Delawares from kathyinmo

[LeslieDJoyce]

My Delaware chicks are about a week old. They are starting to show a little bit of color now. I'll try to get photos, but foster mom is a piece of work. She does NOT like me touching her chicks and has been using the chicks as an army to invade the Delaware hens' nesting boxes. No matter how many boxes we put out, foster mom beds down in whichever one has the fresh eggs.

This is why I wanted the nesting boxes off the floor, but I don't have a building buddy at the moment and can't quite manage to do it myself.

So far the chicks and foster mom all seem way more interested in foraging than eating prepared food. I've got some ideas to try today ...

 

[finnfur]

I got an interesting response on the other forum from a very knowledgeable person. I tried to copy and paste it here but it won't let me. The thread is Showbirdbid.com If you go to either the genetics section or the new posts section of the show bird forum I titled the thread Green Leg Delawares. The response made my day!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Long story short, it may not be a bad thing and should not express in the adult birds (as mine did not) because of the barring gene that the Delawares have.

Interesting
I only had two pullets with slight med green legs and no Cockerels
The two adult hens no longer have the green legs and look about same as the others.
So that could be correct info .
Of the 18 in the Brooder now only one has green legs and appears its a cockerel.
BTW this was the answer;
"

They probably both carry the recessive gene named id that causes dermal melanin. It expresses early on, but the barring gene prevents its' expression later in life. As long as you have barring in your Delawares you won't have to worry about green legs in adult birds. We see the same thing from time to time in White Chanteclers. Sex linked barring (B) is one of several factors that make for a whiter white, and of course Delawares must have it for proper hackle and tail coloring."​

 

[capayvalleychick]

Some good news for those of you who want to discuss breeding your Delawares, but don't have Kathy's line ... I started a thread in the new section where everyone who is serious about this challenging breed can discuss our progress together.

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

 

[capayvalleychick]

Leslie, good luck with that.

Tom & Zanna, interesting info on the green legs. And such a relief. The majority of my chicks this year have pale or greenish tinged legs.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Foster Hen is so sick of me pestering her chicks.

Here is a photo I hope shows the "coloring" on these chicks at the one week point.

 

[finnfur]

Foster Hen is so sick of me pestering her chicks.

Here is a photo I hope shows the "coloring" on these chicks at the one week point.

Well, what legs I see are nice and yellow - cute little fluffy yellow balls aren't they ?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Well, what legs I see are nice and yellow - cute little fluffy yellow balls aren't they ?

Yeah ... I really love little yellow fluffy chicks. These all have really bright orange legs. At least some are starting to show that gray on their wings ... And those very serious foreheads.

 

[wekiva bird]

Posting on new thread I referred above -posting from IPhone is hell LOL

My old phone not working well so I'm on my phone too.

 

[wekiva bird]

Well, what legs I see are nice and yellow - cute little fluffy yellow balls aren't they ?

cute

 

[finnfur]

REAL PLEASANT SURPRISE

10 so far out of 26 eggs set - the reason its a good surprise is because when the hatcher put them in lockdown he realized the egg turner was never plugged in.
So these eggs never moved during the entire incubation- the turner was holding the eggs at a constant approx 50 degree angle.They were not even handled to candle- SURPRISE . And a couple more look like they are pippin .