Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

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Come on, Germaine, you promised us pictures the other day ..... No backin' out now!
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I am off tomorrow (Fri and Sat are my off days) ..... So, Jeremy, can you just stay up all night with me, and keep sending pictures? I love your pictures, and I want a camera like that!

Yup, Cyn's grandkids!

Kathy I'll stay up as late as I can, it's only 10:30 here in beautiful California, so I've still got a few hours in me before I have to hit the sack. I don't have to be to work until 8 tomorrow, which is late for me. L0L. Sunday and Monday are my days off from work, much to my dismay. I used to have Saturday and Sunday, actual weekends. But I got a promotion at work and with that promotion comes new responsibility, so I've got to at least work 1 weekend day. But that won't stop me from staying up late to watch those Del babies come into this world!! I'm so happy that there's so many pipping. If all that have pipped hatch, then I'll be well above a 60% hatch rate.
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I love the digital camera I bought, we got it on sale at Target before we took a trip to Seattle, it was a chance thing and I'm glad we decided to spend a little. It's one of the best cameras besides those that use actual film, that I've ever had. Plus it's so easy to use! Functionality and simplicity, some of my two favorite things.

I'm so jealous that some of your Cyn babies are already grown up and laying eggs. Little Quasimota has got a long way to go before she reaches POL. She'll get there though.
 
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Awwww, heck .... 10:30 is early, you can get plenty of sleep (LATER!) .... 5 or 6 hours is enough. No need to waste your life away sleeping!
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I hope you do have a great hatch. It's looking good so far! How many Dels are you gonna keep around, in the end? I am having a hard time downsizing here. I KNOW I must cut down, but I love my Dels, and I think I have about 40 or so of them. Of course, only 6 or 7 are of laying age at this point. The upcoming group (of 22) has some really nice looking boys in it, too.
 
Well I plan on keeping 1 roo, that'll be Stewart at this point. I really wanted to keep 8-10 pullets, I don't know if 1 roo could keep all of them fertile but that was the number I was thinking. But considering my Del hatches so far have been roo heavy we'll see about how many pullets I get to keep. The Braden Dels are my last hope this year so any pullets I get from this hatch I'm keeping. There's 12 potentials in lockdown. The other breeding flock, Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas, I'm keeping 1 cockerel and 4-6 pullets. I ended up with the Blue Wheaten boy I wanted, but I only hatched 2 BW pullets. So I'll keep them, then I'll decided how many Wheatens I want to keep as they mature.

As for my egg laying flock. I'm going to try and keep those that'll give me a colorful egg basket. So far I've got birds that'll lay brown, blue, green, white, olive and medium brown/terra cotta (WelsummerXMarans) colored eggs, no chocolate eggers yet. I've got so many babies in the big brooder I don't know who I'm keeping yet for the egg laying flock. I'm going to finish my hatches and do a final count, then we'll see. It's going to be a large flock because we're doing a farmer's market next year here in the city and our main product is going to be our eggs!

All in all I think I want to have about 40 birds total, plus my two cockerels.

ETA: I just went and checked on the babies, no more have hatched but the one little girl is sleeping next to her sisters, snuggled between 2 eggs and breathing steadily.
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40 is a good number to have, I agree. You will have a colorful egg carton to offer! Nice!

The hard thing is, deciding who to cull. They need to be grown out before I can let any of them go, and that takes time and alot of room! I have 13 areas now, and 4 more should be done this weekend or next week. Then, I think I will stop. No, I mean, I WILL stop! I have to. I am figuring about 8 to 10 in each pen. Alot of them will be my project pens. The big Layer's coop will hold 40 or 45, and I don't intend to have roosters in there, when I have everyone arranged the way I want. I am finding that my best layers are the Delawares and the Jersey Giants. They lay every day so far, rarely missing a day. My egg customers at work always want the dark eggs .... the darker the better. So, I guess I will be keeping my Marans (culls) girls for that.
 
My hatchery Del hens that are grown are definitely my best layers. Second maybe only to my Australorps. I have high hopes for the Del girls that I hatch, not only will I be able to use them as breeders but I'll be able to count on them for eggs to go towards the market when I'm not selling them as hatching eggs.

The layer flock will consist of Dels, Australorps, Orpingtons (I've currently got buff, though I plan on adding BBS someday, maybe Lavender too...) Minorcas (no boring Leghorns for me) Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas, Easter Eggers, Olive Eggers, WelsummersXMarans, plus a few odd Polish and a weird looking hatchery "Faverolle", I'm honestly not sure what it is...
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If I do ever get my hands on some BBS Orps they'll be my 3rd and final breeding flock.

Right. That's at least what I'm telling myself now!

Tonight I was pondering whether I wanted Lavender Orpingtons or Lavender Ameraucanas. If I got the Lavender Ameraucanas, I could work on a Lavender Wheaten Ameraucana project with my Wheaten girls. Then I could breed the BBS Orps like planned. Or if I got Lavender Orpingtons and not more Ameraucanas I could just breed them instead of the BBS.

SO many options!
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What am I to do?
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ETA: Bedtime Kathy, no more babies are showing signs of zipping. That's my cue to hit the hay. Talk with you soon!
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BUILD MORE COOPS!

I'll have to acquire more land, somehow, first!
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Remember, I am in the city. Maybe my neighbors would let me use their yard, it's got a nice large guava tree growing in it too... hm... L0L.

I checked on the babies again, they must have all decided to sleep through the night, no new arrivals. Talk with you tomorrow, goodnight!
 
OK, you guys, I am exhausted trying to keep up with the hatches and pips, and cute baby pictures and great ads for Del trios (good job, Marty) and the thought of building more coops and pens- KATHY!!! That means you have at least 130 -170 chickens!!!! I have this mental picture of you up to your nose in feathers. . . . . .
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The baby pics are SO precious- Jeremy, I hope they all hatch out for you. Kathy- I cannot wait to see Cyn's 2G babies develop- this will be fun. Hope they are not as adventurous as Miss Rose.

YES! I will need a broody. It is most likely NOT going to be Desiree, who is a born terrorist. She would probably pick them to death before they get out of the shell! (Desiree is the blue out of the older three you sent, Kathy, Suede babies have more manners. Well, excepting Athena, maybe
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) I have Silk and Satin in a little separate coop and pen in the area where the three bigger girls are, because Desiree jumps them, picks at them, won't leave them alone, and actually stands on top of their pen stalking and terrorizing them. She is one gorgeous holy terror. I hope Ultrasuede puts her in her place once I get them all together. Actually, she probably needs about three days with Thor!

Germaine, I will be right there with Kathy, pestering for those pics until you produce!!!
 
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Sold some Dels yesterday and one was a pullet maybe 8-10 wks. I handed her to the buyer and her first comment was how docile and easy she was to handle. I don't hold them alot but I do pet them for awhile in the coop at night.

As for the ACV I was trying to think of a joke about the acv being bitter and that's why you get more females but Del hens are so nice it can't be that. I would like to get some broody Dels though. I would definitely work to improve that trait.
 

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