Delawares from kathyinmo

[finnfur]

Can somebody who knows what he is doing help me with respect to what exactly do I do next? I'm lost.
Neal, the Zooman

I dont qualify - and not sure I understand what you are asking .

Micheal Newman -
I am thinking the egg count is more like 180 year - the other lines of previous Dels were higher . All estimates.
Is the club going to have a forum on the site or is it just FB which I don't belong to ?

Rancher
Kathy hasn't posted since mid July so I hope its just Vacation and not more problems .
Hope all is well

 

[rancher hicks]

I dont qualify - and not sure I understand what you are asking .

Micheal Newman -
I am thinking the egg count is more like 180 year - the other lines of previous Dels were higher . All estimates.
Is the club going to have a forum on the site or is it just FB which I don't belong to ?

Rancher
Kathy hasn't posted since mid July so I hope its just Vacation and not more problems .
Hope all is well

I don't do facebook either. I can hardly follow BYC. How can you get anything done and follow all these social media sites? I'd rather live life than watch others live it.

I hope you're right about Kathy, but I'll send her a card just the same.

Supposed to go to the NYS Fair with DD today. I told her I'd go on some rides with her. Am I crazy or what?

Talk to you later if I survive the Merry Go Round.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Like everything, social media takes discipline. A thread like this could be very helpful in making progress with this breeding project.

 

[LindaB220]

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

Hey Neal, You are the expert. I'm still in the infancy of my chicken raising.

My big pullets 5 mo old are just now starting to lay. And I have 2 sets of Sapphires blue egg layers. Crested cream legbar cock over White leghorn. They get bigger than americaunas. 12 cockerels half 8 wks old and the other half is 4 wks old. One started crowing yesterday. Must run for the velcro. ha The pullets are 5 that are 8 wks and 4 at 4 wks. I have an individual Coronation Sussex and Basque that are 8 wks old. They are my favorite. So friendly and smart. Not afraid of me at all.
In the incubator I have a dozen White Plymouth Rocks that are going nicely. Candled last night and all seem to be growing.at 8 days. And lastly I have a doz Silver Grey Dorkings being shipped today I hope.
The big pullets are hatchery birds and I'm going to sell them as new layers to clear up some space in the big coop. It's a dog kennel that was converted into a coop and tinned roof. 100 sq ft. So I'll need another bigger coop for the better birds. I have my sapphires in a 4x 6' coop for the females and a 3' x 12' growout pen for the males. Bee is not on this site anymore.

 

[LindaB220]

I am not kathy,
I do know she was after a broader hen with an open v tail. It more closely matched the SOP. I am not a breeder for sure. But the ones I got from Kathy do have the v tail and are broader across the back than the ones I had from a hatchery. The roo I kept however had a bunchy tail until he had his last molt. The disposition of all the birds I got from her is gentle if a bit shy. The coloring has more of the black smut than the hatchery birds but the width of their backs and breast more than makes up for it. So far they are not super layers , that was never the intent of the original birds. They were for eating. They were replaced by the cornish crosses. I hhope I have not led anyone wrong. I am just a novice myself.

This is good to know. I only have 4 hatchery Dels and they are good sized but pinched tail on all . The coloring is a little sparse around the neck. But I'll be selling these so I'm not worried.

 

[LindaB220]

I just did a 14 week weight in on F5s to compare with same time period on F4.
Haven't had time to sort it out yet - So like they say on the news " Details at 11"
or ASAP I will get it posted.
I had a high ratio of pullets on this hatch group - I usually get 65% male and its reverse this hatch - I have no idea why .

I read something yesterday that the better fed birds with lots of protein and nutrients have more pullets. The lower end of it is more cockerels. The hen knows this and that pullets don't survive on scarce protein and nutrients. The cockerels have a better chance of survival. I thought that was interesting

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I read something yesterday that the better fed birds with lots of protein and nutrients have more pullets.   The lower end of it is more cockerels.  The hen knows this and that pullets don't survive on scarce protein and nutrients.  The cockerels have a better chance of survival.  I thought that was interesting 

Interesting. I got almost all pullets from the Delaware pen so far ... have been supplementing that pen with extra nutrients since the breeding trio arrived. The Freedom Mutts from the laying pen (various "breeds" of hatchery birds) that mostly forage and occasionally go into the coop for treats are a lot of males. My basic feed is higher in protein & nutrients than standard layer rations.

 

[LindaB220]

Interesting. I got almost all pullets from the Delaware pen so far ... have been supplementing that pen with extra nutrients since the breeding trio arrived. The Freedom Mutts from the laying pen (various "breeds" of hatchery birds) that mostly forage and occasionally go into the coop for treats are a lot of males. My basic feed is higher in protein & nutrients than standard layer rations.

Well, that says it all.

 

[finnfur]

I read something yesterday that the better fed birds with lots of protein and nutrients have more pullets. The lower end of it is more cockerels. The hen knows this and that pullets don't survive on scarce protein and nutrients. The cockerels have a better chance of survival. I thought that was interesting

Thats interesting - I feed Southern states "Rock n Rooster " Pellets - they are 18% and always in feeder - supplement 1 heaping tablespoon of two day fermented whole oat/wheat with a smidgen of cracked corn - oyster shells on the side - all the table/kitchen scraps go out there also - Cockerels get added
some Calf Mana Pro from 14 weeks to cull - extra last two weeks.
Also bugs and clover as everybody free ranges after 14 weeks

 

[rancher hicks]

Interesting. I got almost all pullets from the Delaware pen so far ... have been supplementing that pen with extra nutrients since the breeding trio arrived. The Freedom Mutts from the laying pen (various "breeds" of hatchery birds) that mostly forage and occasionally go into the coop for treats are a lot of males. My basic feed is higher in protein & nutrients than standard layer rations.

What are you feeding. The highest protein I can get in layers is 18%.

I can get grower at 24%. I do have the Dels on a 20% grower since there are young ones in the coop. I put the entire coop on 20% grower when there are babies in the flock.