Has Anyone Raised Murray McMurray's Delaware Broilers?

[wolfwalker]

So during the move, I put my ten DB in a dog crate to move them to the new farm and it took 4 of us to lift it to put it in the back of the jeep, the back end is only 3 foot off the ground. These are beasts. It will be another couple of weeks before i can even think of butchering the extra males as I am in building coop and pen mode. I have everything in temporary pens that are being held together with spit and will power LOL

 

[wantsomechicks]

McMurray's Delaware Broilers are hybrids. I found this on their website...

" Delaware Broiler — a new breed to the group, I’m most excited about this heritage hybrid. A lot of people enjoy raising heritage breeds for their homestead. The meat is darker and sweeter. And the chickens don’t look like aliens. These will dress out between two to five pounds, but can take longer to grow out depending on how big you’d like the bird to be."
https://blog.mcmurrayhatchery.com/2020/02/27/selecting-the-best-chicken-breeds-for-your-homestead/

What's weird is there isn't any mention of them being hybrids in their catalog description.
Do you think that means they're crossed with CX? So it seems like they're probably terminal.

 

[wolfwalker]

They have stated they will breed true. So to me that is not a hybrid. they look more like pictures of a Heritage Delaware, at least mine do.

 

[wantsomechicks]

They have stated they will breed true. So to me that is not a hybrid. they look more like pictures of a Heritage Delaware, at least mine do.

Interesting. I am eager to hear what folks' experiences are with breeding them. Strange for them to use the word "hybrid" in the company's blog post.

Have you harvested any of yours yet Wolfwalker? I'm in Arizona as well and am looking for a more sustainable meat bird option.

 

[Ridgerunner]

McMurray's Delaware Broilers are hybrids. I found this on their website...

Good catch. Has anyone contacted McMurray to see what they say about it?

 

[Molpet]

Good catch. Has anyone contacted McMurray to see what they say about it?

I asked last fall when I first found out about them and they sent a reply that was from the catalog saying enhanced. I asked again and they didn't reply

 

[nicalandia]

They could be the cross of a standard Delaware Rooster with a Red Broiler, the cross will produce Delaware looking birds but heavier

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've never dealt with McMurray. That is a disappointing response. The only ones I've ordered from were Cackle, Meyer, and Ideal. The only one I've dealt with on the phone was Cackle and they were pretty helpful. Hard to get them on the phone but helpful once I got through.

@nicalandia wouldn't you expect red leakage from that cross? Probably a fair amount on many of them? You know more about meat birds and how they'd breed than I do but I can't come up with a potential cross unless McMurray did some work to create a bird to cross Delaware with.

 

[Sweethorizons]

I've never dealt with McMurray. That is a disappointing response. The only ones I've ordered from were Cackle, Meyer, and Ideal. The only one I've dealt with on the phone was Cackle and they were pretty helpful. Hard to get them on the phone but helpful once I got through.

@nicalandia wouldn't you expect red leakage from that cross? Probably a fair amount on many of them? You know more about meat birds and how they'd breed than I do but I can't come up with a potential cross unless McMurray did some work to create a bird to cross Delaware with.

I believe that with delawares if you cross them over a red hen, the Columbian pattern from the delawares will be dominant from what I've read about crossing delawares with New Hampshires

 

[nicalandia]

@nicalandia wouldn't you expect red leakage from that cross? Probably a fair amount on many of them? You know more about meat birds and how they'd breed than I do but I can't come up with a potential cross unless McMurray did some work to create a bird to cross Delaware with.

since we are not dealing with RIR type birds here I don't expect much gold leakage and on males only, the females will be basically white these type of cross was done in late 1930s-1940s to produce what was called the "Indian River Cross"(not to be confused with the actual Delaware breed) Delaware Like males(Silver Columbian Barred males based on wheaten) were bred to New Hampshire females(they were and remained the best dame line until 1960s) this produced Silver Females and S/s+ males. Since New Hampshire are not as Red Enhanced as RIR the cross will have very few gold leakage