Delawares! What do YOU think? Im not impressed....at all

[gritsar]

Quote:
I agree. You get what you pay for. You might luck out and get an excellent quality bird from a hatchery - I did with two of mine - but you shouldn't expect it.

 

[seriousbill]

Hello all,

Well, first of all, I'll evaluate the birds in the photo. Speckledhen is right. Those birds have poor type; they are far too light-weight and narrow. Delawares are large, heavy-bodied birds. The roo has nice tail barring and good contrast, but the hen reveals where that coloring came from with her heavy Columbian Rock-like neck lacing.

A few years ago, you could buy a bird from Privett that they called a "Delaware/Columbian Rock," and I think that speaks volumes.

 

[shelleyb1969]

I find it very "amusing" that you've only owned your Delawares for about a week now and you've already lost interest in them. I, myself, have had breeds that I didn't particularly fall in love with at first, but I at least gave them a few weeks to "win my affection". I agree with everyone else, though...hatchery quality doesn't even come close to what true standard quality is, with any breed. Maybe more research next time will be your best defense against unwanted breeds.

 

[seriousbill]

Hey guys, I don't think she meant she'd lost interest in Delawares. I think she meant she wasn't impressed by the photo from Privett (?)

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah, I think that was what was meant. That photo doesn't impress me, either.

 

[BeardedChick]

My first set of Dels are from Ideal and a couple of the hens definitely look like they have Columbian Rock in them. They are big with darker Columbian neck lacing. The others are a bit lightweight, there may be some Leghorn in them.

The hatchery stock will not likely be consistent. It's difficult to go by photos of one bird and think that all their birds will be just like that.

 

[speckledhen]

The hatchery stock will not likely be consistent. It's difficult to go by photos of one bird and think that all their birds will be just like that.

The only thing is that you would think they'd put what they think is good stock on the website photo, their best foot forward, so to speak. If that is what they think is their best, then doesn't seem like they know what a good Delaware should look like.​

 

[BeardedChick]

The only thing is that you would think they'd put what they think is good stock on the website photo, their best foot forward, so to speak. If that is what they think is their best, then doesn't seem like they know what a good Delaware should look like.

Based on the number of chicken breeds they sell, I don't see how they *could* know what each variety should look like. They probably just picked a couple of clean, healthy looking chickens and put them in the picture.​

 

[speckledhen]

You could be right about that.

 

[seriousbill]

I agree with you guys, but I also think that they probably thought those birds were colored well. A lot of people look at the general color pattern as the main factor for identifying a breed. I'd like to have a dollar for every time that's been the case on the "what breed or gender is this?" board here at BYC