Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[Bobby Basham]

Thanks so much, this thing is entirely from scratch. I tend to DRAW A LOT, and just sat down thinking about some 2x6 and 4x4 boards and started at the center and worked my way out like the spokes of a wheel. No method to my madness and it is very sturdy. I love the planning stages, but hate the labor involved...LOL. Being a musician, I just improvise as I go. It will be completely screened in from top to bottom with 1/4" hardware cloth. Only the observation deck will be open, that park bench being replaced with a glider and umbrella and a nice glass-top wicker end table where I can enjoy a nice beverage while talking with the girls.

This project was to be done over a year ago, but BobbyB is tired right now, working two jobs, so this has been on the back burner for a long time, and it's time to get busy and get ready for that spring order for chicks. Give me some blank paper and watch me noodle, not guaranteeing that any of my plans will work, but give me an "A" for effort. --BB

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Lots of people don't like Dels because they are into everything like cats. Nosiest beasts ever and they are also VERY bitey as youngsters (partially because they explore the world with their beaks). I joke with friends that you don't want to faint in a Del chick pen or there won't be anything left to you

That said hatchery Dels have been crossbred with more commercial layer types so they are not a good comparison as they don't look nor act like a real Delaware

I am down to just one Del hen currently (Chickcharney NOT hatchery) but she lays 5-6 pink (they are really medium brown but she has a very heavy bloom so look pink til washed)  medium sized eggs a week

I think the hatchery leghorns I had were noisier for no reason. My Delawares get noisy if there is a predator ... they are very alert. They forage pretty far, but seem reasonably smart about it. We have a lot of hawk pressure here, and once my Delawares are over 3.5 to 4 lbs the hawks don't seem to have much luck with them. The smaller birds have hawk net overhead.

I haven't been able to hatch any early enough in the year to get them to lay in the fall, but even the youngest start to lay right after solstice. Maybe this year I'll hatch early enough for fall eggs ... I don't use extra light, but one of my breeding partners does and she got eggs pretty early. I'll have to ask for numbers.

Here I am holding the nose of a young pullet that wanted to peck at a smaller bird. They weren't cannibals, but would bully enough that I like to supervise young birds during meals until everyone has a full crop. This one learned to like having her nose held!

I've still got way too many cockerels ... don't ask why, it's such a dumb story of bad timing and weather and lack of hands ... and they grab each other's combs and don't let go. So I've got multiplying cages of Juvenile Delinquents scattered around the property. The adult males have mostly been gentle with the hens and I use them as nannies for adolescent chicks after chicks leave the brooder. So I find them gentle enough. It's the hormones in the cockerel colony that start to become a problem for me.

 

[finnfur]

Yes the hormones in the teen agers is a problem I have not been able to solve this year due to time restraints. Not the number problems you have.

 

[Bobby Basham]

The park bench will be replaced with a nice cushioned glider (maybe include a huge rectangular shade for me), and I think I'm gonna add a tiny drop-down door right behind that spool of wire to throw in some treats without having to enter the run. The 6x6 or 7x7 coop is constantly being redesigned and will be a labor of love. The ideas just keep on coming. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

The park bench will be replaced with a nice cushioned glider (maybe include a huge rectangular shade for me),  and I think I'm gonna add a tiny drop-down door right behind that spool of wire to throw in some treats without having to enter the run.  The 6x6 or 7x7 coop is constantly being redesigned and will be a labor of love. The ideas just keep on coming. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

You're smart to make a comfortable place to watch the birds. Just keep them off the furniture so you're not sitting in poo. My chicken coops are outside my kitchen window. I have so much fun watching them while I work at the sink. Lately some of the hens have been coming to the office French door. That's distracting.

 

[Bobby Basham]

You're smart to make a comfortable place to watch the birds. Just keep them off the furniture so you're not sitting in poo. My chicken coops are outside my kitchen window. I have so much fun watching them while I work at the sink. Lately some of the hens have been coming to the office French door. That's distracting.

The observation deck will be open, but the rest of the run will be completely screened in. I will be "walled out" and they'll have no access to it. --BB

 

[Bobby Basham]

Wow, looks great! And love the 'observatory!'

Everything else will be screened in, including the roof, like an aviary. No wild birds or critters can get in. The 'observatory' will be the only open area, cut off from the rest of the run. --BB

 

[jossie2000]

We have one chicken which is a Delaware mix. Only chicken so we try to give her as much attention as possible! She's a bit more than four months old!

 

[finnfur]

Cute - it sure does have heavy waddles and comb to be a pullet. How old is it ?

 

[jossie2000]

Cute - it sure does have heavy waddles and comb to be a pullet. How old is it ?

She is a bit under 5 months now, was born on August 25. I've been wondering the same for awhile. Up until early November, she had a very small comb and it suddenly grew pretty big. I assumed it was because of the temperature as she is still living inside (until winter passes). She also started laying earlier than the common 5-6 month age I found when looking up when hens start laying, she started when she was around four months old.