Delawares from kathyinmo

[LeslieDJoyce]

Here is a link to the Oregon NPIP info packet and application. I think when I looked before it wasn't all that easy to find where to SEND the application once it's been filled out ... no class required in Oregon.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/shared/Do...imalHealth/NationalPoultryImprovementPlan.pdf

And a link to a pamphlet about NPIP ... http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publicati...lpingYouPoultryBreeder-PA1708-FinalJuly09.pdf

Note this paragraph: "Carrier hens lay infected eggs, and the hatchlings are infected. Hens can be infected by eating con- taminated feed, infected eggs, or manure from other infected chickens."

This is a link to the home base for NPIP ... and there is a section at this website to link to each state's regulations. http://www.poultryimprovement.org/default.cfm

 

[marnette]

Hope to get a few chicks from these guys.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Last night was the start of the first PapaDel hatch of the season. Two foster broodies in a split nesting box, each with her own clutch. They are on the floor of the breeder coop, and will stay in the broody cage until everyone is up off the nest and listening to the broodies.




There is another set of broodies incubating PapaDel eggs in another broody pen and they'll probably be moved into the breeding coop before their hatch date.

Depending on how this hatch goes I'll decide if I set a 3rd group of PapaDel eggs or call it good for the season. I had intended to do three big hatches, but had such good hatch rates with the Mr. Fatty eggs this season (100% ... all chicks still looking good!) ... that I'm reconsidering. Numbers are already up compared to all of last season, with an earlier start this year.

We did okay last year with just about 40 total Delawares that hatched through early July ... I thought the hatchings were too spread out as some cockerels were really lagging when I really needed to be culling. But our hatch rates last year were way worse, so it took forever to get "50" chicks on the ground. Also, I was only gathering eggs from the two females I got with the trio. This year I'm using more females.

I have 41 Mr. Fatty chicks running around in the free range area being all kinds of adorable, and some new low-tech fencing to help slow down the coyote that has been picking off hens (hatchery mutt layers) from that same free-range flock. So I'm already ahead of last year in terms of numbers.

I'm using two coops/runs for the two different mating groups instead of toe punching. I'll band the "keepers" before they co-mingle. Might need to reorganize things for next year, but we are trying to "build as we go" to keep ourselves humble and sane.

Next step is to cull any spent hens from the laying flock to make room for the growing chicks ... if the coyote left me any spent hens.

 

[finnfur]

Sounds like progress - keep up the good work.

You need to "take out " Willey yote.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Sounds like progress - keep up the good work.

You need to "take out " Willey yote.

Too, too, too true. I'm seriously freaked out.

And the free-range flock comes to the new fence line each morning to complain. Loudly. They have a HUGE area. They just want it to be huger. Dad keeps telling them, "Quit ADVERTISING!"

 

[caychris]

Has anyone done an evaluation on feathering and growth rates for this line of birds yet.

Since the bird was supposed to be a broiler bird Im wondering about the growth rates of these birds. They seem to feather a bit slower than I would like (6 weeks not quite fully feathered almost just a bit more to go still) granted Im only working with a limited number of birds here and using culls from Kim's flock but it seems to me that growth rate might be a bit low. Now I know they are not Cornish fast but the few I have hatched so far seem to be about a week behind some of my other breeds.

Pita Pinta seem to beat them out by a week so do my hatchery buff orps.
They seem on par with my barred holland which is a slower developing breed. Out paced by hatchery leghorns and seem to be lagging behind the hatchery partridge cochins just a bit too.
Can't really compare them to the RIRxW Leghorn hybrids I hatched those things are nuts but its just an impression at this point that they do not seem to be as fast as "advertised"

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I think they do feather slowly. I've got some just over 8 weeks old and still fairly naked. The cockerels. It's hot here today, and I spotted a cockerel stretched out flat on the coop floor cooling himself and he looks like he's been plucked because most of the feathers he does have are at the ends of his wings. The pullets look a lot more feathered.

Here are three of my first hatch of the year at about 8 weeks. I'm pretty certain the one on the right is a pullet, the other two are cockerels. The cockerels pretty much only have feathers on the outer edge of their wings.



In this one you can see how naked that one guy's bum is.




Interestingly, I think the males do weigh more even though they look skinnier right now. These three stinkers had burrowed into a broody cage and I noted the cockerels were surprisingly heavy when I scooped them out.

I have a couple Black Copper Marans that hatched at almost the same time, and the female looks very feathered, the male has really nice pinfeathers on his back between his wings, but is otherwise very feathered, too. I have to look twice to know if the BCMs are the 8 week chicks or one of my smaller black hatchery layers.

I was reading in another thread where people said barred breeds feather more slowly ... something about developing the proper barring in the good ones? ... and as these birds are very few generations away from being 1/2 of a good Barred Rock I guess I can't be surprised they are slow by that rule. I said that faster feathering was something I hoped to work on, eventually, and was told it would be hard work to make that happen without crossing in another line.

Note: I do NOT intend to cross in another line at this stage as I believe I will lose most of the good stuff this line has going for it.

In other news ... we had a major case of bad management here and essentially buried two big clutches of PapaDel eggs in too much bedding so the broody hens couldn't cover the eggs properly. I'm not entirely sure how this happened because I set up the broody cage myself and was careful to rake away most of the deep litter before I put the cage where I wanted it. And I'd put hay in the nesting trays, not shavings. I noted that someone had added some fresh bedding back into the cage, but I didn't clock how much had been added, or that it had been added to the nests, too. So ... out of 30 eggs only 14 gave us live chicks. This means I need to set another clutch or two of PapaDel eggs this season. Ratz.

Clearly I need to tweak my "completely hands off" broody management technique. If I'd lifted the hens during that first week, I'd probably have noticed there was too much bedding in the nests.

 

[caychris]

I was reading in another thread where people said barred breeds feather more slowly ... something about developing the proper barring in the good ones? ... and as these birds are very few generations away from being 1/2 of a good Barred Rock I guess I can't be surprised they are slow by that rule. I said that faster feathering was something I hoped to work on, eventually, and was told it would be hard work to make that happen without crossing in another line.

I'm not sure if its the hatchery nature of the PBR that Neal has but they seem to be very fast feathering and growing (though seem to do the growing in spurts)

Ive always thought Barred Rocks were fast feathering. My legbars seem faster than the dels but that might be the leghorn again.

NH are supposed to be fast feathering it might be the barred rock

Is there anywhere posted the process and birds Kathy went through before sending out the F4s would be nice to have that kind of history since it seems to be rather recent unlike the original ones.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'm not sure if its the hatchery nature of the PBR that Neal has but they seem to be very fast feathering and growing (though seem to do the growing in spurts)

Ive always thought Barred Rocks were fast feathering. My legbars seem faster than the dels but that might be the leghorn again.

NH are supposed to be fast feathering it might be the barred rock

Is there anywhere posted the process and birds Kathy went through before sending out the F4s would be nice to have that kind of history since it seems to be rather recent unlike the original ones.

I don't know if there are any completely organized posts about all the details of the the process. Here is an article Kathy contributed to that covers some things.

http://delawarepoultryclub.com/history_of_the_breed.html

And here is a link to a website for Kathy's farm ... http://kathyinmo.webs.com/

I read that Kathy worked really hard to find the most preserved lines of Barred Plymouth Rock and New Hampshires as possible to reenact the development of the breed in the most historically accurate way. I *believe* the BPRs were well preserved here in the USA, but it is the German New Hampshires that are more similar to what was available in the 1940s, so I believe that's the kind she used.

From that start, it takes a lot of hatching to get a very few usable birds to breed forward to eventually get to a Delaware.

 

[caychris]

I don't know if there are any completely organized posts about all the details of the the process. Here is an article Kathy contributed to that covers some things.

http://delawarepoultryclub.com/history_of_the_breed.html

And here is a link to a website for Kathy's farm ... http://kathyinmo.webs.com/

I read that Kathy worked really hard to find the most preserved lines of Barred Plymouth Rock and New Hampshires as possible to reenact the development of the breed in the most historically accurate way. I *believe* the BPRs were well preserved here in the USA, but it is the German New Hampshires that are more similar to what was available in the 1940s, so I believe that's the kind she used.

From that start, it takes a lot of hatching to get a very few usable birds to breed forward to eventually get to a Delaware.

Have read that before. Are the birds pictured the ones Kathy sired her sports with?

Ive heard that she hatched in the hundreds to get a usable pair. (Id be interested to know how she went about the successive generations)