Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[jeremy]

Har and Kathy, I'll think cool cool thoughts for you.

I can't imagine heat like that, our summer has been unusually mild this year. Our hottest days have only been in the mid 80s and those have been few and farm in between.

Psst... btw Kathy, did you see my new avatar?

These Dels really are super sweet. They're not as "high strung" or nosey as some others that I've hatched have been (Quasi...

) L0L. They will come right up to you and make little clucking noises until you rub their bellies. They're great.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
That's a great new avatar, Jeremy.
Isn't it funny how many people have their roosters for avatars? Beth has a nice one of her hen, too.

 

[joletabey]

It will stay that way, too! Yup, my girls are my pride and joy. I like my roos, but I LOVE my girls.

Jeremy- Stewart is starting to look very fierce and like a tough-guy roo. Is he still staying pretty sweet tempered for you? I wish my girls would stay nice and white like yours- yours look like you just shampooed the whole lot of them- I see what you mean about the hackles- but they have them, at least, and they all look nice and chunky- one more molt, maybe?

 

[Goose and Fig]

Lovely pics Jeremy. I hope so badly to have a pair- they are so pretty. BTW- I think your ameraucana hen is a wheaten- well the one with the nice dark tailfeathers showing, anyway.

 

[jeremy]

Quote:
Stewart is still a sweetheart, he doesn't mind it one bit for me to walk right up to him scoop him up and hold him. He likes to have treats through the fence, and like Isaac he loves his chest rubs! I think it's just a Delaware thing, they're like feathered dogs. He's great with the pullets too, Claude likes to yank on their neck feathers but Stewart doesn't harass them at all.

The Braden girls haven't molted yet, they're only about 2 1/2 months old so they've got a lot of growing to do still. I'm hoping more color develops in their hackles as they mature. The one pictured probably is the lightest, it's more like faint ticking than barring.

Quote:
The one in that photo might be a Wheaten, I wasn't really focusing on them. Though I need too, I haven't really posted anything about those girls on the Ameraucana thread and they're so gorgeous! I think they might be my prettiest birds. Anyways, I've got 2 BW pullets and 1 Wheaten pullet. I used to have another Wheaten girl but something took her a couple months ago. I actually hatched 5 Wheatens and the 2 Blue Wheatens (all pullets!) from Jean's eggs. That was a great hatch!

 

[vegaschick]

I have 3 Dellie chicks aged approximately 11 wks. I got them as chicks from a local BYC member who was shipped hatching eggs from someone (I forget who) on BYC. At hatching 2 chicks had bloody broken beaks and as a result one has a crossed beak and the other has no 'cover' on the nostrils. All along I suspected that I had a girl and 2 boys (the bad beak boys)...but now, I don't know, cuz the combs are the same on all three though the tail feathers differ on each. Maybe y'all can help me out with this.

This is Laurel, the suspected (pretty darn sure) pullet.

Wilmington/Smyrna, not sure which name will stick...one I thought was a boy.

Dover, another suspected boy, in front of the other male (?). You can see his cross beak very clearly.

So...what do you think? 2 boys and a girl? All pullets? 2 girls and a boy? HELP please!!!

ETA: there is NO pink in any of the combs, Laurel feathered out very fast while the other 2 took their time.

 

[joletabey]

Good morning, Vegaschick! Laurel definitely has a pullet's tail - and it appears in the second picture you have tail barring going on, which usually indicates a roo. However, I have been told that some pullets will start with tail barring and molt them out to black. It is a little hard to tell in the pictures if Laurel's comb is significantly smaller than the other two, if it is, you may be correct in your assessments. Also, hard to see on the third bird, but I think I see barring in there? A few more weeks will tell-
Sorry I am not more help, I have only grown out one batch of Dels myself - this is info I remember others telling me.
Laurel is very, very pretty, by the way - I love her expression!

 

[speckledhen]

Remember that many pullets have tail barring, which later molts out, Beth. Gracie had a tail to do a cockerel proud till she was about 15 weeks old. I'm pretty sure that's a pullet.

 

[joletabey]

Yes, I do remember Gracie, Cyn, and that's why I said that. Gracie pulled a fast one there! Glad you jumped in, your eye is so good at sexing- so do you think there are two pullets there?

 

[speckledhen]

I think they're both pullets, yes. Only one or two have fooled me in this breed, so far, anyway, LOL.

Jeremy, I'm very pleased that Stewart inherited his dad's laid back temperament. That is why keeping Ike is such a joy. He was in a nest today, crammed in there, encouraging Miranda, my Lt. Brahma, to lay in it. She likes him, probably since, to her eye, they look similar.