My Delaware Rooster (and his hen)! What do you think??

[hcammack]

I hope I am not interupting anything or taking this post off track I agree with you seriousbill and speckled hen said.

I was wondering what their thoughts about my deleware pullets are although I will not be using them for breeding.
here is one girl as a pullet

here she is again

here she is a third time in the front

Here is the other pullet

They were hatched by Purple chicken and are from a member on BYC I am not sure who maybe you seriousbill if you have ever sent Purple Chicken eggs well not these girls are here in Baltimore and there is a third one a runt and she is in a hard molt now so no pics of her.

Thanks in advance wish I could have a dellie rooster to breed with these ladies if I ever need to rehome them I will remember you Kryptoniteqhs

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

thanks henry! seriousbill, do you think that hell get any i stouter with age. I had put in here that he hatched in may and currently weighs exactly 8 pounds. Can you tell me a little more about how a hen is supposed to look?

 

[speckledhen]

Henry, I'm sure your girl didn't some from seriousbill, just by looking at her. I've seen lots of her girls and yours just does not look related. Also, she isn't one who regularly sends out eggs, or hasn't up to this point. I dont know for 100% sure, of course. Hopefully, she'll give her thoughts on your girl. Pictures of good and not-so-good traits in Delawares will help get it set in everyone's mind, so it's good to see others and get expert opinions. Sure helps our breed education!
krypton, your boy's body type will not change. He may get heavier, but the bone structure is what we are looking at, his frame. It's like the difference between my two BR roosters. Dutch has a body very close to the proper Delaware type, very deep, very wide-chested. Mace takes after his mama more. I could tell as a youngster that he would not be a big, wide-bodied rooster like Dutch is. Even when he filled out, his body type didn't change.
I'm sure Janet will expound on the hens for you. I know they should be about 6-6.5 lb or so full grown.

 

[Opa]

I know that I have to add a couple of Delewares to my rainbow flock. Pretty birds.

 

[seriousbill]

Hi all,

No, Henry, I've not sent any eggs to PC, although I would if he wanted.

Cyn's right; I don't send out many eggs usually, although I do have a BYC waiting list for spring. I usually try to provide eggs to those who are really interested in Delaware preservation. My goal is just to get the breeder version of the breed out to folks who want to help save it. Now, my birds are not perfect (as I always say, they're a work in progress), but they are coming along. And we need more Del breeders, because there are just not many of us. I know of about 10 or 12 nationwide, and one of those, a breeder from MO who is elderly, told me just the other day that because of a raccoon attack last year, this year he only has a few hens left and no roo

That's the end of one of the top flocks in the country, folks... Your girl in the pic looks fairly chunky, Henry, but she's a little washed-out in color. But, the body type is the main thing. You could put her with a well-colored male and do okay.

Kryptoniteqhs, sorry I missed that reference to your cockerel's age. I'm afraid Cyn is right: while he may gain a little weight, I don't think that frame will change much. As to the standard for the hen, a hen should look chunky and deep-bodied too. She should have main tail feathers that are all black with just a little white lacing around the edge. But, she should have well-defined barring in the hackles, with good contrast. Good female coloring in Dels is hard to get right.

 

[hcammack]

Oh I forgot to tell everybody I went to whitmore farms Will Marrows farm and he has some beauitful delewares and gets up to a pretty good sized flock during spring and summer and then culls down to 20 hens and 2 roosters. he has a few pictures at www.whitmorefarm.com If I could breed I would breed but I cannot have any roosters at all

if I could I would have kept my Marans guy. Thanks everyone well I do know that the deleware girls came from someone on BYC not sure who though PC could probably help me out on that.

Henry

 

[seriousbill]

Quote:
Yep, I know about Whitmore farm. And I know the breeder Will got his birds from; I got some from him too

 

[hcammack]

Quote:
Yep, I know about Whitmore farm. And I know the breeder Will got his birds from; I got some from him too

Cool it has to be the pretties place I have ever been and everything is so gosh darn clean he makes is look easy to keep a 30 acre farm clean with 100 sheep and goats and 200 chickens!