Quite pleased with my hatchery Delawares so far...

[McSpin]

These are now 13 weeks old.

I have them penned with some marans the same age and the delawares are growing slightly faster. They have remained friendly, curious and all 30 have grown without any defects or runted birds.

I have no idea how well they meet the standard at this point, but I'll likely never show them anyway. They are showing great promise of being a good dual purpose bird, since the hardest part is getting the growth to justify keeping any for meat.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Very pretty! That roo looks pretty nice to me. Time will tell after his first molt...he'll be even prettier!

What hatchery did you get them from? I actually have a young flock of Delawares that I hatched out from eggs from a very reputable "heritage" breeder. To be totally honest...I like my hatchery Dellies better...they looked better than my "true" Delawares at the same age. I'm not too impressed with them...but maybe I'll try a different breeder next time.

Anyways....very nice looking youngsters you have there. You should be proud of them.

 

[McSpin]

Thanks Shelleyb,

I got them from Welp. It was my first "hatchery" order and it was a very pleasant experience.

Here's a better photo of one of the pullets.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
you know...long ago they were used by the broiler industry, so you bet they will justify their keep...

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
Yes, I knew that, but I've also found out that those birds were the result of a cross and that today's line-bred birds likely don't take after the broilers too much. I have little doubt that it will take some serious culling to keep these birds fast growing and passable as a dual purpose chicken. At this time I know that I wouldn't raise them specifically for meat, but it looks like I might get almost enough meat to justify the feed to this point on the cockerels.