Delawares from kathyinmo

[DuckBoy]

Put your approx location in so we can narrow it down - IMHO its to hot to ship anything

I live in western Kentucky. I am willing to drive a short distance. Thanks

 

[finnfur]

I'm pretty sure that one is 10 weeks old ... part of my second hatch. She could be from the first hatch, and be 12 weeks or the third and be a little younger ... I have a maybe one each from the first three hatches showing up lighter like this one and tried to get photos yesterday, but once I looked at the photos it isn't as easy to remember which bird is which. The more recent hatches are still too little to say anything useful about feathers.

As far as shape goes, that seems to be my pullet shape. The cockerels are similar, but up on drumsticks. I think I posted a photo showing the different body shapes at about 8 weeks?

I think the Cockerels grow up then out
These are F5 - 9 weeks to compare

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I think the Cockerels grow up then out
These are F5 - 9 weeks to compare

I love the bird in the top photo. I know part of it is the pose, but still. There is just something that screams "I'm an adolescent male!" in the body shape of the cockerels. I enjoy that.

At least one of my Freedom Mutts cockerel's voice is changing -- they hatched on almost the same day as my first batch of Delawares. I'll be intrigued to see how much longer it takes the Delawares to start with that.

 

[rancher hicks]

Put your approx location in so we can narrow it down - IMHO its to hot to ship anything

I agree with the shipping. Still I'm hoping to get more eggs next year somewhere. I 've saved the box from the eggs I got last time. I'll send them the box and have them use it to send back with eggs. I think it's worth the money to secure safer shipping.

The five chicks I have are doing okay. I've no doubt there is a roo or two in there.

In other news my 6 year old Frizzle hen is laying again. Hasn't laid in a long time but for some reason she's started up again. I saw a Del roo and her together so I stuck her eggs under a broody hen just for fun. She's only laid about 6 eggs in the last month but still I'm surprised.

 

[finnfur]

I love the bird in the top photo. I know part of it is the pose, but still. There is just something that screams "I'm an adolescent male!" in the body shape of the cockerels. I enjoy that.

At least one of my Freedom Mutts cockerel's voice is changing -- they hatched on almost the same day as my first batch of Delawares. I'll be intrigued to see how much longer it takes the Delawares to start with that.

Its sometime hard to tell in pics but I am fairly sure its a pullet and one of my favorite of this hatch- I don't see any cockerels in those two pics they are already getting red pronounced waddles

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Its sometime hard to tell in pics but I am fairly sure its a pullet and one of my favorite of this hatch- I don't see any cockerels in those two pics they are already getting red pronounced waddles

I'll take your word over mine any day. I only have my birds for experience and the body shape of the birds in the bottom photo is much closer to my males than my females. The top photo is harder to see the bottom line of the bird, so I couldn't tell either way. The conversation leading up to the posting of the photo lead me to presume males in the bottom photo. Oops!

 

[1zooman12]

Hello BeekIssed,
Would you like to sell a few of those "KathyDells" to a geneticist who would like to continue Kathy's work? I'm originally from Strasburg, VA and was reared on my grandmother's chicken (broiler) farm there. Now many years later after taking every poultry science course the Un. of Md. had am now an inspired chicken nut. Is old Strawtown near your part of West Va? I now live in California but miss the Alleghenies and the Blue Ridge. Does being known as Beekissed have anything to do with being a beekeeper or are you just friendly?
Sincerely,
Neal, the Zooman

 

[LindaB220]

Hello BeekIssed,
Would you like to sell a few of those "KathyDells" to a geneticist who would like to continue Kathy's work? I'm originally from Strasburg, VA and was reared on my grandmother's chicken (broiler) farm there. Now many years later after taking every poultry science course the Un. of Md. had am now an inspired chicken nut. Is old Strawtown near your part of West Va? I now live in California but miss the Alleghenies and the Blue Ridge. Does being known as Beekissed have anything to do with being a beekeeper or are you just friendly?
Sincerely,
Neal, the Zooman

Hi Neal,

Great to have you. I don't think that Bee has a lot of the Dels. She mainly has White Plymouth Rocks. I could be wrong though. I do know that she lost one of her two good dels not too long ago. Check around. You might be able to find some. Where are you located? I'm in Louisiana and don't have any, just 3 hatchery birds but I like them and they are good girls. Gonna start laying soon. My good birds are one EO Basque and one Coronation Sussex. And I have ordered some really good SC Dorking eggs coming in on the 25th. Very excited about that.

 

[1zooman12]

Hello Linda,
I'm going to infer that Beekissed and Linda are not the same bird. Okay so far? I have 4 white plymouth rock pullets who are the cutest little widgets at this stage in their junior high school life. They have a very upright trail which looks like a Japanese fan. Indeed, there are pigeons with a similar tail known as fantails as I remember. I looked at some photos of adult laying hens of the same breed and that feature seems to disappear upon maturity. I wish that my little gals would keep theirs however. They were reared with a pair of Rhode Island Red cockerels so they will have to be separated in due course. I would like to get a pure bred wpr cockerel for them as I would like to keep the line going. However, as you well know, at the moment I'm aiming at working with the Delaware breed if I can find a few quality birds to serve as foundation stock. Actually there is no reason in the world that I can't carry on a few breeding projects simultaneously.

How are you going to have your eggs incubated? I do not like having to baby one of those styrofoam incubators given how much attention they require. I'd much rather farm the job out to a few silkie hens as they do such a great job. And one does not have to monitor humidity, temperature or make end runs around power failures. These top moms also brood the chicks and essentially rear them not necessitating operation of a brooder. Unless having to incubate a 100 or more eggs I cannot see operating incubators. One does not have to plug the hens into wall receptacles either! (LOL) I have a technique which is failsafe for turning on Silkie moms and not screwing up the incubation process. I isolate the prospective hen in a roomy pen, give her plenty of fresh water and a food dispenser, place 9 or so eggs in her nest and inside of 72 hours they go broody. Believe me when I tell you that I have seen them go broody the next day! The combined pressure against breast receptors energizes the hypothalamus which in turn activates the proper ovarian hormones and one has a broody hen. I let her stay on these undesirable eggs for two days to make sure all systems are go and her dedication is firm, then on the third day when she gets up to go get a drink and feed I switch the starter eggs with the precious ovarian gems. 20.5 days later they pip and hatch. No muss, no fuss, no bother except for the hen's efforts, of course. And that is my secret for starting Mother Nature's incubator!

I live in Northern California in a district called Acampo, some 35 miles south and very slightly east of Sacramento. I have enough acreage to do pretty much as I want so I'm busy from sunrise to sunset. I do not live alone as I'm thrown in with one white faced hereford pullet, er… make that heifer, one demanding 11 year old house kitty and of course the requisite chickens of which the current count is 24 and growing.

Thanks for the grand welcome! You may call me anytime about any topic whatsoever even in the middle of the night as I hear from folks going back to my high school days often as late as 3:00 o'clock in the morning. At conversation's end I simply roll over and go back to sleep usually in a minute or less. And it is REM sleep too! Eat your hearts out sheep counters! Have no idea what insomnia is.
Sincerely,
Neal, the Zooman

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

A lot of my F5s are over colored, but here are two of the lighter birds.

This one is older and its legs are looking suspiciously brown ... kinda like our summertime dust, I hope ...? It sure had orange legs when it hatched!

Funny pose, and grainy. I was shooting through the fence, in the shade, at maximum zoom, on my iPhone, and the birds refused to be still.

This one is a lot younger and shows the more yellow legs they all hatched with. It's a sweet looking little chick at this age.