Delawares?

[Davaroo]

Quote:
It is a hens tendency to brood, its what she does. We choose to breed that out of her.

Australorps have a good disposition, if the ones Ive had are any indication. The Australorp line is one that has been going unrestricted since the early part of the 20th Century. It hasn't experienced the die-off that Bill mentions with the Delawares. It has a long history of selection for both egg laying and disposition.
At one time it was the World Champ egg layer and even had a postage stamp created in it's honor.
You can hardly do better than the A-lorp.

 

[c.wilson]

i would go for the black australorps or buff orpingtons. great with egg production and are excellent broody mothers. then again the black jersy giant from meyer hatchery has X-large eggs and go brrody but they might crush their eggs because of there size.

 

[seriousbill]

I've never seen a Buff Orpington that was "great" for egg production, and I don't know of anyone that's actually compared them to a "great" layer who would seriously claim that they are. Henderson's chart calls them "good" and gives them a three on a scale of six. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
In my experience, that's about right. Australorps are great layers. So are most hatchery Delawares.

Edited to add link.

 

[chicknmania]

We have four Delaware hens and one Delaware mix chick. The one we've had the longest (Hedwig) is very broody. Last year she sat on nothing for a long time, later laid some eggs and sat on those forever. THIS year she was determined to have chicks come hell or high water; four days late, but by golly she hatched em! When I picked her up (the first time I've ever picked her up) so we could move her and her chicks to a safer place, I was surprised at how calm and friendly she was, considering she'd just had chicks and I was taking her away from them. The only thing she did was make a lot of noise as I started to carry her away, but when she found the chicks were following her in a basket, she was fine. The other three Delaware hens we just acquired recently. They are incredibly tame, quiet, and friendly. They are good layers and we like them all very much. The chick is shaping up to be quiet and friendly, too.

 

[chicknmania]

By the way, we got all of our Delawares from Amish breeders, so I suppose they might conform to the old Heritage types, rather than the hatchery ones (?)

 

[seriousbill]

Quote:
No way to know, really. You'd have to ask the Amish breeders where they got their stock. I know most people I've encountered who breed Delawares usually have a mixture of both types. That includes me. But I do have a heritage line that I keep separate. That line has occasional problems with thin-shelled eggs, but I'm working on it.

 

[DDRanch]

Last fall I got 15 babies, about a week old, from my local and very reputable feed store. I got 3 buff orphington's, 4 silver laced wyandottes, 4 gold laced wyandottes and 4 Delawares. I didn't really want the Delawares because I thought they were too ordinary. WAS I WRONG !!!! This is my experience.

From the moment I brought all 15 home, it was the Delawares that were the most curious, friendliest and easiest to handle. They clearly were the most comfortable with people, right from the start. They are calm, gentle and on the passive side with the other breeds. My runt is one of the Delawares.

My 15 girls are now about 10 months old, I love them all, but the Delawares are my favorites. All my girls are friendly and I am able to pick them up and hold them, but it is my Delawares that hop into my arms or lap and really appear to want to be held.

There will always be Delawares in my little flock. Go for it.
Anne

 

[speckledhen]

I'm so glad you had a good experience with the breed, Anne. It's not always so with hatchery stock, however. Not sure where your feedstore gets theirs, but mine were 2nd generation from McMurray. They were extremely skittish and aggressive, not only to other chicks but to me as well. I had to put 7 Speckled Sussex chicks in another location to heal from their wounds. In 2 hours one afternoon, they four Dellies plucked and wounded the SS, same age. I was so disenchanted, that I sold both the cockerels and the pullets and I'd have never gotten them again if it wasn't for seriousbill offering eggs from her heritage lines to me. The breed in general should be like you described, but for some reason, this aggressive strain was being propagated and it almost put me off Delawares forever.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
My Delaware is my only chicken so far to go broody she's not quite a year old.

 

[mdoerge]

Thanks everyone. You've given me a lot of great info. I'm leaning towards the Australorp.