Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[Year of the Rooster]

Speckledhen you're killing me here!

I wish time would fast forward so I had my own property and then I could buy some eggs from those beautiful Delawares!

 

[speckledhen]

I am just learning myself about this breed so everything I know, I learned from seriousbill. She's been instrumental in getting me on my way to having a really fabulous flock.

Brad, maybe some day you'll have that place. Would love to help you get started with Delawares if I'm still raising them by then.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Your so kind

But for now, I'll have to settle just looking at their pictures.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

From this description of the origin of the Delaware breed:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGD/Dels/Hoffmann.html

it sounds as if they may have used the Columbian Rocks at the beginning, also. The syntax is a little murky so hard for me to understand completely, but it looks like they were utiilizing the CR's.

 

[speckledhen]

No, the Delaware was a sport (mutation) of a breeding of BR and New Hampshire. One came out white with barring in the tails and hackles only and they took it from there. Columbian only refers to the neck coloring of the "collar" look that Lt Sussex, Columbian Rock, Columbian Wyandotte and Brahmas have.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
I hatched out six and 3 had yellow and 3 had greenish? What about that speckled egg? 2 of the four don't have quite as much black on the neck or none at all. 2 are skinny. I don't intend to keep them but right now I need the eggs. Is htere a way to tell the age? Come spring I think they are going as I replace them and hatch. But what one to keep? green legs or yellow. My roo isn't great but he has such a nice personality. How can I tell his age? I've got to have fertile eggs cause I want to keep a close flock as much as possible.

 

[Bassleg]

I am going to get Delawares in the spring where is the best place to start?

 

[BarkerChickens]

Here's the Del roo we had until recently (he was a good roo, but WAY too aggressive with our hens. He tore up two hens by 6 mos old!). We have 2 del hens that are WONDERFUL! Ours ae hatchery stock, but in the future, I would like to get breeder stock since they are a great breed!

 

[Laney]

I have a trio of Hatchery Delawares. They are hatchery birds. I bought them locally from a breeder who buys large batches of pullets for back yard chicken folks then divey's them up. I had wanted a trio, but they only bought pullets because that was the demand in the urban setting they worked in.

I really didn't want to order a large batch of pullets so I got what I thought was 3 pullets. I got really lucky in my opinion and ended up being the one with the only rooster in the batch.

I'll try to post pictures soon but the only ones I have are on my phone. I do intend to breed the Delawares as they are an endangered breed, and they lay exactly the eggs I need. So, to all of you who have breeder stock, look out, I might be trying to buy eggs from you come spring!

Right now my trio is only 16 weeks old. Not laying yet, and I'm not sure when they will start. It's still warm here so I expect I'll see eggs in the next few weeks, probably not as many as I would have seen had I gotten them early in the spring.

Laney
Mom to 7 pygmy goats, 2 Dairy cross goats, 5 Silver Pheonix, 4 White Cochin, 1 Mottled Java, 3 Delaware, 2 Pekin Ducks, 1 Khaki Campbell, 1 Chocolate Runner, 1 Ancona, 2 Cayugas, 1 Roeun, 1 Mallard, 1 Unknown Duck , 2 Geese, 1 Border Terrier, and 1 Female Human, Wife to a Husband who puts up with it all as he was farm raised. Still wondering how I went from Bused in Boston to Southern Farmgirl.

 

[2DogsFarm]

OK - what went wrong here?
how do you get an image to link to your post???

The pic I tried to post is my Salad as an inquisitive " teen" at about 16wks. From Day One she was into everything.
Her sister - Noodle - has some very faint rust coloring on her back. Is this normal for the breed?
I've found them friendly, easy to get along with (for me & their flockmates) and amusing.

They were hatchery chicks I got from another BYCer at 9wks old.
Both have grown into lovely large pullets and are giving me daily good-sized brown eggs.