Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[cubalaya]

i didn't know they were breeding them with green heads. i have seen some green legs though.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

They actually develop very fast. I have 25 in the grow pen. They will use the roosting pole during the day to nap but still want to huddle up at night. Go figure. They will use them sooner or later.

 

[speckledhen]

I know age range varies a lot between breeds and individuals. Is 6 in the typical range for Delawares?

I've found that with many breeds, there is a great difference in health and longevity between hatchery stock and good breeder stock, generally. Other than that, I have never heard of anyone with extremely old Delawares. If a hen that age passed on and had been recently laying, with no symptoms of illness other than slowing down some, I'd attribute it to just natural causes/aging. Someone asked me last year when my almost 6 year old Blue Orp rooster, Suede, passed away, what happened. Old age happened. He lived to a ripe old age for a rooster of his size and was not ill, just elderly, similar to an extra large breed dog having a shorter life span than a small breed.

My 5 1/2 yr old Lt. Brahma hen died, went downhill over a 4 week period, with crop becoming sluggish, fluid building in her body though she was still laying until just before that time. The fluid I attributed to congestive heart failure, due to old age. She was a hatchery hen who lived past her genetics. Her Buff Brahma "sister" is still with me, going on 7 years old but she is showing her age with a seriously sluggish crop (symptomatic of system shutdown). I consider her to have outlived her genetics and to be living on borrowed time now, but she's still kicking butt and taking names, though she hasn't laid since a year ago May. Though chickens can live to their teens, few actually do. I'd say Delawares are no exception.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

My six Delaware chicks arrived yesterday! Look like marshmallows!

Husband broke his own rule ... said they were too small for the shed, so they are in the house in the laundry room ;-)

Terribly cute. Ordered from a hatchery, came hungry and thirsty, but so far so good.

nice.

 

[Delawaremommy]

Congrats on your new babies!!! They are adorable. Mine are about 18 weeks now and we are on egg watch but not really expecting anything for a few more weeks at least.

I do have a size question for all you old hands out there. I went to a poultry show this weekend and my pullets seem so very tiny compared to the ones being shown. Granted the actual ages were not on the cards so they might be way older but at 18 weeks my girls weigh around 4-4.5# and are about to my knee with their heads (maybe 18 inches??) Are they on target? I have nothing to compare them to as this is my first chickens ever!

 

[christine9]

This is Kiwi. She's from a hatchery and one week old. She's my favorite because she is so friendly. She jumps out of the brooder when she sees me coming. She is always trying to eat the freckles off my hand. She's awesome!

 

[NestingHillsSC]

These are my 2 cockerels I kept for my breeders. There 6 1/2 months old.

This one is going to be my main one:










This one is the backup:


Here is one hen. The rest were laying or off some where. LOL

 

[finnfur]

Well - no eggs yesterday so we had the Management elimination meeting and I threatened to put this sign up on the coop wall so all could see from feeder / nest area.

We got six today- so sometimes fear works - or maybe its just the timer light I put in that comes on at 4 AM LOL . Now they getting up before the chickens .

 

[speckledhen]

Looks like a Delaware cross. The tail feathers being not really barred, nor with proper black tail feathers with white edging as a pure Dellie pullet should have, give that cross part away. I have made that cross many times and they look very much like this with sort of splotchy markings on the tail feathers. Some Delaware pullets DO have tail barring like a cockerel until they hit around 12-13 weeks old and then they usually molt those out and get proper tail black.


This is Serena, who is only 1/2 Delaware. Her other half is 1/4 BLRW and 1/4 Ameraucana, but you'd never know it. The Dellie coloring is a very strong influence.






And her full brother so you can see the tail feathers like Kika's that are not really barred.

 

[speckledhen]

We just lost our first Delaware hen today I just noticed her this afternoon, she died in my arms. She was old, but we are now down to only one....

So very sorry to hear that.