Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[walkswithdog]

LOL I think part of the problem is getting the suckers to hold still... I'll see if I can get corn-yellow boy to hold still.

 

[speckledhen]

That is a huge problem, getting them to be still for one second! I have tried and tried to get straight on shots of Isaac and haven't been all that successful lately. Ike is still very young so not entirely filled out yet, about 31 weeks I think, but here is the dirty Dels eating oatmeal/yogurt/salmon mixture I gave them today that shows a bit of his big chest. He was not the largest cockerel I had(though he did catch up to the only one larger than he was), but he was the best all-round and the best comb of the other 15 or so I hatched to get to one like him.

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Got the culled 18wk cockerels back from the Amish butcher. They are well developed in the leg and thigh, but fairly young for a heritage breed to have fully fleshed out breast, but no worse than I expected. These particular birds are no broader than the Welsummers of the same age, so possibly not quite to body type yet. THough it is probably unfair to judge at this early age.

So now I am really determined to find some better Delaware stock in the spring. And earlier, so they can put on more meat by October. And a plan to separate the cockerels from the pullets early on so I don't have to cull them so young again. It has been a great learning year.

It's funny, I had thrown an Ameraucana cockerel in the cage to butcher, but my dad and the Amish man thought it must be a pullet and sent it back! My dad felt a little foolish when he tossed it back in the pasture and saw it with the other birds. By comparrison you can tell it is male, but not all by itself (he lost his tail feathers in a fight). So now I do not feel so bad about the difficulty I am having guessing gender on those.

Delawares leave you in no doubt!

 

[speckledhen]

JoAnn, that's funny about the Ameraucana cockerel, LOL. They are quite lean and lanky most of the time; at least mine were.

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

The Amish guy was sure he was a hen because he "cackled" when picked up.

Oh well, he doesn't eat much, and maybe one of the other 4-H families will want him. Would have had to cook him like pheasant.

 

[joletabey]

Thanks for those pics, it does help me see the width on Isaac's chest- he is young, so I bet you can expect him to broaden even more. This is a VERY ignorant question, and I don't mean anything bad by it, but is the leggy look his youth, the picture angle or just cuz I don't have an SOP picture that shows anything but a profile to know how much leg should show? He is a SPENDID boy and I am NOT cutting on him, just wanting to learn.
Beth

 

[speckledhen]

Some of it is probably the angle and part is probably that he is so young and not all the way filled out. Isaac is a tall boy, certainly, especially when compared to the BBS Orps in the pen next to his. Could be his legs are a tad long, but I am just learning myself so can't say for certain. If so, that would be something to work on later down the line. In this breed, there is always something to work on. Most folks don't realize that there is a standard for almost every part on any breed, even the earlobes (his are a bit long, but not bad)

 

[walkswithdog]

Okay my FILTHY lot sort of held still and I'm uploading photos now. Algernon got into corn for about a week without my knowing about it and he and one of the hens went pretty yellow. Sigh.

The filth on the others is lovely TN RED CLAY and the brown is from going under my mini-van with the oil leak, ugh.

Some of the angles on Algernon were funny, in part because he was preening...

Acknowledged is his odd comb with bumpy weird points but at least it's straight and no sprigs - I'll take it.

He has too much tail black against the standard bird but he should improve the hens that have poor or little black in theirs.

In some of the pics you can compare him to Barred Rock hens, he's a LOT bigger, then again so are almost all the delaware pullets in the pics. Some frankly large girls in there.

Some of the pics have, well, not the Delawares, who were obviously helping me get the shots.

I'm going to post the album, untouched and uncut as soon as it loads.

 

[walkswithdog]

http://s520.photobucket.com/albums/w328/walkswithdog/Delawares%20Oct%2009/

There's the foul flock of fowlness.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, the body type you have with Algernon. You can work on the comb. I don't think his tail is as dark as you seem to think, Cher. I like it. Just improve the comb and you're well on your way to something fabulous!