 or so eggs in the bator now. Im pretty sure the sire of these birds is the Kathy cock because the head shapes are running true to form with that line. They seem to be slower to feather out at the moment than the hatchery buff orps or the hybrid (RIRxWhite Leghorn) we hatched.

Ill get some pics of the 3 of them while the odds are reasonable that at least a few of these will be pure kathy birds I will keep them separate for now and see how close they come to pure for comparison.

 

[finnfur]

@

My attempt at making a list ... and I know I've missed some people, so please reply and add corrections. And then maybe some enterprising person can find a way to keep this list available for future reference

So ... Based on what I see here in the first 25 pages of this thread, and you can see how few are still posting to it this breeding season ...


Breeders working to keep the line pure:

@capayvalleychick ,
@Zanna ,
@finnfur (who isn't hatching this year) and
@LeslieDJoyce (me, I got my starter trio from Zanna)

I don't like the word "pure," but can't think of a more accurate or efficient word, so will use it for now.


People working with at least SOME Delawares from Kathy

@caychris ... are you keeping the line pure or working on a cross?
@Jake Levi (got hatching eggs from Kathy)


I know of at least one person who got a batch of chicks from Kathy but chose not to breed them ...

@Beekissed



People who suffered losses in their flock so hit a wall:
@crazyhen



Other names that showed up early in this thread, but are now MIA ...

@Mahonri
(moved and had to disperse all his chicks)
@DelDels
(received hatching eggs from Kathy at about the same time other people got chicks)
@desertmarcy
(got some chicks from Mahonri)

Ok I have been trying to work as Tommy Del-a-seed- following have F5/6 chicks- might be helpful to put approx location-
@kayakfish - Cumberland VA - 4H project
@Barred Rocker N. east VA
@rancher hicks - NY
@KittieChick - East central NC
@newmanmichael Panhandle FL

Also known to have this line-
@NYREDS NY think F3 or 4

Also the lady in FL but don't think pure anymore


And the foremost originator

@kathyinmo - Nothing in moderation in MO

Thats all I can think of at the moment