Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[Laney]

I love this conversation. When I originally posted pics of my girls you had told me that their hackle color wasn't great. But I didn't know what that meant. But now with the post of Gracie, combined with the post that Delawaregirl just posted I can see better what you meant. The Hackle speckles were much better on the Pullet on that website who is about the same age as my Pullet in the picture. Gracies were about the same darkness as mine, but mine aren't as diffuse as hers are. Helen and Emily's Hackle coloring is mainly down the back of their neck and then a ring around the bottom. It seems to ignore the sides. Had this thread not been here I might not have noticed and realized how abnormal that was. Or I might have been told it was abnormal and not realized why.

Laney

 

[delawaregirl09]

Mhmm, I noticed that too Speckledhen. I need to get new pictures of my Delawares. I know about all the bad things about them. Just about everyone of them is Cull Worthy, which I hate. But, I may keep them as my laying flock and buy a new breeder flock.

Laney, I am glad you learned about them in this thread

Thats what I was shooting for when I posted this, and just to have fun with them. I'm thinking about going to the library and copying down the stuff from the SOP and posting it on here, though speckled has it down for the most part.

Sorry to here about your Del girl, cheap! But it sounds like you got at least one pretty Delaware (the roo?)

 

[speckledhen]

This hackle issue is a perfect way to illustrate a point. Gracie's mother's hackles are light and her comb isn't great, however, Kira's body size/type and her tail black are excellent. Gracie's comb looks like it will be a nice five point one, so Isaac's influence brought hers up to better than her mother's.
There are two parents represented in each chick; what one lacks, the other should make up for, as in Isaac's wonderful hackle color. That is why I went through 15 cockerels in two different hatches to get to him. I wanted to have a really great rooster for this foundation flock.
Just because Gracie's hackles will be light (how light remains to be seen since she has lots of developing to do) doesn't mean I won't use her in the breeding program. Her comb looks like it will be one of the best ones in my group of girls (so far). Just saying don't be too quick to cull a hen for light hackles or some other minor flaw if she has other very positive attributes. The only way to know what two parents will produce is to breed them and see. Naturally, you would cull things like side sprigs on combs, narrow bodies, etc, no question there.
It is very difficult to get both excellent males and excellent females who excel in all areas without double mating Dels.

The type on the Del youngsters on that website delgirl posted is really not good. The males are very lanky and tails poorly colored. I am very much liking the hackles on the girl, though. Rarely see any that good on the females, but body type is much more important than markings or an extra comb point.

ETA: I am no expert here. Just learning as I go along.

 

[popcornpuppy]

Quote:
You still have alot of valuable knowledge that us newbies can take away

And the beauty of this particular thread is that we can combind our knowledge and learn from each other

 

[speckledhen]

I agree, Kathy! Most folks just have never seen a truly great example of the breed and discussing all these points of standard with pics as illustration really helps us get a better picture of what a great Delaware should be.
delawaregirl, not sure if this is going the way you wanted, but it sure has been a fun discussion!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I have a question about the tail feathers of the pullet on the website.
Hers are barred. Aren't they supposed to be black, outlined in white?
Thanks Delgirl for finding that. It is good to see other examples and point out good and bad qualities. Helps me to look at mine better too and see.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, the standard calls for tail black, not tail barring, in the main tail on a pullet, but the coverts may have some irregular barring in them. My own Phoebe had several barred tail feathers, however, hers molted out and she has good tail black now. Gracie has some that are partially barred, too, but I expect they'll molt out as well. Could bode well for her sons' tail barring, however.

 

[delawaregirl09]

Haha, yourwelcome ! And speckledhen, this is going exactly the way I wanted. I posted that link because I knew those two had triats that we would find undesirable. I figured it would help if I posted them and someone commented about those traits so people could get a better visual idea

And you may not know a lot, but you enough to educate the crap out of us

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Well, now I have another question. What are coverts. Are they the little feathers that poke up around and about the main tail feathers?

 

[speckledhen]

Tail coverts are the bunch of feathers that cover the base of the main tail feathers. Have you seen seriousbill's Delaware page here?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/breeds/delaware/9901 Has Isaac's sire pictured.