Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[kathyinmo]

Congrats to all the new owners of chicks! I am excited along with you, to see how your SandHill Delawares turn out.

OK, .... This was NOT my idea! ....
DH said he wanted some meat in the freezer, meaning chicken. SOOOOO, today we received our order of meaties. 50 meaties. This really should have been done a month ago, due to the heat. Cornish-X, which I understand are so totally gross .... eat and poop, eat and poop, is what I hear. BUT, in about 8 weeks or so they will be in the freezer! My fear is the heat. Today was 92*. I know these things grow fast and have leg and heart problems, and I dred that. I built two (temporary) 8' x 8' open air coop/pens/tractors. I placed these in a very shaded area, under several trees, and can move them as needed. They will live there, after the first week. I plan to let them free range also.

I think I will keep a journal over in the Meaties section. Any advise for me? I am very worried and anxious about this.

Oh, by the way, (Delaware related!), I was reading somewhere that someone (a company maybe) is considering using the Delaware breed as one of the foundations for a new creation meat bird. Ultimately, this is to be an alternative to Cornish -X. Have you heard of this?

 

[joletabey]

Kathy, where did you hear that? I wonder what cross they will make?

Hey, I am glad you are doing the meaties ahead of me. I can learn from watching you!

DH is hinting, and I am not sure I want to go there, but. . . .I guess if they are in the shade with plenty of water, maybe some shallow pans with ice water and maybe a fan hooked up for a breeze? They are white, right? That should help. There is lots of info in the meaties section, something about feeding for 12 hours, then off for 12 hours- I started to try to learn something when DH started muttering.

Hopefully this heat will break- this is not normal for this time of year!

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Just like there are different lines of Delawares with different traits, there are different strains of CornX. I hope you get a good one.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Geeeeezzzzzz, I hope so! They came from Iowa; Hoovershatchery.com . They were recommended to me by a few different sources, so I hope they will do well.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
I can't remember where. I did so much reading and web surfing, trying to expand my (limited) knowledge of the meaties.

Hey, I am glad you are doing the meaties ahead of me. I can learn from watching you!

DH is hinting, and I am not sure I want to go there, but. . . .I guess if they are in the shade with plenty of water, maybe some shallow pans with ice water and maybe a fan hooked up for a breeze? They are white, right? That should help. There is lots of info in the meaties section, something about feeding for 12 hours, then off for 12 hours- I started to try to learn something when DH started muttering.

Are you gonna try it this fall? Fill up the freezer for winter!

Hopefully this heat will break- this is not normal for this time of year!

Isn't this weather just crazy! It is either 92* or it is raining buckets! Crazy for sure.​

 

[speckledhen]

The heat is threatening to claim my Tux, Olivia's sister. She's in the house in Zane's playpen where it's cool. Seems a tad better. I think if we hadn't brought her in, we'd have lost her tonight. She is bone thin, growing new feathers and heat-stressed.

 

[Cetawin]

Scott told me you posted you might be losing Tux tonight and I thought he was mistaken and it was Livvie or Ivy. Tux? WTHeck is going on down there Cyn....not Tux too. *sigh* Oh I am gonna have a stern talk with all those birds when I get there. Enough of this worrying your mama to death.

On the Dellie News....Yard Fulll Of It (aka Scott) pulled up to find me feeding my heathens cold lettuce. So, he met the infamous Cannonball and Fattie. Thor would not come to see who was visiting when I called him because he was watching the evil ducks on the side of the house. So, I took Scott around the corner to meet him. Thor was playing shy and would not come to me or meet Scott. But Scott was pleased with him...although he told Thor he was not as BIG as his daddy yet.

We had a good meal, good conversation and laughs. Poor DH kept Scott in the man cave looking at his collection of stuff way too long. But he should be sleeping at his hotel now. Scott is officially the first person to see the beaded Suede. He held it and looked it over. tada told ya'll I beaded it.

Cyn...I gave him your big hug and told him it was from you....and I gave him one from me when he departed. Cyn...you were 100% correct. Scott is a wonderful man and a great person. We really enjoyed his visit and have invited him to come back anytime and bring the family too.

Although...when I fixed his plate and asked him if that was enough... said "Oh heavens yes...I thought you were fixing your plate".

I admit...I ate more than Scott did too. LMAO I tried sending food with him and feeding him several times more before he left too. hahaha

And he was watching me too closely whenever he did not see Blue...so the menace is still here. I could not slide him in Scott's bags without being caught red handed. LOL But there is always next time muahahahahaha

 

[zephyrcreek]

I wish I would have known you were considering meat birds. I raised over 700 last year, and have started 400 already this year. Our third shipment should be here in the morning. I do raise a few CX for the customers that prefer them, but the best meat bird around imho is the freedom rangers from JM Hatchery. They are great birds out on pasture, and do not have all the health problems that the CX are prone to. They take a little longer to grow out, but are worth the effort as they actually have flavor.

I am working on a Del meat project myself. My goal is to have the excess roos ready to process at 14 weeks. It will take me a few years, but I think it is very possible. The big part is to try to keep as close to SOP while achieving 14.

Even if all I achieve is a 20 week butcher date, that would still be an improvement and would really help promote this breed. I'm already seeing a wide range in the offspring I've hatched out this year. I marked one hatch of about 80+ birds and am so glad I did. The variations are amazing. There are a wide range of girls that are a similar size, but there are also quite a few that are at least twice as large. I have seperated the boys from the girls, so it will be interesting to see if these jumbo dels are actually late blooming boys. If not they will probably be held over for nexts years breeding pen. I have already weeded the prospects down to 10 girls (out of the 80). I'll just sit back and watch now, and see how they mature. These were selected mainly for size and body shape. I'll have another hatch in a week that will also be banded for evaluation. I am selecting for girls only at this point. All boys will go to freezer camp. I plan on breeding the girls back to gonzo next year, and then hopefully adding a gorgeous roo from Michelle the following year. Of coarse we all know what they say about the best laid plans.

PS. I found the perfect place to plant those blueberry bushes. Now all I need is the Orps to beg for blueberry pancakes.

 

[Cetawin]

Don't you need to come to Northern kentucky...Southern Ohio? I can have a Son of Suede here for you after next weekend.... I am going down to Georgia to pick up his sister and if speckledhen has not rehomed the two boy babies, they are coming back with me to rehome. *hint hint* he is black and a real sweetie from what I hear.

And she is sending me home with some fertile eggs to incubate....there should be a boy in there. We can make it happen. Yes we can.

 

[joletabey]

Go for it- my Suede children are beautiful!!!!

Cetawin, you were supposed to slip the menace in Scott's car while your DH was entertaining in the Man Cave.

Lizzie has a friend in her pen with her, but they are not being friendly. Lizzie is squawking at me because if she shares space, she isn't special anymore, Jeanette is giving me the stink eye for putting her in with Liz, and Ultrasuede is stalking the fence line, grumbling about the whole thing while Luke luxuriates in the dirt under the coop with Cora and Eleanor,Alice and Janie. Georgine is laying an egg. Marianne is watching Ultrasuede pace. Desiree has dug a hole to China ( I told her Scott came home a long time ago, but it doesn't seem to matter) along the fence line in HER run, and won't share with Katia and Valentina. Silk and Satin are, per usual, eating, and I am going to give up and scrub toilets. Thus goes the day.