Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[Brad & Barb]

Hi ,
We retired to Sussex Co. DE about 10 years ago.
My wife has wanted chickens for quite awhile ,
Thanks to BYC, We found out about Indian River's, now called Delawares.
After reading about them and seeing the pictures , We were hooked.
It took a long time to find the ones we purchased.
Well thanks to BYC we are up and running.
And a Big Thank You , To Karren of Bare DE for these beautiful chickens.
We built the condo for Blanch, Dorothy, Rose and Stanley, Plus a nice size run.
They free range most of the time while we are home.
Now have 12 eggs in our incubator, and hope to have Chicks around May 6th.

I am new at this, Sure hope I did the posting of our pictures the right way, It seems a bit confusing.

 

[jeremy]

Brad & Barb :

Hi ,
We retired to Sussex Co. DE about 10 years ago.
My wife has wanted chickens for quite awhile ,
Thanks to BYC, We found out about Indian River's, now called Delawares.
After reading about them and seeing the pictures , We were hooked.
It took a long time to find the ones we purchased.
Well thanks to BYC we are up and running.
And a Big Thank You , To Karren of Bare DE for these beautiful chickens.
We built the condo for Blanch, Dorothy, Rose and Stanley, Plus a nice size run.
They free range most of the time while we are home.
Now have 12 eggs in our incubator, and hope to have Chicks around May 6th.

I am new at this, Sure hope I did the posting of our pictures the right way, It seems a bit confusing.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/67578_our_delawares_4-18-11_024.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/67578_our_delawares_4-18-11_018.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/67578_our_girls_condo.jpg

Brad & Barb, gorgeous Dels! I really, really like your rooster!

Where/who did you get your birds from?​

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Brad & Barb, very nice looking dels. I love they way you can see inside the coop too, nice set up.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
You can't tell much of anything at this stage with a Delaware. In fact, they have to be close to 18 weeks old before you are fairly sure of how their color will be in order to cull out the less than desirables, other than something obvious like side sprigs on combs, etc. Even pale yellow legs can develop better color over time (not talking about green legs). You cannot rush the culling process on this breed-can't stress that enough!

Sorry to poke my head back in here since I don't have Dels anymore, but I've never understood this....

Wouldn't selecting the birds you want to keep at a younger age gradually move you towards a somewhat earlier developing bird? Like, if you selected your keepers at 15 weeks because that is the age you want to be able to butcher and you chose the widest, heaviest, most filled out birds at that point and butchered the rest, and then chose the "prettiest" from that batch after they were more mature, wouldn't that move you towards the ideal dual-purpose goal faster?

But, if you're goal is a very pretty bird that matures slow....(get a Brahma, LMAO!)

Just teasing. Partially. It was something that I found to be a bit of a put-off about the breed, personally. If you're growing out a bunch of roos strictly to see what the paint job's gonna look like, well, doesn't sound like a very practical bird to me. (I did find that the slower maturing birds ended up, eventually, looking best, but my preference would still be faster maturity first, good looks second.)

 

[bt2000]

Quote:
I have to agree with that thought.

 

[Lotsapaints]

I just butchered some of my NYH Delaware/New Hampshire cross chose my keepers @ 8 weeks by the fastest feathering and didn't keep a rooster only 2 hens and they varied from 2.4lbs to 5.4 dressed and I cut out the backbone and halved them. You can use the ALBC's Buckeye chick sheet for any breed and by picking the faster feathering birds you help your flock. I have been told to not worry about the paint job until you have the barn and I want to eat mine starting at 12 weeks or less they don't need to be huge these we waited on because of the weather. If you're hatching you are going to have culls I can't afford to feed the culls that long the small ones never get as big as the larger ones so they go first and then I can watch how they fill out and grow as I butcher them. These were very tender we BBQ'd 2 of them right after the deed and they had little fat and they were delicious. I highly recommend this method as they are easy to do and very tasty and you can hatch out quite a few so you can have a few good ones......

 

[kathyinmo]

Though Delawares are a great dual purpose bird, I don't think it is reasonable to think they are gonna be like a Cornish Cross and ready for processing by 12 weeks old. Not a good Delaware, anyway. One MUST consider the standard when breeding Delawares. If the standard is followed you WILL have good layers and good meat birds. I really believe this.

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
Agreed! My 11 1/2 weekers look nowhere near the point of butchering. They are chunky, so I suspect they would be able to in the future.

 

[Lotsapaints]

I'm not wanting a cornish cross but you can pick out keepers starting @ 8 weeks the big ones the will be the big ones @ 16 weeks since I'm lucky if one out of 10 is worth keeping I like to be able to cull ASAP you can start processing them that young but I like to wait for the 12 week size just trying to help out people to hatch enough to be able to get some good ones.....I do use the SOP I find I don't have as many late culls using this method so I save space and money. When Dels were the "broiler" breed they didn't wait for 22+ weeks for them to be ready to process....

 

[kathyinmo]

Maybe you can, but I can not choose my keepers at 8 weeks. Nope, it takes longer than that for me. I do not go just by size for meat. There are so many things to consider, and I just have to wait it out myself. Of course there are the obvious culls, but the majority .... I have to wait and see.