Received my 25 Delaware chicks today

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

I was thinking of ordering from Sand Hill Preservation next spring. You feel their Delawares might be a good place to start with this breed? We have a few from Whitmore in MD and would like to expand that breed a bit.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, Sandhill has some of the better Delawares you can get from a hatchery. Just get on their list early!

 

[rabbithaus]

Just wanted to say I'm drooling over everyone's Dels. I'm hoping to get them when I start my flock next spring.

 

[TNpoultrybreeder]

Here are my Delaware chicks at 8 weeks old.

TNpoultrybreeder

 

[Dirt Road]

How are Whitmore's Delawares?
TNpoultrybreeder; Thanks for the continuing updates.

Jim

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

I only have five and they are still very young, May 25th-ish hatch. For others comments, I don't think you can judge the confirmation when so young.

I am also not a great judge of the standard of this breed.

They arrived in good shape and Whitmore was wasy to deal with.

They are growing fast and have been healthy. They have been fairly calm. They are so much cleaner than the Corn/Rock broilers we are also keeping that the spouse states he would rather raise them than broilers, just from the cleanliness aspect.

Have to figure out where I left the camera...

 

[speckledhen]

One thing you can judge early on Dels is leg color-should be really yellow, but you see alot of dusky yellow and almost greenish-looking legs on some Dels. Another thing is that if the males have almost no shoulder color as youngsters, they probably won't be as well-marked, but if they have alot of color, as I see in many of the youngsters in TN's pic, most of that will clear out as they mature. Combs are something you can also see the makings of, as soon as you can count the number of points. The markings evolve till they are at mating age or a bit longer. I do see some stocky-looking birds in the picture, too, so that's good.

I'm learning, too! You realize how much there is to learn if you read the standard on this breed.

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

I've been looking at the legs of my Dels, comparing to my Welsummers (also from Whitmore) The Welsummers are almost an orangey-yellow. By comparison, a couple of the Dels have a greenish tinge, but it might just be the comparison. I'll take a closer look tonight.

Of the five it currently appears we have 2 pullets and 3 cockerls, but I am no expert at this stage. I'm even worse at guessing the Ameraucanas though.

There is a fair amount of coloring on some of their shoulders, especially one of the girls. Not a lot in the tail, but they don't seem to have much tail yet.

Mainly I like the meaty bodies they are putting on. The boys especially. They take much better care of themselves than the broilers, eat less feed as they eat more pasture. If we can get a decent set of breeders, this might be our meat bird of choice, even if we cannot get the confirmation perfect (although that is always something to strive for as well).

We have them with some hatchery Sussex (which are not sussex, but still a lot of fun) that are 2 weeks older. When a sussex tries to crow the Del Boys come running from all corners to beat him down. I will be trying to differentiate the personalities, as I would rather get a new roo than put up with a mean one. No point in promoting that trait.

Haven't thought about the comb much, but Dels should have 5 distinct points, right?

 

[seriousbill]

Quote:
Yes, you want 5 points. And, as Cyn said, shank color is a problem with a lot of Dels. And you do want a bright yellow as opposed to a pale yellow or a greenish tinge. Allow me to illustrate with some of my 7 week olds:

Pullet, poor shank color:

Pullet, good shank color:

Cockerel, poor shank color (his leg is a little dirty, but you can still see the general coloring):

Cockerel, good shank color:

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Shank color on my birds tends to be paler, in one or two cases with a very slight greenish tinge. Does not appear to be worse than TNpoultrybreeder's pics.

I will continue to watch how they develop. I really like this breed and will be looking for more in the future.

It is great that there is interest in it on this board.