Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[delawaregirl09]

Lol, Mine did that too and I'm sure my new ones will too!!!! Lol. Man, before I left school, I went into my teachers classroom and was looking in the incubator, and there was a baby hatching. It was huge! I'll wing sex them tomorrow, see how well I can do

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Can Delawares be feather sexed?

 

[speckledhen]

Not usually, no. They must be specifically bred for it and I know mine are not.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Thank you Speckled Hen.

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
I suspect that much of the hatchery stock is, mine was. It doesn't make sense for a hatchery to do it any other way. Vent sexing is far more expensive.

You can develop your own feather-sexed line, but it requires keeping two lines. There is an x-linked gene for short feathers. Keep one line without the gene for short feathers. Any chicks produced from this line are sold as straight run. This line can contain fewer birds, since only the roos are needed. The roos from this line are mated to the hens from line 2. Line 2 contains the x-linked gene for short feathers. The result are all able to be sexed. Once these lines are established, they can be easily kept going so all future chicks can be feather-sexed.

 

[speckledhen]

delawaregirl, it's certainly worth trying and seeing what your results are with the feather sexing.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Wow! Now you have me looking at my chicks. They aren't quite 2 weeks old yet and show very different feather and tail patterns.

I was wondering if the stubby tail, slower feathering were roo's and the faster feathering, longer tails were pullets.

I think I will have to go zip tie the little ones to see if I am right. If not then I may have the start of two lines. (I would prefer that!)

Thank you very much for that information. It amazes me the knowledge that some of you have!

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Quote:

What are ya trying to do to us Mom!

I usually mix with scratch feed or uncooked oatmeal to give it something to cling to that is easier for them to pick up.

 

[delawaregirl09]

Speckled, I should, huh? Though it looks like most of them are boys, unfortunently. Some look like little chipmunks, precious!

 

[walkswithdog]

Well, my take on feather sexing as a priority in breeding delawares is kinda more like

than

While it would make things simpler in sexing - exactly what other genes are you selecting against that you need in this new breed, with enough problems to keep you busy for five years?

Genes don't exist in a vacuum. Hatcheries don't give a fig about quality of the chicks produced.

Yeah, spare roos are a pain. But you cannot sort for quality of roo by culling most of them at hatch. You will miss birds you need for a breeding program. Now if you give no fig for improvement, then keeping a hatchery quality flock that way shouldn't be a problem.

If you're one of the folks on this thread looking to improve the breed you can't take the easy way out.

It's easy enough to tell del cockeral from del pullet relatively early - great silly red combs are kind of a give away. And shortly after that the ones with very bad combs will show up - with sprigs etc.

But if you cull most of them with the handy feather sexing gene initially you'll likely miss some of the keepers you need to improve things. Not to mention is that feather sexing gene connected to any other allele and gene you NEED, for better dels? Genes don't always affect just one loci. They can add up, cross over - make things better or worse. How many of them work together isn't all that well known.

Type - body first, color - leg/feathering, then comb.

That puts feather sexing in fourth place after getting combs sorted out.

Priorities matter when establishing a line.