Delawares from kathyinmo

[crazyhen]

Bea, how old are they?

 

[finnfur]

People are asking for pictures so here are some. These are my F4s at 16 weeks old. I think they are just beautiful. Kathy can be proud of her work. There are more photos at my profile in the F4 album. I have not culled any, but have made up my mind about most of them. The pullets are easy to pick. The cockerels will take longer for many of them. I had 12 pullets and 8 cockerels grow out. They are very vigorous and easy to keep. This is so much fun! I'll be glad to answer any questions if I can. Thanks, Bea

Looks like they are growing like weeds up there in my home state. Some nice TeePee tails on the hens. It seems a lot of the Cockerels have extra black primary wing feathers .
A lot of mine are the same way. Wondering if anyone else see's that.
Wow ! 12 pullets out of twenty . Thats a sweet mix - Mine was opposite percent and only 14 total.
Love the Pics

 

[capayvalleychick]

Bea, thanks for posting the photos. Looks like you got a very nice selection of pullets. Have you weighed them?

Gloria, she said that they were 16 weeks old in these photos.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree! Excellent birds there!

 

[DelDels]

Thanks for the replys. Thanks for the compliments too. I hope I have those of you with younger birds excited.

They are 16 weeks old and I have not weighed them. Many of them are large and will get to be VERY nice size birds. I like large birds and size will be one of the criteria that the keepers will meet. I have no fear about size in these.

They are moulting in their adult feathers and the pens are full of loose feathers right now. I have been really pleased with the tails I am seeing grow out on all of them.

I think some of these pullets are going to be fairly early layers from the way they are developing so nicely.

If anyone is interested in a trio and can pick them up, I will part with the "culls" at a very cheap price. I want to see them go to people who will breed them.

 

[crazyhen]

Bea, thanks for posting the photos. Looks like you got a very nice selection of pullets. Have you weighed them?

Gloria, she said that they were 16 weeks old in these photos.

16 wks!!!!!! wow! I have some 14 weeks and I do not believe they will be that large at 16 wks.maybe. What does she feed them? They are pretty. I have one with lots of Columbian markings that is the larger of my hens. She has both Columbian and speckles. Should I let her or the smaller perfectly marked hen breed. My roo so far is looking nice. All still have a long way to grow. I did not keep many due to space considerations. I do not usually breed at all. But with these I do not feel right not allowing it really.

 

[Zanna]

16 wks!!!!!! wow! I have some 14 weeks and I do not believe they will be that large at 16 wks.maybe. What does she feed them? They are pretty. I have one with lots of Columbian markings that is the larger of my hens. She has both Columbian and speckles. Should I let her or the smaller perfectly marked hen breed. My roo so far is looking nice. All still have a long way to grow. I did not keep many due to space considerations. I do not usually breed at all. But with these I do not feel right not allowing it really.

I think mine are 17 weeks and they are not nearly as big or developed looking.

 

[DelDels]

Thanks everyone for the compliments. Their hatch date is April 3. I feed them organic feed from Organic Unlimited, Atglen, Pa.

 

[Zanna]

I would love to get a conversation going on breeding for colour in this new line. I ended up with quite a few more pullets than I originally thought and most I believe have the type we are all wanting. Catdaddyfro mentioned that the type is there and we now need to be working on colour with this line. Have no clue where to begin with this. My nicest pullet has the black tail with the somewhat white outline but dark columbian markings on the neck, she also has a black top beak. 2 other nice ones have white legs. 3 have beautiful yellow legs but barring in the tail like the cockerals, nice ticking on the neck. One is almost perfect in colour except she had the greenish legs when younger which now look yellowish but still have a slight green tinge. Several others I really like but have varying degrees of the columbian markings on the neck.

Most of the boys look pretty good so far, all still pretty smutty across the backs but I am hoping that will disappear with the next molt. One of the cockerals is showing some brown in the feathers, so I am assuming he will be a definite cull. Some of the roos have darker black barring than the others. Some have much brighter yellow legs than others but no white or green.

In my own line I had very little issues with colour/smut so really have no clue where to start here. Of course they will have all the time they need to grow out unless general consensus is that at this point certain colour issues are a definite cull........ I think mine all hatched the same week as DelDels so they are about 18 weeks old at this point.

Can anyone help???

 

[capayvalleychick]

I would love to get a conversation going on breeding for colour in this new line.

Me, too. I did ask Walt about the columbian marked birds. If I'm understanding him correctly, no one knows what will happen with this strain because it's new. It didn't sound like he thought that I should cull them. (The pullets - I did cull the male.) He'll see my Dels on Sept. 10, so we will see what he thinks after evaluating them. He told me to ask Kathy. From her last post, I thought that she wasn't sure either. I think that she was at the point of working on the "paint", now that the barn was built. I need to know how to do that.

I also found out that NYReds has these F4s. I invited him here, so we'll see if he wants to share his opinion.

I did check the undercolor of the birds with the columbian markings and it is gray, rather than white. That makes me think they should be culled.

The majority of my males have lots of barring. My inclination is to still choose the best type and ignore the color. Leg color ranges from pale to rich yellow.

Hoping to hear some more expertise on this.