Though the Delaware was created about the 1940's, it is critically endangered, a true American breed, and I myself do consider it a heritage breed. It was essentially a meat bird before the Cornish X took over in popularity. It is left off of one list, though it is still on another, because it was created a bit later than whatever cutoff they are using, but they are very much worth saving. Here is part of a discussion of heritage breeds awhile back, which is very relevant to this thread:
seriousbill wrote:
speckledhen wrote:
speckledhen wrote:
I dont have a good, concise working definition but this is my take on it. Some might say heritage means a breed original to this country, but I would say it's more than that. I would say heritage breed preservation does not mean indiscriminate matings in large numbers of a breed with the intent of merely making more birds, regardless of the standards originally set forth. They are not just "chicken mill" hatchery stock, but more closely related to the original breed, not diluted as it were, but bred to a prescribed standard. For instance, the Rhode Island Red is a great common example. How many see the rich, dark, black cherry/mahogany color in hatchery birds, the proper shape and size, etc? You rarely do, if at all. Today's hatchery RIRs are bred for egg production, and not much else.
I hope I didn't butcher that too much, but I'm sure seriousbill and NYReds and some others might be able to tighten up my definition a bit.
I'd say that's a good way of putting it, Cyn.
The way I look at it is this: Delawares are a rare, old-time(heritage) breed that nearly died out in the 70's and 80's. A few breeders managed to salvage what they could of the remaining lines, and kept the breed going. Then later, when there was renewed interest in the old breeds, you started to see a lot of hatcheries adding Delawares to their lists of stock. That might sound like a good thing, and in a way, maybe it is, but not all of the hatcheries have been very careful about the amount of "outcrossing" they do in order to produce larger numbers of a truly rare breed (also since the Del color pattern is dominant, it's really easy to do this and still get birds that "look" like Dels). Therefore, some Del breeders tend to differentiate between "hatchery Delawares" and "heritage Delawares." It's a touchy subject, and different breeders have different policies on it. Some never mix lines; others do. It gets more complicated when you consider that not all hatcheries or breeders are equal on the issue. But, for the most part, I'd consider a "heritage" Delaware to be one obtained from a breeder who has taken care to procure and breed from non-hatchery stock.
I hope I didn't butcher that too much, but I'm sure seriousbill and NYReds and some others might be able to tighten up my definition a bit.
I'd say that's a good way of putting it, Cyn.
The way I look at it is this: Delawares are a rare, old-time(heritage) breed that nearly died out in the 70's and 80's. A few breeders managed to salvage what they could of the remaining lines, and kept the breed going. Then later, when there was renewed interest in the old breeds, you started to see a lot of hatcheries adding Delawares to their lists of stock. That might sound like a good thing, and in a way, maybe it is, but not all of the hatcheries have been very careful about the amount of "outcrossing" they do in order to produce larger numbers of a truly rare breed (also since the Del color pattern is dominant, it's really easy to do this and still get birds that "look" like Dels). Therefore, some Del breeders tend to differentiate between "hatchery Delawares" and "heritage Delawares." It's a touchy subject, and different breeders have different policies on it. Some never mix lines; others do. It gets more complicated when you consider that not all hatcheries or breeders are equal on the issue. But, for the most part, I'd consider a "heritage" Delaware to be one obtained from a breeder who has taken care to procure and breed from non-hatchery stock.
