Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Looks like a lineup, whose the guilty party and why no numbers?

As a matter of fact, there are 2 or 3 "guilty parties," there! Their crime? Greenish looking legs appearing. These are not from my stock, but I wanted to see how they would turn out. So far, at this young age, I see good size. Will just have to wait and see. I have only 9 that I have hatched from my stock, and so far I haven't seen green legs, but I am on the lookout, and appreciate updates from those who do have my stock. I do have more of mine in the incubator, too.

 

[rancher hicks]

My first hatch saw a number of green legs and I questioned it here, but subsequent hatches from the same line have showed no green legs. Any idea why? I don't believe they stayed that way either.

 

[kathyinmo]

When you posted about the green legs, there was a discussion and explanation. Here it is...

Village Chicken said:
Green legs are caused by a combination of the Yellow leg gene (which is recessive) and dermal melanin which is a bluish pigment under the skin.
Dermal melanin is usually controlled by a gene called ID. If your parent birds have yellow legs, then they possess the ID gene which Inhibits Dermal melanin.
When I talk about the green gene in Delawares, it's actually the ID gene combined with yellow skin gene. There is no single "green gene".

Problem: the recessive form "id" allows the formation of melanin under the skin, and thus green legs. The good news is that this is a sex linked characteristic, and this will help you determine who is causing your green legs.

Hens cannot "hide" the recessive green leg gene. They are either pure for yellow, or pure for green. Hens possess only one dermal melanin gene.

Roosters however, can carry the "green" gene while their legs are yellow because they possess TWO dermal melanin genes. The dominant form of the gene is to allow for yellow legs, so their second gene that causes green legs is "overruled" by the one that causes yellow.

So if both of your parent birds are yellow shanked, and you have green legged chicks, they should all be hens, and your rooster is the culprit. You don't want to use these hens or the parent rooster for breeding SOP Delawares.

About half the roosters from this breeding will carry the green leg gene like their father. You probably won't be able to tell which are carriers. Only the yellow shanked hens from this breeding can be certain not to pass this gene on to the next generation.

You can keep a green shanked hen to test breed any roosters for carrying the green gene. A pure Yellow shanked rooster should not throw ANY green legged chicks if mated to a green shanked hen. If he does, he's a carrier of the "green" gene.
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David said:
Females cannot be split ID/id+. ID is a sex linked gene so females are hemizygous, that is they have one or the other. ID/- or id+/-
Green legged hens are w/w id+/- , yellow skin but lack the Dermal Inhibitor
Yellow legged hens are w/w Id/-, yellow skin with the Dermal Inhibitor.

Males can have both so
Homozygous w/w ID/ID males will have clear yellow shanks, and can only produce yellow shanked pullets,
heterozygous w/w Id/id+ males will also have clear yellow shanks, but can produce both clear yellow & green shanked pullets.

There is a very close relationship between Barring & the Dermal Inhibitor, so in a breed such as Delawares I would not expect to see green shanks, especially as Delawares should be Wheaten birds, Wheaten is also a dermal colour inhibitor.

Genes such as Extended Black & Birchen do put black pigment into the shanks, but these genes should not be present in Delawares.
If anyone has been crossing in Barred Rock, these are Extended Black based.​

 

[rancher hicks]

My question was why do none of the subsequent hatches have green legged chicks? I'm using the same rooster and the same hens and no green legged chicks. Unless the first hatch has hen sired by another rooster of unknown origin. I did get them as adults but as far as I know Nick was the only rooster she had.
Only the first 6 chicks had green legged chicks about 2 out of 5 (one gl didn't survive).

I will watch but so far no more green legged chicks.

 

[gootziecat]

Heads up, anyone in Ohio or closeby. A pair of Dels being auctioned off.
http://www.featherauction.com/detai...tandard-DELAWARES--Rooster--Pullet--Very-Nice

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
I have witnessed Dels at our State Fair so to say he has done ok is not an endorsement of a good bird. A lot also depends on how many birds of the breed are exhibited and at the Fair there were just 4. I've have been to two other shows and there were 0, zip, zilch, none. Personally I think Dels are difficult due to the feather pattern and IMO this rooster is lacking in hacklles and tail.

Case in point. Nicks tail is short due to being in the coop.

Now I could be wrong but the roo for sale has to much black in his tail and no noticeable barring on his hackles. I don't show and I am open to correction. For $ 50 I sold ten chicks and I'm certain at least some of them turned out better than the roo shown. In fact I've got a nice husky (they are dual purpose after all) in the coop IMO better than the one forsale. Though he does look heavy and that's good but not worth $25. I don't think any bird is worth that except with a string of blue riibbons.

Lets see what you got folks. This is a good opportunity to compare. The hen for sale looks a little skinny to me too.

Shoot I've probably given away birds just as nice.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
I was thinking the same thing!

 

[speckledhen]

That rooster has really no hackle barring, something I haven't really seen.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
I was thinking the same thing!

See who says you can't teach and old dog new tricks? I've learned at least something on this forum.

 

[Serrin]

Cynthia?! You could see barring in his hackles? Where? Where? I know my eyesight ain't what it used to be, but I can enlarge things on this screen ya know! And I still couldn't seem more than maybe three on each side. Although I did see a disturbing amount of tan/red bleeding through. At 2+ years, that ain't gonna molt out!

That pullet seems kind of scrawny for being at point of lay. Her color is certainly better than the roosters, but one wishes she had a bit more of a bowl shape to her. I'm with you guys. I could see maybe paying five to ten for the pullet. MAYBE.....like as in, if she filled out a bit more, or had a little bit better color...but I don't see that happening in the next 20 hours!

The rooster?

Not unless you're putting him with girls with awesome to too dark barring on their hackles. Outside of that, I think overall he couldn't really bring all that much to the table as part of a breeding program. On the plus side, he does have a very nice comb and wattles though!

Hey Walt! What do you make of this pair? See anything redeeming about them? Teach us, oh wise and knowledgeable one!

ETA: This is solely my opinion, based on these birds being presented as top quality breeders. If they were presented as simply an every day rooster, and a hen as a good layer for egg consumption, then my opinion would be different. But not as quality birds to add to a breeding program. Sorry. From what I can see, they both fall far short of the mark.