Delewares as meat production

[hhefner]

I know the Deleware used to be used as "meat birds" commercially until the new ones came on board. I'd love to start a flock, but have a few questions. Have any of you ever raised them for meat purposes? If so, how long did it take to get to a good processing weight? What are their strong points? Weaknesses? From what I gather they are good layers as well. I'm just feeling around for information. Thanks!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Good morning!

The hatchery Delaware I had was good for NEITHER eggs or meat. WAY to slow maturing and growing. Once eggs were finally laid they were on the small side.

So, IF that is the breed you go with for a dual purpose intention, please make sure you buy from a good heritage line!

French black copper Marans... have been my favorite so far for growth rate, personality, marketability, flavor, hardiness, fantastically capable broody's (FAR superior to ANY Silkie), foraging ability, beautiful eggs... all around great birds IMHO... noting mine were NOT hatchery birds and that may effect ALL aspects.

No dual purpose bird is ready for processing (size wise) before 16 weeks in my experience. This is why I have a grow out pen because most are actively trying to mate before then. Also too slow for ME.. were Orpington, Brahma, and Faverolles. But I am of the mind that chickens is MY hobby and eating is a side bonus... therefore I raise what I enjoy keeping and no breed is above gracing my table with the extra cockerels... even Silkies! I have not personally tried Buckeye or Dorking yet... both said to be good dual purpose breeds. So far most birds I raised were not the same in person as they are on paper, recognizing that we and the birds are all individuals... pointing to the need to decide on a breed and select HARD the stock you will keep.

Check out these comparison charts...
https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/pickachicken.pdf

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Good luck!

 

[PirateGirl]

I have one Delaware. I did not raise her for meat so did not pay attention to growing time. She is my largest/plumpest chicken of all my assorted breeds of LF. She looks like a bowling ball. She is docile. She is neither a good layer, nor a bad layer, and averages about 4 eggs a week in season. I would not recommend them for egg production if that is important. She goes broody often, but I'm told this is not typical of the breed. She is cold hardy. That's all I've got

 

[Mosey2003]

If you really like Delawares in particular, find a GOOD breeder of standard-bred birds. Hatchery birds simply don't compare to good breeder birds as far as size especially.

If you simply want a dual purpose bird for both eating and eggs, there are quite a few options. Good Buckeyes are always recommended for eating birds. Good Marans, as said above. New Hampshires can be good. I like my Barred Rocks, though they aren't as preferred for meat as the Buckeyes. If you wanted to get both New Hampshire and Barred Rock, you could breed black sexlinks and eat those males too. That's a NH male over Barred Rock female.

There are a number of good options, all depends on what you want and where you are.

 

[Molpet]

https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/fnc12-866/

 

[George3240]

Huge fan of the Delaware. Mine were hatchery stock probably seven generations ago. New roosters from a heritage line were introduced at generation 2 and 6. They really improved the flock but as suggested, start with a better line. Mine lay large to jumbo eggs very well, go broody at the drop of a hat and make pretty good table fare. I did cross a few hens with a Black Copper Maran rooster but could not see an improvement in egg color or meat quality and I ended the experiment. It was interesting but a failure in my opinion. Good luck.

 

[hhefner]

Good morning!

The hatchery Delaware I had was good for NEITHER eggs or meat. WAY to slow maturing and growing. Once eggs were finally laid they were on the small side.

So, IF that is the breed you go with for a dual purpose intention, please make sure you buy from a good heritage line!

French black copper Marans... have been my favorite so far for growth rate, personality, marketability, flavor, hardiness, fantastically capable broody's (FAR superior to ANY Silkie), foraging ability, beautiful eggs... all around great birds IMHO... noting mine were NOT hatchery birds and that may effect ALL aspects.

No dual purpose bird is ready for processing (size wise) before 16 weeks in my experience. This is why I have a grow out pen because most are actively trying to mate before then. Also too slow for ME.. were Orpington, Brahma, and Faverolles. But I am of the mind that chickens is MY hobby and eating is a side bonus... therefore I raise what I enjoy keeping and no breed is above gracing my table with the extra cockerels... even Silkies! I have not personally tried Buckeye or Dorking yet... both said to be good dual purpose breeds. So far most birds I raised were not the same in person as they are on paper, recognizing that we and the birds are all individuals... pointing to the need to decide on a breed and select HARD the stock you will keep.

Check out these comparison charts...
https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/pickachicken.pdf

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Good luck!

Thanks for your input. I have never had Delewares. It intrigued me that they were the "meat" bird before cornish x came along. I've never been picky about the chicken we eat either....lol Extra roos and hens beyond their prime usually go to freezer camp or canned for future use for my family.

 

[hhefner]

https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/fnc12-866/

View attachment 1691645

Thanks..... good info

 

[George3240]

I like them. Mygrandkids can feed them by hand and they are never aggressive. The Marans I have are very calm as well. All things considered I like the Delaware’s better but can really find no fault with the Marans. It’s just an eye candy sort of thing. An aggressive rooster gets one strike and he is gumbo around here. I don’t put up with it at all. After a few generations that non aggressive behavior can be bred into them like any other desirable trait, but that is just an opinion. The Delaware’s are very alert and predator aware. The Marans, not so much.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I did cross a few hens with a Black Copper Maran rooster but could not see an improvement in egg color

A good quality Marans rooster will pass his egg color to ALL offspring. Maybe he wasn't quality according to the Marans standard?

So awesome that you experiment!

Thanks for sharing!