Delawares from kathyinmo

[wekiva bird]

Thats funny and reminds me of when I had the mutt lines my egg production dropped from 9>12 day to 1>2. I searched the grass and under the trailer coop where they would some times lay and nothing. On the third day went to clean out the coop and we keep one of those cattle supplement blue tubs to haul the poop in by the trailer. It was up side down with the lip on the edge of a pallet. When I turned it over there was the catch of eggs - just over two dozen. Almost all were crawling under and laying. LOL We are remodeling the old meat bird coop to accommodate the F5s. Do you think the girls will like the new floor color ?

looks good

 

[Zanna]

Will try to get some pics in the next couple of days but I have a few young cockerals I am really excited about. They are only about 8 weeks old and not fully feathered and in the ostrich looking stage but the width between their legs is almost the full width of my hand! That being said, my hands are pretty small, but this is a vast improvement from the original cockerals!!!! I kept waiting for them to widen and it never happened. Very excited about the prospects!!!!! Can't you tell?????

Trapped two large skunks last weekend after losing several young birds. Moved the hoop coops a while back and had not gotten all the hog panels set back up around the coops, it just had not been a priority. The skunks dug a hole under and got inside. Well, I paid for it.........

 

[capayvalleychick]

That is good to hear, Zanna!

I lost my #3 cock the same way. All my other coops are sitting on widths of wire to prevent digging.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Will try to get some pics in the next couple of days but I have a few young cockerals I am really excited about. They are only about 8 weeks old and not fully feathered and in the ostrich looking stage but the width between their legs is almost the full width of my hand! That being said, my hands are pretty small, but this is a vast improvement from the original cockerals!!!! I kept waiting for them to widen and it never happened. Very excited about the prospects!!!!! Can't you tell?????

Trapped two large skunks last weekend after losing several young birds. Moved the hoop coops a while back and had not gotten all the hog panels set back up around the coops, it just had not been a priority. The skunks dug a hole under and got inside. Well, I paid for it.........

That is good to hear, Zanna!

I lost my #3 cock the same way. All my other coops are sitting on widths of wire to prevent digging.

We were having a debate about "is that necessary?" here (for when we set up a few portable hoop coops) ... so this is going in my persuasion pack.

I'm so sorry you lost some of your young birds ... especially now that I know how much work it takes to get those birds!

I need to post photos of my 4-5 week old Dels ... they are looking super awkward right now.

Like if you blew on them they'd disintegrate and float away like dandelion fluff. Okay, more like someone has already started blowing ...

Meanwhile, the Freedom Mutts of the same age look like ... little chickens! They are running around with lots of feathers and little tails sticking up and somehow look like shrunken adults at the moment. So cute. But too fast to photograph.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

The older Delaware chicks are just over a month old ... and looking pathetic.

DelaRoo is taking an interest now. Here he is crowing about one of his chicks.

 

[Beekissed]

I'd crow about that chick too! What a sturdy chick!!! What you feeding over there, gun powder?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'd crow about that chick too!  What a sturdy chick!!!  What you feeding over there, gun powder? 

Just fermented feed and scrambled egg mixed in and a little bit of nutritional yeast, little bit of Fertrells. Sometimes liver in there, too. And pasture, but they mostly hide in that.

 

[Beekissed]

Just fermented feed and scrambled egg mixed in and a little bit of nutritional yeast, little bit of Fertrells. Sometimes liver in there, too. And pasture, but they mostly hide in that.

Whatever you are doing, keep doing it! It's producing some mighty stocky chicks...even your mutts are sturdy and huge! Can you show the male and female that produced that chick in the bottom pic? I'd sure love to see them and look at their set.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Whatever you are doing, keep doing it!  It's producing some mighty stocky chicks...even your mutts are sturdy and huge!  Can you show the male and female that produced that chick in the bottom pic?  I'd sure love to see them and look at their set. 

That's the male there ... he's my only DelaRoo. He is wide across the chest, super wide tail (it's a little messy, but I think that's okay). His legs aren't super wide, but they aren't tight together, either.

The hens ... they look very similar to me! One is smaller but a better layer (bigger eggs, maybe a little more often), the other hen is bigger and laid first.

I think it's a nice trio. I've posted some photos in this thread, it's been a while and will try to post more. The only one who likes the camera is the DelaRoo. He's a ham.

I can't say more exactly than that ... at this stage I'm keeping them all together for better fertility and production and flock dynamics instead of splitting them up to see which mating produces better chicks. I am going for numbers ... naturally as I'm broody hatching everything and that has limited me a little. Next year I'll have to decide if I want to be more "careful" and "artificial."

 

[Beekissed]

Same here....just flock breeding for now and trying to use a broody when I can. These two Del hens just might earn a permanent spot in the flock if they keep going broody each year. The best one of the two is brooding now, the other one was easy to break and was not serious about brooding but I wish she would GET serious so I could load her up with eggs.

Should have some chicks under this broody by Saturday, if not sooner.