Hatchery Delawares--What If?

[shelleyb1969]

I hatched my Delawares myself, but they're lineage can be traced back to Murray McMurray. I absolutely love mine...VERY sweet birds. They've never been flighty at all. They're 3 months old now, and so far they're looking pretty good as far as type and color. Eventually I hope to get some better quality Delawares hatched to incorporate into the flock. With the resulting offspring, it will be "keep the best, cull the rest". But for a standard backyard flock, I do recommend McMurrays Delawares...mine have been nothing but wonderful.

 

[speckledhen]

Someone asked if mine were from McMurray. Their parents were from McMurray and both the hen and the rooster were aggressive and were culled a bit after I hatched mine from them.

Besides temperament, many hatchery Dels are narrow-bodied and some have Columbian Rock blood, which manytimes can be seen in the hackle area. Not all hatchery Dels are bad examples of the breed, and I hear Sandhill has some decent ones.

 

[miss_jayne]

my three Dels have gotten great comments for their looks and conformation from several folks here on BYC. their temperaments are fantastic. calm, quiet and easy to handle.

all from Murray McMurray.

 

[Faverolle]

Quote:
I have a couple from McMurray as well that look like they have a little Columbian in their hackle area.

 

[BeardedChick]

One of my Ideal Del's looks Columbian/Rock-ish.

 

[speckledhen]

There was a hatchery selling them as "Delaware/Columbian Rock". Crazy to do that when the breed is so endangered, IMO,

 

[NateDomRIR]

Here is my calm, cool Trio.

 

[NateDomRIR]

I thought I read somewhere that the dels hackle feather should be barred and the colubian is solid? Does anyone know for sure. I'll have to look at mine. They lay really big kinda round dark brown eggs.

 

[Gatorpupsmom]

Our Dellies came from the feed store, and I believe they got them from Privett. I won't swear that they came from Privett, but they are hatchery Dels, and they have been wonderful. We got 12 Dels and 4 Australorps, and they are all gentle as can be. We got the first set of babies when they were only a day old, and that's been a huge difference with our birds. We handled them from the beginning, and they are more "bonded" to us. We bought a pair of Cochins that were about a week old, and they have never taken to being handled. They will come close for treats but aren't lap birds like the Dels and Lorps. They are both nervous and flighty, and from what I have read, Cochins are supposed to be a laid back bird. One of the Dellies turned out to be a rooster, and he'll "stud up" to the dog or cat, but he isn't aggressive toward people at all.

After we had purchased our hatchery birds I was worried after reading hatchery horror stories, but for our purposes, they are just fine. Now if they'll just start laying eggs, darn it!!!

(They've just now reached egg laying age, it's not a hatchery bird flaw, it's just my impatience showing)

Kim

 

[krullmm]

Nate,


Your rooster is super nice looking. He has nice tail and neck barring.
His saddle feathers are nice and white, with no discoloration from over marking. I have notice that most of the roosters I have tend to have some smutty barring in the saddle feathers.

He sure is keeper. How old?

mmk