Delawares from kathyinmo

[Barred Rocker]

My F6's are hatching this week. I culled about 10 out my flock of 21 and got 2 usable roo's. 3 of the hens show the best promise so they will continue the line.

 

[finnfur]

My F6's are hatching this week. I culled about 10 out my flock of 21 and got 2 usable roo's. 3 of the hens show the best promise so they will continue the line.

Hey ! glad to hear ya got enough quality to continue on.
Keep us informed and hope the beach house is coming along great.

 

[crazyhen]

YIPEE! I awoke this morning to one hatched and more pipping. Now the joy starts up again.

It will be a day or so for them all to hatch from my checking them two days ago. some are a bit smaller than others.

 

[finnfur]

Yes, very much!! Between the dairy and the kids I don't have much time to think!!

Yep! But its great life guy ? Glad all is going well.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I took some chick pics yesterday.

These are the youngest, at about 10 days old. They've been showing little wing buds for a few days now, and still look super round.





These are the Incubabies ... the ones Zanna hatched for me. They are about 3 weeks old in this photo. You can see they are still very much fluff, the bodies are longer and the wings are more feathered.




Here is a 6 week old with more feathers ... looks like a pullet to me.




Here is a 6 week old that is slower to feather ... looks like a cockerel to me.



If I had to guess, I'd say the pullets are faster to feather than the cockerels.

But clearly we are feathering slowly.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

My F6's are hatching this week. I culled about 10 out my flock of 21 and got 2 usable roo's. 3 of the hens show the best promise so they will continue the line.

That sounds like progress. It would be great to see some photos.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I took some chick pics yesterday.

These are the youngest, at about 10 days old. They've been showing little wing buds for a few days now, and still look super round.





These are the Incubabies ... the ones Zanna hatched for me. They are about 3 weeks old in this photo. You can see they are still very much fluff, the bodies are longer and the wings are more feathered.




Here is a 6 week old with more feathers ... looks like a pullet to me.




Here is a 6 week old that is slower to feather ... looks like a cockerel to me.



If I had to guess, I'd say the pullets are faster to feather than the cockerels.

But clearly we are feathering slowly.

Love the big butts on those chicks!
Interesting that your pullets are faster feathering. Last year, my cockerels were all faster feathering.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Love the big butts on those chicks!
Interesting that your pullets are faster feathering. Last year, my cockerels were all faster feathering.

Those are rough guesses. I keep thinking I have ALL cockerels. Last year it was almost all pullets, so all cockerels this year would be fair.

The older hatch is on their own now, and they aren't easy to organize for good photos or to make side-by-side comparisons. They don't even all come running at feeding times any more. They've been out in the pasture foraging, which is cute yet makes me nervous.

We had a coyote come right up to the house to snatch a free-ranging hen from outside my bedroom window yesterday at noon. Ugh. The chicks are free-ranging. I was thinking of putting Mr. Fatty out with the free range flock, but I REALLY don't want to lose him, so he has to stay behind a fence, alone.

 

[capayvalleychick]

We had a coyote come right up to the house to snatch a free-ranging hen from outside my bedroom window yesterday at noon. Ugh. The chicks are free-ranging. I was thinking of putting Mr. Fatty out with the free range flock, but I REALLY don't want to lose him, so he has to stay behind a fence, alone.

That's a brazen predator. Doesn't your dog chase them off? Maybe motion activated sprinklers? I guess the chickens would set those off.

Any way you can lock up the chickens for a while, until the coyote moves on?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

That's a brazen predator. Doesn't your dog chase them off? Maybe motion activated sprinklers? I guess the chickens would set those off.

Any way you can lock up the chickens for a while, until the coyote moves on?

Yeah. The coyotes here are pretty comfortable. It is a wonderful area for them. Lots of small game and wild woods around little open fields with sparse housing and roads. Perfect for deer, coyotes and hawks.

Gust is an indoor dog, a companion animal not a guard dog or hunter. The hatchery birds and their mutt offspring in the free-range flock will not stay confined no matter how tall we make their fencing.

We have a more permanent immediate solution for the Coop Coyote. Eventually we'll extend what fencing we do have to come up against the house in the front. I predict at least some hatchery birds will still let themselves in and out. But the Delawares seem to stay on the right side of fencing, which is one thing I really appreciate about the breed.