Delawares from kathyinmo

[finnfur]

Whoopee!!!!! Egg production up 800% today - four eggs today and three were from the five F4s and 1 EE .
Wife says they must a seen the white egg shells from the store in the scraps . So they decided to go off strike .

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Yay! Did you put them right into today's meal?

We got a duck egg this morning so fresh it was still warm. Yes, it was already covered in mud. They prefer to lay outside by the pond rather than in the coop nesting boxes.

 

[shorttimer]

It took a long time to read through the whole thread, but after a few pages I had decided to have Delawares as my main breed. I was looking for a breed that had all the fine attributes that the Delaware have. I was particularly taken by the picture of one of her flock running over to her & giving her a hug. However, before I got to the end, I realized that Kathy had stopped letting go any of her fine stock from her breeding program. I know, that in most places in the country it's turning to winter, though not so much in Ca, so the off season is slowing things down. Are there places on the west coast where this breed is available? I don't plan on staying in Ca forever, in fact I will more than likely be moving to N. Wa. state in the next year. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Zanna]

It took a long time to read through the whole thread, but after a few pages I had decided to have Delawares as my main breed. I was looking for a breed that had all the fine attributes that the Delaware have. I was particularly taken by the picture of one of her flock running over to her & giving her a hug. However, before I got to the end, I realized that Kathy had stopped letting go any of her fine stock from her breeding program. I know, that in most places in the country it's turning to winter, though not so much in Ca, so the off season is slowing things down. Are there places on the west coast where this breed is available? I don't plan on staying in Ca forever, in fact I will more than likely be moving to N. Wa. state in the next year. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.

I believe there are three of us here on the West Coast working with this line, one in CA and two in OR. They are still very much in the project stage and I am not letting go of any other than culls at this point (not suitable breeders) but this season may produce more consistency, time will tell.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Bummed the one on the right is brassy.

 

[finnfur]

Bummed the one on the right is brassy.

Had same problem with the seven I culled - the ones that looked alright were brassy.
Today selected six hens to breed forward [ one F4 and 5 F5s ]- since all my Cocks have some brassy
I selected white as possible that still had good type- also no wing issued -
Have a couple F4 hens that really look good but have the wing feather problem

Edited to add; the one behind it looks OK but can't see whole bird- actually like the tail better.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Quote:
Frustrating. So you've saved a cock/el or two to breed forward. From the F4s, I presume? I think you said you culled all the F5 cockerels.

My second F4 female (of 2) is coming through molt enough now that I can see her buff barring all over her body like the photo of the one I posted earlier. I guess that means *all* my F5s have the Buff Barring gene in them. That explains why so many of the F5 females have brown. Maybe all of them do. We'll be doing the Big Look later this week/this coming weekend.

What I'm getting with the F5 males is more barring throughout the body on the birds that have more correct barring in the tails. The guys with the whiter bodies have blacker tails and are looking more likely to go brassy. But they also change so much color-wise as they continue to mature, and several of my birds are weeks & weeks behind. That big brassy guy with the black & gray barred tail is one of the older F5s... they could all end up looking that way, more or less.

Frustrating shame as they are looking so nice with size/shape. One could even say they look "tasty," which is pretty much the point. Unless you're breeding.

I tried to get a photo of one of the bigger F5 males that shows black wing feathers low on one side, but he wasn't cooperating today. Most of the other wings look fine from a distance. We'll unfold them during The Big Look.
EDITED: This photo shows the body shape of the bird in back with the better tail ... kinda puffed up in the photo, so looking more solid than he probably is. It's cold here today. It doesn't show his color well -- he has barring in his saddle, etc. The iPhone camera chose to focus on that leaf caught in the fence instead of the birds.

Edited again: This photo shows the color of the more barred cockerels a bit better. The big brassy bird is in the bottom right. I was trying to photograph the right wing of the bird on the left. You can see some black wing tips there, but his bodyguards are in the way.

 

[finnfur]

I think thats the same one in back I like - must be shy he's always in back. LOL

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I think thats the same one in back I like - must be shy he's always in back. LOL

He needs therapy. Or scratch.

Here is a picture of him with only the chicken wire in front of him. I had to zoom and crop a lot, so it's fuzzy. I'll try to find him today and see if both wings match.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Are there places on the west coast where this breed is available?

They are still very much in the project stage and I am not letting go of any other than culls at this point (not suitable breeders)

I'm in Nor Cal and am doing the same as Zanna.