Delawares

[newbiecaroline]

These are meat birds...but I hear they lay a nice size brown egg too...so I may save some when I get to know them better.
They are 2 weeks old...no kicking!

 

[chickenshadow]

Quote:
They are only 2 weeks? Holy chit. I don't remember mine being so big.

The roos at 8 to 16 weeks made good soup birds and we gave away all the
hens except one to add to our main hen/egg flock. She is a sweety so keep
your hens!!!! The roos, well, sorry guys. You had a good life. :|

 

[Davaroo]

This aggression thing is new to me with Delawares and, honestly, I'm glad to hear of it. I wonder if it's because they have such a recently hybridized background, and haven't had their "chickeness" watered down and bred out of them?

Me, I like "aggression," as I equate it with vigor. I don't expect a chicken to act like a milquetoast and feel I am their steward, not their BFF.
I give them a secure place to live, decent food and leave them alone for the most part. They in turn do what they do, for me.

If I liked white birds, I might consider some.

 

[newbiecaroline]

Chickenshadow...I think that's Speckledhens pic you're looking at? SH chicks were 4 weeks in pic.
Why did you give away the hens?
why soup is the meat tough?
Are the eggs a good size?

 

[speckledhen]

The sex assessment on my picture was correct, the center two were pullets and the outer ones were the cockerels. I did have to separate them and BluKote the bloody victims for two weeks. Eventually, I put them back together and believe me, there was a little payback had by the Speckled Sussex cockerels who were badly picked on by the Dellies, LOL. I did sell all four Dellies because all four were aggressive toward me, especially the two cockerels, and not just toward the other birds. It was odd for chicks that age. The pullets were also very flighty, another odd non-Delaware-like trait. Just wasnt a good strain, but I know that is not indicative of Delawares in general.

 

[scgamecock]

Cynthia I have 3 Delaware hen's from McMurray and they are not very flighty but they are sort of noisy.I can actually pick them up and hold them and they've never been agressive towards me or any other hens in their pen.However I am disappointed in how small their bodies are and the size of their egg's.I got them for the "jumb egg's' that they are famous for.

 

[speckledhen]

Their mother did lay the jumbo eggs so I feel the pullets would have, too, but that temperament wasnt one I like to keep here. I think the ones I'll be hatching next month should be more like what this breed is supposed to be.

 

[ginasmarans]

I have 8, week old Deleware chicks. They are with 5 other chicks,1 a silkie, I have not noticed any aggression, but they are young. Mine are feathering in with black in their wing feathers. I guess this is normal. Mine did not come from a hatchery,but from a member on this board.

 

[CarolinaGirl]

I have a Delaware pullet from Ideal and she's far from aggressive. She's about 15 weeks now and follows me like a dog, flies onto my lap when I kneel down and isn't a bully to the others in her flock. She IS noisy, though!

I don't know about her eggs yet but I do know she's a bigger bird compared to my other hens that are her age. Hopefully, she'll remain sweet and flock-friendly seeing as I got her because I heard Delawares were so docile.

Hope your next batch has her personality, SpeckledHen!

 

[shortcake1806]

I've been working with Delawares for a while now my birds aren't agressive. Definately curious and not flighty but not agressive. I think like any other breed there are good and bad birds. I've always heard silkies were super tame but my sister had a couple that were mean as all get out. They'd cross the yard just to flog you.

That being said I wouldn't allow any agressive bird to remain in my flock. They'd go to camp really quickly.

The black in the wings is normal and the pattern will change before they feather out completley.