Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[Zanna]

I am in no way an expert [still reading at page 1050 of this thread] and learning fast but I think your self critique nailed it , I like the shape of the Roo and Mom - can't tell much about the sister from pic. I think you are on the right track. I hope I am there in under two years as my chicks will soon be on the way.
May be a expert like Walt or some one with judging experience can add to it.
Tom

Thank you Tom, I really appreciate your input! Fighting pinched tails, colour issues and brassiness as the birds get older but I think I am getting where I want to be size/shape wise after 5 years of working with this breed

 

[Lacy Blues]

I would love some opinions on this young cockeral of my breeding. He is 5 mos. old now. I am sure he will fill out in the chest and have a nice bowl shape, Dad is large and this guy I think will be larger. Too many points on the comb but there are no serrations, etc. and it looks pleasing to me. Nice yellow legs, nice open tail. Last pic his chest looks narrow but it is the pic. he is pretty wide. He seems to hold the right wing slightly lower showing more of the black feathers in the pics, not sure what to make of that, the wing is not split and I am not sure if this is normal for him or if it was because I was disturbing him in his pen. Colour is a little smutty over the back, time will tell if that changes. What have I missed? Considering taking this guy to a show and breeding him back to his Mom. Please tell me if you think I am way out there I had a full brother to him last season, 8 mos. old, awesome bird. Moved him to the breeder pen from the grow out pen to get started with some breeding and he was dead on the ground next morning, thinking heart attack. Needless to say, I am going to probably wait till this guy reaches a year before doing any breeding as I do not want to be breeding forward weak birds...........










Here is a Pic. of his mom, (butt shot, head turned to the rt.), and siblings, full and 1/2. She is 3 years old now, hence the pale legs......... She has a very bad looking comb to me but love her type.



Here is a full sister, also 5 mos. old. Her tail is pinched and she has a comb similar to Mom but I like everything else about her.



Any and all comments are appreciated, I am here to learn!!!

I don't know if my opinion is worth anything or not. I think you have a fantastic start! I would take that male and cross him back on his Mom. She seems to have more pelvic spread than any of the daughters. He has a good spread and hopefully between the two of them you can get some more daughters with a better spread on them.

Do you have another male that is not a brother to those girls who is nice and wide all the way back to cross onto them? Perhaps their Dad if you still have him?

 

[Zanna]

I don't know if my opinion is worth anything or not. I think you have a fantastic start! I would take that male and cross him back on his Mom. She seems to have more pelvic spread than any of the daughters. He has a good spread and hopefully between the two of them you can get some more daughters with a better spread on them.

Do you have another male that is not a brother to those girls who is nice and wide all the way back to cross onto them? Perhaps their Dad if you still have him?

All opinions are helpful, Thank You! The more we bat things around maybe we will all eventually get somewhere I do still have the Dad, he's got the size and I like his type but his colour really changed as he got older, Brassy yellow feathers, nice barred tail feathers replaced with White feathers I know I need to look past that as I am "building the barn" but is is hard, he was so nice when he was younger! Have had him in with the original Mom since Dec. and she is laying eggs with a ton of bloom on them for some reason and I had a really bad mite problem and I think that stressed them enough to affect fertility. Tried three different times and the eggs did not develop........ I will try them again in a month or so, the mite problem is finally resolved and I have let Mom back out to free-range for a while. Waiting for the son to get older before I cross him back to Mom. I also have two promising males from another line growing out. Their breeder was also struggling with pinched tails and green legs which I fortunately have not had to deal with. They are looking good though so I will play with them when the time comes, they are a little younger than the cockeral I posted. Always nervous about crossing with a new line, may try them separately at first...........

 

[Lacy Blues]

Yeah, raise chicks from each separate group you have so you can maintain some diversity and then cross the best of each group together and don't get rid of the parents right away. Wait til you know what you've gotten from the matings. That way if its a total flop, you're not stuck.

 

[Zanna]

Yeah, raise chicks from each separate group you have so you can maintain some diversity and then cross the best of each group together and don't get rid of the parents right away. Wait til you know what you've gotten from the matings. That way if its a total flop, you're not stuck.

That's the plan, as long as the chickens don't change it for me......... Lost a whole year when the last years son died, chickens!!!

 

[tigercreek]

All opinions are helpful, Thank You! The more we bat things around maybe we will all eventually get somewhere I do still have the Dad, he's got the size and I like his type but his colour really changed as he got older, Brassy yellow feathers, nice barred tail feathers replaced with White feathers I know I need to look past that as I am "building the barn" but is is hard, he was so nice when he was younger! Have had him in with the original Mom since Dec. and she is laying eggs with a ton of bloom on them for some reason and I had a really bad mite problem and I think that stressed them enough to affect fertility. Tried three different times and the eggs did not develop........ I will try them again in a month or so, the mite problem is finally resolved and I have let Mom back out to free-range for a while. Waiting for the son to get older before I cross him back to Mom. I also have two promising males from another line growing out. Their breeder was also struggling with pinched tails and green legs which I fortunately have not had to deal with. They are looking good though so I will play with them when the time comes, they are a little younger than the cockeral I posted. Always nervous about crossing with a new line, may try them separately at first...........

I know it might be obvious to a lot of you, but I thought I had a cock bird that developed that 'brassiness' . Some one suggested that I wash him! Turns out that he was just dirty, and I live in sandy Fla where we don't have any clay in the soil. Was also mentioned that being free ranging in the sunshine will bring out the brass... .....stan

 

[Zanna]

I know it might be obvious to a lot of you, but I thought I had a cock bird that developed that 'brassiness' . Some one suggested that I wash him! Turns out that he was just dirty, and I live in sandy Fla where we don't have any clay in the soil. Was also mentioned that being free ranging in the sunshine will bring out the brass... .....stan

These are good thoughts but my hatchery White Leghorn egglayers never get brassy. They dustbathe in the mud and free-range all daylight hours. I think the brassiness in the Dels is genetic. I will say though, last fall/early winter I was feeding the young Delawares lots of pumpkin. Most of them got yellowish looking feathers and now after about 3 -4 months with no pumpkin, their feathers look white again. With hogs, if you feed lots of pumpkin they say to stop feeding pumpkin a month before slaughter as the pumpkin changes the colour of the meat and it won't look like what we are used to.
Really glad to hear your boy was just dirty

 

[newmanmichael]

I'm glad to see so many on here working on this breed. I've had Delawares for a few years now. My original flock came from a hatchery but this past year I got some from Whitmore farm. I'm really really happy with one of my roosters so far (he's about 7 months old). I've had issues with the brassiness in some of my hatchery roosters. My Whitmore hens are coming along nicely as well.

I still have a lot to learn about this breed but here's my current rooster. He has a lot of filling out to do but I think he'll get there. I think he has nice yellow legs and a nice size so far. Tail angle might be a bit high but he's a higher quality than any other roosters I've had. Any critiques (good and bad) are welcome! Thanks!

 

[kathyinmo]

I took a few pictures this month....
HERE are more.

 

[kathyinmo]

A few more.........