Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[joletabey]

Even if it's not a Del, its a sweetie!!!!

Keep baiting that trap, you'll get 'em!

 

[speckledhen]

I am very pleased with all the new interest in this breed, so the more folks who are really breeding and trying to cull for type, the better, no matter where they start out. This is what preservation is all about, keeping these going and trying to produce good examples of the breed at the same time.

I may not breed Delawares forever, but before I'm finished, I hope to have many other nice Delaware flocks started all over the country. They are really an awesome breed, great layers, good dual purpose types, etc.

 

[McSpin]

Quote:
I agree very much with what you've said above. I must say though that I think the word "heritage" is a bad word to attach to anyone's stock. It has little meaning (no one even seems to agree what it means). Delawares are in a stage where a lot of work needs to be done (in regards to show standards) on everyone's stock. So why attach a word (that means who knows what) to stock that obviously the result of crosses that needs plenty of work.

 

[speckledhen]

Delawares are in a stage where a lot of work needs to be done

Absolutely agreed. Let's hope we can get more folks working on improving the stock that's out there, whether hatchery or heritage (or non-hatchery, breeder stock, if you prefer that term).​

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

My Lily seems to be evidence enough that there is work to be done

Poor thing. I love her anyway

 

[walkswithdog]

Quote:
That's the best part of Delawares, even when they aren't up to the Standard, they really are nifty birds

 

[TimG]

Quote:
Absolutely agreed. Let's hope we can get more folks working on improving the stock that's out there, whether hatchery or heritage (or non-hatchery, breeder stock, if you prefer that term).

If my understanding of Delawares is correct, they were once widely used in the broiler industry then fell out of favor and were almost lost. And effort to save the breed involved some crosses (to diversify the gene pool) and has resulted in a present day Delaware that is not just like the Delaware of the 40s and 50s.

So I wonder, when you say "improving the stock" do you mean working towards the standard of today or the bird of yesterday? They are two different things, right?

 

[seriousbill]

Quote:
Absolutely agreed. Let's hope we can get more folks working on improving the stock that's out there, whether hatchery or heritage (or non-hatchery, breeder stock, if you prefer that term).

If my understanding of Delawares is correct, they were once widely used in the broiler industry then fell out of favor and were almost lost. And effort to save the breed involved some crosses (to diversify the gene pool) and has resulted in a present day Delaware that is not just like the Delaware of the 40s and 50s.

So I wonder, when you say "improving the stock" do you mean working towards the standard of today or the bird of yesterday? They are two different things, right?

The standard of today is based on the bird of yesterday, so arguably, there's not much difference between the two. Also, the degree of outcrossing that was done, and is being done, varies drastically from one strain or line to the next, so is there a Delaware out there that looks like the bird of yesterday and even descends from the bird of yesterday? Yes, I think so. For example, I've heard (from someone who was in the SPPA) that Bill Braden has some birds out of Ron Macher's old lines (which go all the way back to the original Delawares). Were they ever outcrossed? I'd guess so, although I don't know that for a fact, but are they so outcrossed as to be "two different things"? No, I wouldn't say so.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Delawaregirl - fantastic thread.


My Delaware girls Lacy and Stacy – Privett Hatchery - still pullets approx. 31 weeks old.

Lacy:

Stacy:

My Delawares love the NV sand/dust:

Great girls but sadly far from the standard. Stacy is light bodied, and Lacy just slightly heavier. Fantastic attitudes, great foragers, good layers – both lay a brown egg slightly darker than my Orp hen.

My next addition of Dels will be from someone breeding toward the standard though.

 

[speckledhen]

Those are really pretty girls!