Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[Cindiloohoo]

I'm new here, but just wanted to stop in and say I LOVE this topic!!! I am interested in Del's and have less than a dozen from 2 different settings of eggs. They just started laying, and now thanks to 140 PAGES OF INFO

that I stayed up half the night reading, I know where to start culling! The first batch I have had the black/greenish tails but the hens look pretty decent. The second grouping looks more like a true Delaware, and gives me something more to work with. I have some in the Bator now from the "posers", and a few from the purer Del's. THANK YOU for all the great information!!!! I will post pics shortly and I would really LOVE some advice on how to refine what I have for some good looking sweet natured Delaware's. I am limited at the moment with 2 roo's and 7 hens, but I hatch them out like mad...it's a weird habit that goes with keeping chickens so I hear...lol! I really love this breed, and want to preserve them, but what I have right now is a far cry from a real Del, they are kind of flighty, some are bad tempered, NOTHING like I expected!!! I want the sweet friendly little Dellie's you guys are talking about!!!!! I have maybe 3 birds that even come close to that description! I'm going to take pics now

 

[Cetawin]

The babies are out in the garden today because it is not raining for a change. So...naturally, I took pictures.

They are almost 15 weeks old

My sweet Cannonball

Cannonball shaking herself

Fattie's neck markings

Fattie perched looking around

Fattie captured after her escape

Fattie with her main man, Thor son of Suede

Interesting stuff happened on today's outing... I always take Thor, Athena, Fattie and Cannonball outside first, then the EEs. Well today one of the EE boys got stupid. Draco tapped Athena on the head and Thor gave him the stink eye. Draco then turned stupid...he grabbed Cannonball by the neck feathers and this was the next scene:

Thor charged over to Draco and whopped his tail feathers and then took his girls to another spot. Draco kept a wary eye on Thor after that...

And Thor kept a threatening eye on Draco if he got to close to one of his girls

Thor is turning out to be a fantastic boy. He is sweet, easy to handle and he looks after his girls. I also saw him pick up a piece a food and put it right down on the ground in front of Fattie and he waited until she ate it before he went and got a piece for himself.

He is such his Daddy's boy.

 

[joletabey]

Cindiloohoo- Welcome! Delawaregirl started a fantastic thread here, and I have learned practically everything about Dels here, plus got myself some through Speckledhen. Plus met some really fine people!

Cetawin- Thor is the man!! Those pictures really tell the story- I love the stare down- I went out and told Ultrasuede to take note and to be proud of his/her full sib.

The weather . . . .keep pushing those 40 degree temps toward me, friends - no one ever showed up to plow and my DH took off on foot to see if he could rescue the Blazer. Here are pics of over 12 inches of snow- doesn't really look like it, does it?

 

[Cindiloohoo]

These three pics are my hens who are laying now. Some are 7 months old, and there is a few who are 5 months old.

These are my roosters, one of which I may keep just for mixed chicks, the other I want to breed for keepers. What do some of the more experienced folks think about the one rooster? I want to breed some good Delaware standards, and want to know if I have anything worth working with or if I should start over from scratch. From what I have read so far on this forum the older rooster is not even close to standard with the solid tail feathers, but I think my other little guy might be a pretty good looking boy. The older roo is a jerk, and I am not attached to him. He wants to fight all the time, and he is rather mean! I think he may be part buzzard..jk. BUT...What say the experts???

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Thanks Joltabey!! Nice snow, SO glad I missed it!!!! It looks very pretty, but very COLD!!!

 

[joletabey]

I think Rooster #2 has better markings- but might be a bit skinny? The sun is on his comb, so I can't get a definite point count, but it looks better than roo #1 also. That second hen is gorgeously round - others here will give you better opinions, though.

 

[speckledhen]

Hi, Cindyloo! In the next to the last picture, your boy, though very handsome, has alot of Columbian Rock in him, as witnessed by the solid tailfeathers, so I wouldn't use him to breed pure Dels. I see a couple of very chunky ladies you have there and that's good. Glad you joined us in our little cult here.


Ladyhawk, Thor is amazing! He's already acting the part and doing his daddy proud.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Thanks! I love my little roo! The big one is a bit of an idiot. He runs and falls into the water bucket head first chasing us down the fence line. He's almost drowned once. He is definately a cull. He's aggressive, and I don't think I could ever breed that out of any bird attached to his genes. Sad though, he started out so good, and just went crazy one day!!

 

[Laney]

My opinion. You have to start somewhere. I would definitely think about bringing in more stock, but I would also work with what you have.

Roo2 is the one I would work with. His tail is light, but his comb looks OK, I can't count the points from that picture but he doesn't look like he has excessive points. His legs are a little light in the pic, but it could just be the picture.

I would take Roo2, and match him with your fattest Hen with the darkest markings. Take from that matching the best of the brood. Depending on the darkness of the markings from that matching, you might want to put Roo1 with a hen from that batch to see if it darkens up the markings. You can always sell them as mixes if it doesn't work.

Once you have that Gen2 you can take the best of that and decide if you want to breed back to Roo2 or take the best of Gen2 and sell Roo2.

At the same time you can work on getting some better stock to throw into the mix. I would recommend finding stock that has better body type and markings as the combs in your stock seem Ok and can be worked on.

Laney

 

[kathyinmo]

WOW ... look at those pictures ... all in the same day, on opposite sides of the country ... snow and blizzard conditions, to a day in the garden! It is currently 50*, here in Missouri at 4:30PM. It has been a quite nice day!

I'm lovin' looking at all of today's pictures! Welcome Cindi ... happy to have you here! You'll have to talk to Delawaregirl about gettig an official flag!

I am no help with critiquing your flock, as I am just learning as I go! I think Laney has a handle on it though!