Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[kathyinmo]

Bassleg, That is interesting. It says you can go ahead and vaccinate at any age, really. I would imagine it is worth a try. Are you gonna try it? Have you lost others, or just the one?

I am so sorry you are going through all this. I know it is heartbreaking. Are you sure that is what it is?

Buffbeauty and Chksontherun, I am soooo glad you have joined us! We all sure do love our Dellies!

Yesterday I was watching the birds from my perch (otherwise known as chair) and decided I would try to immitate the trilling sound that I heard the birds make the other day about a hawk in the sky. Sure enough, when I made the sound, all of the chickens ran under the coop and hunkered down looking in the sky for big bad hawk. I speak chicken

I LOVE IT ! ! !

Can you get a recording, so we can all watch!

So, anyone know exactly what "good" wing black markings are?

I have wondered this, also, Beth!

I saw the funniest thing yesterday .... My little Miss Holly (dwarf BR) had her hackles showing .... arguement with a hen through the fence. It was hilarious, as she stood up on tippy-toes, telling that old girl who the # 1 girl here is! When she finished, she proceeded over to me and hopped up on the picnic table next to me. Next were the two jeaulous Dellies (Stella and Della). It is just so comical watching them vie for attention. Grandkids here last weekend loved feeding them out of their little hands. We got lots of pictures, but not on my camera.

I have 16 Dellie chicks right now, and this is the first time I have had so much pasty butt. I have 5 of them that I have to clean off daily. What's the deal with this anyway?

ETA: Hey, Cyn, I like your royal purple color! I am red now, soooooo that means I can post tons of pictures!

I got this question from someone .... can any of you comment?

Kathy, one problem I'm seeing is that the pullets (most) have the yellow legs, but as they age they turn back to a pearl color by the time they become hens. Have you heard of this????​

 

[joletabey]

Pearl color - OH yes, I have noticed my Del's legs are getting more of a pearly cast to the yellow- less gold than when they were young'uns- it's pretty, but I have wondered if it is acceptable. Also, Luke has peachy red (plantagenet gold) shaded areas in between his toes. ?????

Kathy, is there ACV in their water? I think that is supposed to help. Although I have noticed a few messy bottoms on my girls lately- I have blamed it on the rain and the fact that they are under the coop a lot, and maybe pooping while they lay down. ??? How do you get red and royal purple, BTW???
I bet your grands had a great time with those lovely hens of yours- little Miss Holly standing up like she owns the world!

Tacey- I would love to see pictures. I am a pictureholic when it comes to Dellies- do post some.

Cetawin, I wish my girls would just sit still and take it - they come up to me and squat, so I KNOW they know how. . . .our boys ARE perfect and the girls need to do their duty!!!!

Bassleg, none of my chickens are vaccinated that I know of, and I have wondered about this- are you going to do it? I hope you don't lose any more of your kids.

YES - WING BLACK. Ahem!!!! Anyone?

 

[Bassleg]

So far I have lost 2 birds and I am sure it's Mareks I have ordered the vaccine next day air and one more thing If you have Mareks on your farm you will always have it, stays in the soil the vaccine
will do 1000 birds.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Ok all.....Del emergency here! Pepper is a bloody mess! Just ran out there hoping to get pix of the broody mamas with their babies and ended up tending to Pepper instead. I think the girls might have started doing like Cyns girls did. His comb, his face, all the way down the front of his neck were ALL bloody.

Then, I noticed a "little" blood on Sasha, Sassy and Harley. I think "somebody" started it then they all got in on it. In Ladyhawks words....."wenches"!!!

He is cleaned up now and I put antibiotic ointment (no "caines" in this stuff) on him and he seems to be fine, but DANG I hate to see him all bloodied up. Poor guy just takes it I guess.

Anyway, I'm off to eat then hopefully get some pix. Beth, not sure what to tell you on "wing black". I cannot see any on Pepper except when he stretches. The std calls for irregular barring, black predominating, in primaries and secondaries.

Hope everyone is having a good day.....hoping for a "rain free" afternoon here

TTYL

Scott

 

[Cetawin]

OH MY GOSH... Those WENCHES! Poor Pepper. What is up with these rooster eating women? I think it is time to get a mean rooster and we can send him from place to place just to beat the snot out of the rooster eating women. When he straightens them out we send him on to the next group.

Scott...do you have somewhere to isolate him away from them? If you put him back before he heals they may do it again. Watch him carefully. And as for these 3 - Sasha, Sassy and Harley --- no goodies for them....pen them up so they can watch everyone else, including Pepper have fun. Bad girls BAD BAD BAD.

I guess I am very lucky...Fattie and Cannonball learned really young not to mess with Thor's wattles. One went after them when he first started getting them...he learned her real quick. He screamed at her, jumped up in the air and came down on top of her, pancaked her to the ground and screamed at her....then thunked her on the head. Neither of them has tried messing with him since.

Beth...I wish I knew about the wing black and such....I always look to Isaac for what is perfect to me because he is so stunning. Cannonball has notta as far as markings and Fattie is just Fattie. I guess I would have learned more about all that had I needed to take Isaac from Cyn...because I would then breed my own flock of Dellies, but as it has worked out for him to stay with his mama...I am just keeping my two girls.

Scott...get pics of poor Pepper for us. I think he needs a blueberry pancake Scott.

 

[speckledhen]

Pearl color - OH yes, I have noticed my Del's legs are getting more of a pearly cast to the yellow- less gold than when they were young'uns- it's pretty, but I have wondered if it is acceptable. Also, Luke has peachy red (plantagenet gold) shaded areas in between his toes.

It's unavoidable and completely normal in all hens to have leg color fade as they lay more.



DANG! Poor Pepper! Ike hasn't had any issues at all with his older non-Dellie women.​

 

[joletabey]

Poor Pepper!!!! I'll send Luke over to teach those bad girls a lesson- ASAP!!!! I guess I have the meanest Del rooster- his own girls don't even like him-on the other hand, maybe he HAS to be that way. I have told him stories of daddy Isaac's dilemma, so maybe he thinks the best defense is a good offense??

I hope Pepper heals up fast- he won't like being away from his women, even if they are mean to him, I am sure! If you use Blue Kot, it turns the treated areas purple and the picking stops. I used it when the other Del boys were with us and they would scrap, and when the girls were establishing pecking order- it hides the red, and they quit picking for the most part. There are a few blades and points that are "missing", but for the most part, the disguise worked.

Scott and Cetawin- re: wing black. Yes, that's what the SOP says, but I still wish I knew exactly what it looks like- pictures are better than verbal descriptions for moi. Maybe I should try pic of some of mine and see if it looks like what you all think it should? Mine always seems to have way more feathers than the SOP pictures. If that makes sense.

Thank you, Cyn, you always have the inside knowledge!!! I am glad to know that is what's supposed to happen!

 

[popcornpuppy]

Poor Pepper. It must be something about the climate in Georgia that makes those Del girls act that way

I am now gonna TRY to see if I can help with the question on wing black. I have an understanding of what I think the SOP says, but my interpretation could be wrong. I just thought I would add my opinion to help the discussion with the hope that we can collectively come up with the correct answer.

Here is a photo of my favorite roo, Ben Grimm. Notice that he is holding his wings funny because he is hot. I thought it was a good pose to see his wing coloration and use it for this discussion. He is the roo on the left. The one on the right is Johnny Storm:

In the photo, Ben is showing off his barring on his wings. I think it is a good representative of how the coloration should be on the males. That barring should be visable even when the wing is folded and carried normally next to the body.

Now, here is a pic of Ben when he is standing in a more normal stance (please disregard the color quality of this photo. He wanted to be in the shade, and the shade did not photograph well) I think it shows my point though about how much color (barring) you can see when he has his wings folded:

And I wanted to add a pick of Johnny in a normal stance for comparrison:

Now, here is a pic of one of my Del gals. IMO I think my girls need more wing black (she is panting in this photo because she too is hot):

Can you see the small dots of black on the wings? One is in the middle along the bottom of the wing, and one spot is on the tip. IMO, I think the entire bottom of the wing is supposed to be black, not just in spots like my gal in the photo.
Lastly, here is a pic of my newest broody. That is broody Del #3 by the way

She is all fluffed up and you can see how much wing black she has when her wings are spread. I think she does not have enough, but she has great tail black and nice hackle color:

So does this help or confuse people. Am I on the right track with the wing black or am I interpreting it wrong? What do you guys think?

(and on an unrelated note regarding my broodies. #1 sat for more than 28 days. I took her eggs away and hatched them in the bator. #2 quit after 2 weeks of setting. #3 has recently gone broody and is from ..............................................................
dun ta da dum.................................GEORGIA. That is an Isaac daughter setting on those eggs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Popcornpuppy....I have a Del girl Sugar (who is out of Issac and "someone") and she was my broody del. Here is her imitation of "Mr T"...."don't mess wit me fool"

Here she is now with, the 1 black orp she hatched, the one Del she "saved" from mean ole Mammy and one barred rock baby I gave her.

Here is the one little Del baby, already getting into trouble, too far away from Mama and visiting the Columbian Rock girls

And here is Cora, my one GOOD Black rock mama with a black orp baby she hatched and 2 barred rock babies I gave her

I have Pepper in the basement at the moment in a large dog kennel (A/C down there!!) so he is cooling off and at least "clotting" for the moment.

I hope I'm not forced to do like Cyn did and get rid of some girls, but I be durned if I'll let Pepper keep getting beat up like that. I'll just give him all the "rock girls".

Oh, BTW, here is a "non Dellie" slip in of my barred rocks from show quality parentage. They still look like mongrels at 10+ weeks, but I really like the way their feather coloring looks.

 

[speckledhen]

I knew it! Some day, one of Ike's girls would go broody! Janet always said some of hers were very broody. Mine haven't done that so far (they can wait till next year if they want--I don't need anymore chickies at the moment).

Scott, she looks like she might be Maxie's daughter. They have almost identical tail black, or lack thereof.