Delawares from kathyinmo

[LeslieDJoyce]

An incubator is the official gateway drug to crazy chicken person. Next thing you know you will be signing up for hatchalongs. My flock of 20 has become 43, not counting the 35 I just hatched for New Years, but thankfully presold so I can't keep any.

I've got a sizable flock of hatchery birds and their mutt offspring ... it has to be over 100 at this point ... just took 20 mutt cockerels to the processor from that group, plus 5 bigger mutt cockerels one of our employees stole a few weeks before. The turkeys went to the processor just before thanksgiving. Then there is the flock of ducks ... Oh, and that small flock of chickens that free ranges because they refuse to stay in the General Population compound ...

I'm a chicken math victim for sure. I was supposed to get 6 pullet chicks, but came home with 6 each of at least 6 different breeds a couple springs ago, then did it again that September.

So ... promising myself I'm just going to hatch eggs from the Delaware trio this year is me being disciplined.

We'll see how that goes.

I always think I need more green/blue or white eggs ...

 

[har]

GOOD LUCK with standing up to the chicken math.

Scott

 

[Beekissed]

Chicken math is easy...as long as you remember that there is more to arithmetic than adding and multiplying. Try subtracting before adding any more birds and promise yourself you will stick to that precept and only keep a certain stocking rate that suits your coop space, soil health, available forage or feed money, and lifestyle.... and then stick with it.

It will make you be more selective on breeds and quality of birds if you can only have X amount of birds to fit this criteria. It will also keep your culling on track for improving your overall flock health, quality and production.

What I see most on these forums are people who have become overwhelmed in their flock keeping because they only applied addition and multiplication in their chicken math, then the flock management goes out the window as they struggle to keep up with all the pens, the feeding and watering, the breeding of this one to that one, costs, time and good health practices. Any little problem in their life can knock down that house of cards in a second and leave them floundering with too much stock on hand and the lack of time, money, or health to manage them all.

Keeping chickens should be easy and, if at any time it is not, it's time to subtract until it is once again. I recommend anyone keeping chickens or other flocks to reassess their stocking rates and priorities each year so as to eliminate time wasters, money eaters, nonproductive or sentimental value birds. This keeps the lines from getting so blurry and can really help a person do one or two things and do them right instead of many things, done not so well.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

We got a very good lesson in subtraction when we dispatched the cockerels and found out how many people wanted them. Now we have a support team for future subtraction projects. That will make culling the current flock to make way for Delaware replacements a bit easier.

 

[Beekissed]

That's a good way of doing it!

I urge anyone wanting to add to their existing flock to just look around at who can be subtracted without hurting production and breeding goals before ever adding new birds. A while back I culled some of my favorite old birds and more recently my favorite old rooster to make way for new blood. The new blood may be totally worthless to me and time will tell on that one, but the old birds were past their usefulness as well, so six of one, half dozen of the other on what has been gained in the switching of birds. The bonus is that I could eat the culls, so their lives were not wasted, even at the end.

 

[Zanna]

Chicken math is easy...as long as you remember that there is more to arithmetic than adding and multiplying. Try subtracting before adding any more birds and promise yourself you will stick to that precept and only keep a certain stocking rate that suits your coop space, soil health, available forage or feed money, and lifestyle.... and then stick with it.

It will make you be more selective on breeds and quality of birds if you can only have X amount of birds to fit this criteria. It will also keep your culling on track for improving your overall flock health, quality and production.

What I see most on these forums are people who have become overwhelmed in their flock keeping because they only applied addition and multiplication in their chicken math, then the flock management goes out the window as they struggle to keep up with all the pens, the feeding and watering, the breeding of this one to that one, costs, time and good health practices. Any little problem in their life can knock down that house of cards in a second and leave them floundering with too much stock on hand and the lack of time, money, or health to manage them all.

Keeping chickens should be easy and, if at any time it is not, it's time to subtract until it is once again. I recommend anyone keeping chickens or other flocks to reassess their stocking rates and priorities each year so as to eliminate time wasters, money eaters, nonproductive or sentimental value birds. This keeps the lines from getting so blurry and can really help a person do one or two things and do them right instead of many things, done not so well.

Very good advise! I can tell you it was so much easier to select future breeders from a single mated pair than from 8 combinations of single matings made up of 4 hens and 2 cocks. With all the youngsters growing up and running around it was/still is difficult to see the forest for the trees.............

 

[Zanna]

I have my cockerel finalists. Used my brand new Keipper coops, which helped keep them in one place, but did not improve my photography.

Started out with 5 males, 8 months old.



From left to right ... R16 (6 lb. 10 oz.), R21 (8 lb. 1 oz.), R18 (7 lb. 9 oz.), R8 (6 lb. 12 oz.), R10 (7 lb. 5 oz.). I am pleased with the weights, yet they don't have the full breasts that they should. Makes me wonder if/when I do get correct type, if they will be over the standard weight?

I have known for a while that R8 was a cull. He's obviously more narrow than the rest. I was surprised by R16's low weight. Visually, he did not appear to me, to be smaller. I weighed him several times to make sure, then sadly put him in the cull pen due to his low weight. Here's an individual shot of him:

Here's the other, obvious cull, R8:

So, here are the three remaining cockerels, that I am keeping:



Left to right... R21, R18, R10

R21 has been the largest for a long time. Two judges picked him as the favorite out of a line up, last Sept. Since then, his tail has changed a bit. It bothers me. The transition from back to tail is not as smooth as on the other males. I'm putting this guy in with the pullets, so he'll be the sire of the first batch of chicks.



The next two were potential culls, (Judge didn't like either one in Sept.) but I could not do it. Maybe I'll never be a good breeder because I sometimes let emotion override logic.

They ended up having the second & third best weights.

R18 was slow to mature, lacks lower breast, but he meets standard weight for a cockerel. He looks too upright in this shot, doesn't usually carry himself like that:



R10 was the male that I recently posted (better) photos of. His topline is different from all the others, that's why I wondered whether he was more correct or less. He does have a slight, overall, more yellow color than the others. That was another reason I thought that I should cull him, if that was brassiness. It doesn't look the same as the brassiness that I've seen in other Dels, though. He is very wide, looking from the top down.


So, that's it for my males. On to the pullets, next.

I like your choices Kim. With enough time and space it would be nice to test mate them all but alas...... My cockerals do not look as full in the chest as I would like either. They are still young though, I bet they will continue to fill out for at least 6 more months. My 2 chosen pullets are very buxom so hopefully that will help.

Remembering them as chicks they all looked like the double breasted cornish X so I still have hope.

Looking forward to seeing your pullets!

 

[finnfur]

I have my cockerel finalists. Used my brand new Keipper coops, which helped keep them in one place, but did not improve my photography.

Started out with 5 males, 8 months old.



From left to right ... R16 (6 lb. 10 oz.), R21 (8 lb. 1 oz.), R18 (7 lb. 9 oz.), R8 (6 lb. 12 oz.), R10 (7 lb. 5 oz.). I am pleased with the weights, yet they don't have the full breasts that they should. Makes me wonder if/when I do get correct type, if they will be over the standard weight?

I have known for a while that R8 was a cull. He's obviously more narrow than the rest. I was surprised by R16's low weight. Visually, he did not appear to me, to be smaller. I weighed him several times to make sure, then sadly put him in the cull pen due to his low weight. Here's an individual shot of him:

Here's the other, obvious cull, R8:

So, here are the three remaining cockerels, that I am keeping:



Left to right... R21, R18, R10

R21 has been the largest for a long time. Two judges picked him as the favorite out of a line up, last Sept. Since then, his tail has changed a bit. It bothers me. The transition from back to tail is not as smooth as on the other males. I'm putting this guy in with the pullets, so he'll be the sire of the first batch of chicks.



The next two were potential culls, (Judge didn't like either one in Sept.) but I could not do it. Maybe I'll never be a good breeder because I sometimes let emotion override logic.

They ended up having the second & third best weights.

R18 was slow to mature, lacks lower breast, but he meets standard weight for a cockerel. He looks too upright in this shot, doesn't usually carry himself like that:



R10 was the male that I recently posted (better) photos of. His topline is different from all the others, that's why I wondered whether he was more correct or less. He does have a slight, overall, more yellow color than the others. That was another reason I thought that I should cull him, if that was brassiness. It doesn't look the same as the brassiness that I've seen in other Dels, though. He is very wide, looking from the top down.


So, that's it for my males. On to the pullets, next.

KIM - As we all know Pics are not like getting the 3 d eyeball view. How are the hands on things that only you can determine. Agree with your choices though
and feel looking at Pics that R10 may be a sleeper although maybe not enough upswing on top back . Who knows till you see the offspring results LOL

 

[finnfur]

Delaweeggers. I love that!

An incubator is the official gateway drug to crazy chicken person.

Can't take credit for term Delaweggers - its originally from a post made by a beloved fun loving poster we all miss on this chicken thread - The NEW Del originator -

KATHYINMO


Here is my new Gateway drug incubator - Its a Kelvinator 14 - If they don't hatch I will plug it in and make Delicicles out of em .

Been looking for 3 months and have been unable to find one not working so found a guy wanted to get rid of a working one real fast and cheap LOL

 

[finnfur]

This 36 week Del pullet egg on left - Its 53 Grams - its next to a 108 gram NH egg [ouch ] - and about a 60 gram NH egg.[ maybe Redline Del ]
The new Del pullet eggs are running about 53>59 grams.
Those should be Ok size for hatching in about another 4 weeks ? Seems I saw a post on Heritage Large fowl thread that 54>58 was Ok but I can't find the post again .