Seriousbill- your Delawares are awesome!!! pics added

[speckledhen]

I'm not exactly sure about Privett and Welp. I know that one of the large hatcheries sometimes drop-ships for another and there are many smaller ones who are only drop-shippers. I've never had any chicks or hatching eggs shipped to me from a hatchery, though.

 

[McSpin]

It just hit me that my mathematical calculations were wrong. Here's how the odds are figured.

pick one bird out out 30 that is a male with 3 males in the group = 1 out of 10

Remove that bird - odds of getting a male on the next pick = 1 out of 14.5

Remove that bird - odds of getting a male on the next pick = 1 out of 28.

Odds are figured as the multiple of those numbers 1 out of 4060.

Still well in my favor, but not what I was guessing.

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
This was my first order from a hatchery. Over the past few years I've gotten in several other varieties - all from small backyard breeders.

I wasn't looking for show birds. I have several breeds I'll work with for that first. I wanted a production bird that would have good size. After a bit of research, I found several people who were very happy with their Delawares from a larger hatchery. One of them had previously gotten them from Welp, so that's why I gave them a try. I paid less for 30 birds shipped to my door, than I would have for a couple dozen eggs from some backyard breeders. It is worth the risk considering my needs.

Surprisingly, without any doubt these are the nicest chicks I've had to this point. Very friendly, curious, healthy, active - more so than all my others when they were chicks. There is no significant size disparity, no deformities, not a single bird I'm not happy with at this point. Of course, time will tell if they meet the grade as a good sized production bird with good temperament.

I actually like these chicks so much that I'm now thinking of getting some show quality birds to mix in. I could keep the lines separate and use the roos from the show line to breed to these pullets and I'd have my own feather-sexable birds that easily - 1 generation.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
Doesn't this assume that you know there are exactly three males at the time of sexing?

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
Yes, and I did.

 

[speckledhen]

If Janet had not persisted in trying to convince me to give these a try, I would not have Delawares now because my first experience with them was, well, shall we say, less than satisfying? That's putting it mildly. I hatched them here from eggs that came from a friend's breeding pair, who came from McMurray. I got 2 pullets and 2 cockerels out of those eggs. They were the most aggressive, mean, flighty chicks I've ever seen. They almost decimated the 9 Speckled Sussex who were in the huge grow-out coop with them. They plucked them bare and raw in the space of two hours and I had to put those four in a large dog crate to separate them till they were sold.
The cockerels would bite me, viciously, and the pullets would run from us if they weren't biting us, also. If we had not been home that day, there would have been dead chicks in there. At the ages of about six or seven weeks old, I sold every one of them. Janet will tell you that when she asked me to do a fertility test hatch for her, I was very hesitant. I'm glad, however, that I decided to take her at her word that I would be pleased with them and I have been. I have no idea if that same aggressive strain is still being propagated, but I have heard stories just like mine from others. The ones I hatched both times since then have been almost like a different breed from that first batch.

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
It goes to show how different lines can be. I have two lines of ameraucanas. Once is docile, lays big eggs and is broody. The other is flightly (to the extreme), not broody and lays the bluest eggs I've ever seen. It's also the show line and has far more deformities appearing than the docile line. Now, to get those intense blue eggs coming out of the calm, broody line....

 

[speckledhen]

Absolutely, the lines can differ alot, but once you've been burned, it's hard to take another chance. I am very pleased that I did, though. And two of the eight-week-old cockerels were crowing this mornig. I love that milestone!

 

[shortcake1806]

I agree with Cyn as usual on this. Some Delawares are down right nasty others are wonderful.