Delawares from kathyinmo

[finnfur]

It is not simple is it? Everyone will have different ideas. It is more than what we see though. The easy part is the seeing what is wrong or right. The hard part is getting all of the right in and wrong out.

I think we have to take in consideration what is behind the bird also. In other words size is an especially big deal if that is the trend, but you guys are getting good sized birds. The offspring will still be variable, so if there is a valuable trait in one that you are short on, it might be advisable to utilize it, or hold onto it. You certainly do not want to lose that trait along the way. What is that saying, "first do no harm."?

I think the key to smart culling is knowing your birds. Knowing their tendencies. If they have a tendency toward a fault, then those faults are more of a problem than otherwise. The family behind the bird has as much influence or more than the individual bird. The most important faults to be concerned with is the ones that you are seeing in your birds and everyone else's. You guys do not want those faults fixed and be stuck with them, or give you a lot of grief along the way.
I started this year thinking that I was going to cull for this or that. I had all kinds of visions in my head, but as I got to know them, I had a much different reality than I had pictured before.

I did not get far into my Catalana project before I realized that if I culled for everything that bothered me, I would have an empty yard. We are not improving or maintaining some pretty birds that we bought from somewhere. We are building something, and to build something we need all of the parts.

I would take those three males, and complimentary mate them to the six females according to what you see. I think it is commendable that you are going to single mate. You could scrap any pairing at any point. You will know who is from who. It did not take me long to decide that I believe in single mating. It is not the only way, but it is hard to argue the advantages.

I would not worry about line breeding yet. You need that individual that makes you smile to base a family on. If you hatch enough, and grow out enough, you will see a couple of those this year. Then you have something to base a couple families off of. The bird does not have to be perfect, it just has to be pretty darn good.

I am kind of in the same place this year. I will be looking for an individual or two that I can build on. If I am that fortunate, things will be a little simpler moving forward.

I am not offering advice, just thoughts and ideas. I do not know anymore than anyone, and am just trying to figure it all out like everyone else. My perspective comes from the challenge of a project myself. If we continue in this hobby, we will have been better off from these experiences. This is not for the faint of heart and will require a lot of hatching.

This is a good bunch here, and I will enjoy watching.

Kim ,I agree. I simplified it this way . Some breeders have a deeper field to choose from. I don't feel we in this line are in that category. There are only so many of these out there and even some of those people are not single select breeding . The originator is no longer breeding to sell. So I don't want to miss any opportunity of producing "Superboy/gal". However that said I only have five pullets and two Cockerels to work with . We are converting our egg flock to all Dels except a few Delaweggers . Others situation may differ to allow more selection.

 

[mudvstheory]

It's fascinating to hear your stories and wonder if I will end up there. Right now, we have a rough plan to build our first coop this spring and get a handful of into it, unless other projects "happen." (We had a pipe break in the barn yesterday, so not sure where that will lead us.) I'm trying hard to get infrastructure first (running water would be great!) before I have to work the repairs around the animals.

Anyway, I was about to add Kathyinmo to the list of possible sources for delawares, but I guess not. I will keep an eye open in the northern VA area, into Maryland and Pennsylvania. Plus we go to Delaware a lot.

Delwares seem like an attractive dual purpose breed. I'd like to try.

 

[finnfur]

It's fascinating to hear your stories and wonder if I will end up there. Right now, we have a rough plan to build our first coop this spring and get a handful of into it, unless other projects "happen." (We had a pipe break in the barn yesterday, so not sure where that will lead us.) I'm trying hard to get infrastructure first (running water would be great!) before I have to work the repairs around the animals.

Anyway, I was about to add Kathyinmo to the list of possible sources for delawares, but I guess not. I will keep an eye open in the northern VA area, into Maryland and Pennsylvania. Plus we go to Delaware a lot.

Delwares seem like an attractive dual purpose breed. I'd like to try.

I think there is someone in Del that has some of Kathy's birds - I believe they have posted on this thread .
I know about the freeze up - spent half day to make sure I had the chickens ready for the FREEZE and out upstairs shower pipes froze LOL - when a plumbing repair was made 3 years ago they left a critical piece of insulation out. Got it thawed and replaced insulation - nothing broke so alls good.

 

[catdaddyfro]

It's fascinating to hear your stories and wonder if I will end up there. Right now, we have a rough plan to build our first coop this spring and get a handful of into it, unless other projects "happen." (We had a pipe break in the barn yesterday, so not sure where that will lead us.) I'm trying hard to get infrastructure first (running water would be great!) before I have to work the repairs around the animals.

Anyway, I was about to add Kathyinmo to the list of possible sources for delawares, but I guess not. I will keep an eye open in the northern VA area, into Maryland and Pennsylvania. Plus we go to Delaware a lot.

Delwares seem like an attractive dual purpose breed. I'd like to try.

DelDels
her name is Bea and she has kathyimino project Dels too


Jeff

 

[finnfur]

DelDels
her name is Bea and she has kathyimino project Dels too


Jeff

Thanks Jeff - I knew it was Del something but with the freeze temperatures my old recovery machinery is not working as fast LOL
She is real close to where the Delaware was originated.

 

[capayvalleychick]

The pullet (W38) with the highest weight, 6 lbs. 7 oz., has some things that may also make her a cull, but I'm not sure if I'm mistaking what I'm seeing & feeling. Her keel has a small round bump on the end. One wing may be split, but maybe not, the gap is slight. Her tail angle is also much lower than the rest.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

:-(

 

[Zanna]

Sorry to hear about that pullet, I really liked her. I am down to four pullets and only planning on breeding two of them single mated over two, maybe three different cockerals. Guess I had better go examine keels more closely on girls and boys, it has been a while.............

 

[crazyhen]

I'll need to do the same about the keels. I had not thought of that. Why do the heavy pullets same to have the low tails? My largest ones have them low.

 

[rancher hicks]

I don't follow to many threads, as I spend far to much time on BYC, but having said that I looking for Del hatching eggs. Packed right six at least would work. Pm me if you can help.