Delawares from kathyinmo

[Zanna]

Zanna
You might take Type 1 [ #1 pic] and breed to very heavy type and light marked hen and see what you get.
To quote Walt when I said I only had one nice marked Cockerel but was on small size- "you never know but he might be carrying large genes "
Your Cockerels don't seem to be having the wing issues others are ??

Well the molt appears to be on full swing here since tail feathers have been disappearing for about 4 weeks and egg production is averaging 1/2 egg a day [7 hens].
And that includes DWs two EEs one of which is our best layer.

Heres a Pic of " Poly Pincushion" - ya think the molt is on LOL

She looks the same from the back also .

Yes, I have molt in full swing too, mine look just like yours! Several are raising chicks so were not laying anyways, that helps. I had hoped to do some fall breeding but not going to happen yet.

My cockerals had the wing problems too but I think I have culled all of them already. The dozen that I will keep at least till next Spring all look ok I think. Some of the pullets still look a little off but wing feathers are still growing in and I think things will resolve themselves as they did in my NH.

 

[har]

Zanna nice looking chickens. Like the New Hampshire also!!!

 

[capayvalleychick]

As promised, yesterday I did catch each of the 9 cockerels I had moved into the bachelor pad, put them in Dad's lap, pulled out their wings one at a time with one hand, and pushed buttons on my iPhone with the other hand. Then I put them in this holding cage.



That's all but the biggest bird, who was the last one we handled so we just put him right back in the coop.

I tried to take a photo of his width from above, but he was super annoyed with me at that point and wouldn't be still.



He looks relatively rectangular from the front of his shoulder to the start of his tail, so I think that means he'll have a balanced width. He is tall. He needs to fill out some more to have the right shape. And of course his color is a mess ...


The wing photos are pretty useless.

This is one of the wings from that same cockerel. It is maybe more developed than some of the others in that I can find the secondary feathers, but you can see there are still some feathers coming in, some that look like they need to molt out, and some of the odd gaps, and the twists in the last few feathers (first few?) we've been talking about.




Handling them reminded me to dust them for mites. Le sigh.

In terms of the project goals, it wasn't a total waste of time, though, as I believe I now understand why Walt tells us to WAIT until a bird has ALL it's wing feathers before we decide if it has wing issues. I couldn't even find secondary feathers on some of the younger birds, and wings do look especially weird that way, even if you're not holding them correctly and are not fully informed about what they're supposed to look like. I'm going to give it a few more weeks at least before I panic.

And the pullets? We're not allowed to laugh at this photo. Here is the Delaware Cock with some of his daughter pullets. He is molting and only has one tail feather left. Hanging on to the last shred of his dignity like a true leader (by mooching for food at the trough).

Leslie and all, glad that you could post some pictures. Looks very familiar and I think you will see changes in a month or so. Even if you end up with too much color this year, you will likely see improvement next year. It definitely looks like you have some good ones to choose from.
I'm seeing mites for the first time ever. Really hard to get rid of, with so many birds. My wire panel grow out pens allow the sparrows to get in and they must be the source of the bugs.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Here are some pictures of some of my cockeral F'5's from this years breedings. I have two distinct types, as their Fathers that I used. One type has longer/thinnner feathers on their neck and saddles. When their heads are down the feathers hang down towards the ground. These guys also have a flatter, more elongated head. Last year on this thread I posted a picture of the Dad of these birds, Kathy liked him and said he looked just like his Dad. Not sure I am liking these birds as well as the others. The others have a smoother/tighter look, wider/shorter neck saddle feathers and at this point much less smut/spotting on the chest. They have a rounder, fatter looking head. Open to any discussions/opinions you all have

A younger cockeral, older cockeral and front chest pic. of type #1






Type #2 and a pic. of the two types side by side:

I think that I see what you are saying. The second type does look somewhat more sturdy and wide. It's so hard to tell with photos, but the first shots look wider between the legs, but with smaller heads. I think feather width & quality will be a longer range goal in this line. I'm not sure whether it's fair to compare that against different breeds, but it's nowhere near what I see in my other birds.
If you have a Del that's a great example, other than a bit too much spotting or barring, I would use them anyway. I am very surprised, after using my F4 male. He is barred all over, LOTS of excessive black. At first, his offspring looked the same. Now, the oldest have shed out most of that, and I have a few that are a huge improvement and look more like a big step toward standard coloring.
Yours and Leslie's definitely have nice rich yellow legs! Somehow, I lost that in mine. I have none with correct color legs. I'm feeding alfalfa & corn & tagetes feed, but not seeing a difference. If you come this way, bring me a male!

Zanna
You might take Type 1 [ #1 pic] and breed to very heavy type and light marked hen and see what you get.

Well the molt appears to be on full swing here since tail feathers have been disappearing for about 4 weeks and egg production is averaging 1/2 egg a day

I agree with Tom. I also want to see what a 1/2 egg looks like.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Here are some of this seasons pullets. A few have close to correctly coloured tails but none as good as their moms. I have no idea how to go about correcting this. Many losses this season to coyotes and hawks. I may have had one correctly coloured but I will never know. Thinking I have culled down to about 10 at this point. Many had such dark black markings, way overcoloured.

Not like I know any more than the rest of you, but I would worry less about too much black on the exterior feathers than gray undercolor. If possible, you might cull for the undercolor, but continue on with the best of the others.
How many Del hens have you seen with correct tail coloring? I always wonder what on earth whomever wrote the standard was thinking, when it comes to the color pattern in Delawares?! Maybe it was part of a cruel joke. Why on earth would such a difficult pattern be required in a broiler?!
Every time my pullets molt, the tail pattern changes. I've just decided to do the best that I can, or I'll lose my mind trying to get perfection.

 

[Zanna]

Not like I know any more than the rest of you, but I would worry less about too much black on the exterior feathers than gray undercolor. If possible, you might cull for the undercolor, but continue on with the best of the others.
How many Del hens have you seen with correct tail coloring? I always wonder what on earth whomever wrote the standard was thinking, when it comes to the color pattern in Delawares?! Maybe it was part of a cruel joke. Why on earth would such a difficult pattern be required in a broiler?!
Every time my pullets molt, the tail pattern changes. I've just decided to do the best that I can, or I'll lose my mind trying to get perfection.

I am with you on the trying to get perfection part but I am a perfectionist Looking back at pics of my old line of Dels which I no longer have, colour pretty much bred true. Here are some pics of parents and offspring 2011/2012. They did not have near the better type of this new line, but colour seemed pretty much set, never considered it much of an issue. The hens grew out to be white with no smut, tails were not always as black as they should be but never had barring. That being said, the cockerals/cocks did not have as clear/distinct barring in the tails as this new line and the some of their tail feathers tended to turn completely white with age.

The last pic. is a wing of a youngster from this line that I believe to be correct. The cockeral is about the same age as some of our F'5's of this line with the wing issues. The maturity rate of my old line was much faster than this new line and what I am still seeing in some of the wings now, is feather growth at different stages which I am hoping will even out with time. Some look so odd that I can not count the number of feathers as was pretty easy to do on the bird in the last pic.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I am with you on the trying to get perfection part but I am a perfectionist Looking back at pics of my old line of Dels which I no longer have, colour pretty much bred true. Here are some pics of parents and offspring 2011/2012. They did not have near the better type of this new line, but colour seemed pretty much set, never considered it much of an issue. The hens grew out to be white with no smut, tails were not always as black as they should be but never had barring. That being said, the cockerals/cocks did not have as clear/distinct barring in the tails as this new line and the some of their tail feathers tended to turn completely white with age.

The last pic. is a wing of a youngster from this line that I believe to be correct. The cockeral is about the same age as some of our F'5's of this line with the wing issues. The maturity rate of my old line was much faster than this new line and what I am still seeing in some of the wings now, is feather growth at different stages which I am hoping will even out with time. Some look so odd that I can not count the number of feathers as was pretty easy to do on the bird in the last pic.

....

It is interesting to see examples from another line. The two lines really do look different.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Well the molt appears to be on full swing here since tail feathers have been disappearing for about 4 weeks and egg production is averaging 1/2 egg a day [7 hens].
And that includes DWs two EEs one of which is our best layer.

Heres a Pic of " Poly Pincushion" - ya think the molt is on LOL

She looks the same from the back also .

I haven't seen a Delaware molt like that yet. I've got some hatchery birds that make your girl look pretty. They seem to get well into a molt, then decide molting season is over and stop wherever they left off like this is a nudist colony. I've had a couple little black birds be naked all year. I'm hoping they grow some feathers this fall. I find it hard to look at.

We're planning a cull of the laying flock, and I suspect the ones that got stuck in molt will find themselves on the cull list (though I do find them in the nests, so ...?). I appreciate the big eggs from the older hens that do lay, and this is my first laying flock cull, so I'm nervous about what I might end up with egg-wise, and feather-wise.

I was walking through the laying coop the other night trying to get a count of the birds in there (hatchery birds & mutts, which will eventually be mostly replaced with Delawares) ... and was noticing the roosts are pretty full. I'm only getting about 25% laying rate out of that coop right now. And the income from the eggs isn't covering the feed bill. If the Delaware pullets would start to lay, it would be helpful.

The Delawares went through a super gluttonous phase for a few weeks there. They seem to be backing away from the trough a bit right now, which is a relief. It was a little hard to keep up with them for a while. They were eating about twice as much as the laying flock, which is twice is big and all mature hatchery birds and mutts.

 

[finnfur]

I agree with Tom. I also want to see what a 1/2 egg looks like.

OK heres two days worth
The great thing about half eggs is you don't need to cut them after hard boiling





Nothing much more pleasing to my eye than White Dels on green grass on a misty morning

I was walking through the laying coop the other night trying to get a count of the birds in there (hatchery birds & mutts, which will eventually be mostly replaced with Delawares) ... and was noticing the roosts are pretty full. I'm only getting about 25% laying rate out of that coop right now. And the income from the eggs isn't covering the feed bill. If the Delaware pullets would start to lay, it would be helpful.

I have one of the five that has been laying during the entire molt [ she's the half egg a day one] have not been able to corner her in the nest to get a tag # - want to pass those genes as she seems to be good type. But she bails out of the nest when I come in the pen.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

OK heres four days worth
The great thing about half eggs is you don't need to cut them after hard boiling





Nothing much more pleasing to my eye than White Dels on green grass on a misty morning

I have one of the five that has been laying during the entire molt [ she's the half egg a day one] have not been able to corner her in the nest to get a tag # - want to pass those genes as she seems to be good type. But she bails out of the nest when I come in the pen.

Hahahaha!

I think we're going to have some green pasture soon. We harvested a crop out of the field up next to the poultry area last year, and Dad got chicken forage seeding instructions from some poultry Extension dude up in Washington State, but we had such a dry spring and summer the seeds barely rooted before the summer dormancy. We got a little rain last week, now I see little clover leaves out there, and it is very gratifying.

I know I have pleasant coops, but has anyone else noticed that their Dels like to hang around indoors a lot? They'll go out foraging several times a day, and will always come out when I'm in the area, but so often when I go out to the coop they're all indoors. I do have troughs outside as well as inside ... two little black DelaMutts from the last clutch still like me to spoon feed them.