Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[heritagehabitatfarms]

ok folks i have a question...
i have read in several places that you can sex the Delaware chicks at a day old by the male having a dark spot on his head... but if i remember right i read on this site somewhere that that does not always hold true... i hope it is not 100% because if it is i only have 4 cockerels out of 26... i was hoping for more than that lol... i toe punched the 4 with dark spots on there heads... if this does not hold true 100% of the time i should be able to breed for it right??? by only keeping roo's that had a spot on there heads as a chick...
thanks for your help...

 

[speckledhen]

You cannot sex Delawares by a dark spot/smudge on their heads. If that were true, then in the batch of 19 Delawares that James picked up, he'd have only 4 cockerels. No way that's true, LOL. Where that misinformation came from, I have no idea. As for breeding that in, no idea. I don't want that to be the deciding factor on keeping my roosters since there are way too many traits to get right with this breed.

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

Quote:
here is the link to one of the places that i have read this http://greenacrespoultryfarm.com/delawares (bottom of the page) i have read it somewhere els but i cant find it now... i think this is where my chicks came from... (i bought them threw someone els)

thanks for the info...

 

[speckledhen]

I read that. I consulted another Delaware breeder since I knew it not to be true. The response was ROFL. That pretty much clinches it for me. In my hatches, that did not hold true at all. My last hatch consisted of 9 males and 5 females. You know how many had a black smudge on their head? Three. So, that means, if this sexing thing were true, that I would have had only 3 cockerels, not 9.

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

lol ok its good to know thanks...

 

[speckledhen]

Elias, I really wish it was true, LOL. No such luck. Guess you maybe could breed for that, then you'd spend years getting the line back up to snuff for all the other traits.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Hi! Out of my 12 little chicks, only one has a smudge on the top of its head. I am pretty sure that I have more Roos than that there. I have to agree with Cynthia and say no it doesn't indicate Roo.

I think it is great that you toe punched. Let us know if they end up being Roos. I love things like that. I just recently zip tied 4 chicks that had short tails. I was also wondering if it was an indicator of Roos. Nope. They were a mixture of both sexes.

I am paying attention to them feathering out. If anything will tell I am thinking that will.
I took more pictures of the ones that are 5 weeks and 2 days. It is pretty obvious that I do have 3 of each. I was pretty sure at 4 weeks that was true but this week cinches it.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Just felt like a few pics.

 

[joletabey]

Rustyswoman, they look GOOD!!!! Look at the elegant neck in that first picture. . . . *sigh*

 

[that_crazy_lady]

at last here are some pics of my babys! I think the ages are right, I got them from a feed store that had had them for about 2 weeks.

here are the two girls at 4weeks, those are two of my RIRs they are 2weeks

one of the boys, same age

thats a fully featherd OEG roo under on of the roos, fuzzy but funny

here is one of the roos, 8weeks??? rustywoman note the yellow head on RIR

the other roo

a pair, the roos toe is not crooked he was moving, but the pullets is

both the girls

they are just smaller then my EE hen now, the roos combs are brite red, and the hackle & tail color is getting cleaner and stronger. and same as always they want to know what everything is, can we eat? can we climb on it? what will the cat do if I chase it? can I sit on you?
I think my flock would be a little dull with out them. and I ended up with 2 pairs, how cool is that

i wanted to preview and I hit submit in the midle of it all