Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[speckledhen]

I told DH to go check and see if he'd locked the pop door. He forgot the other day and I discovered it when I went back into the coop and realized the door wasn't fully closed. Well, he left it unlocked again, he found, and Isaac had moved from the heatlamp over the waterer in the addition to underneath a second heatlamp we have near the feeder in the original side, which is 4' from the pop door, directly in front of whatever might come through it. I had the brief thought that this new and unusual move by Isaac might be related to him realizing that the door was hanging open and knowing something could come in during the night and positioning himself so that he'd be ready to confront trouble. Probably though, he just realized how nice that warmth felt on his comb, LOL.

 

[joletabey]

Considering you have seen Ike race with your DH to the aid of a potentially threatened hen, I suspect it was a bit of both- he was going to guard that door, and hot diggity dog, there was a heat lamp right there to make the job easier! What a GOOD roo!

 

[speckledhen]

I just gave him 4 new ladies--stole the BBS Ameraucanas from Dutch. They are relentless in chasing Shadow while the BRs usually just ignore her, so I felt it would be easier on her. And I left her pal, Panda, Zane's daughter, in with her so she'd have at least one bird who would feel like a friend. The Ameraucanas, though they used to be in the main flock, have never crossed paths with the Delaware girls or Riley so that will have to be worked out. Nelda, my Speckled Sussex, jumped Charlotte pretty good and Ike literally flew up in the air and came down in the middle of them to break it up.

 

[joletabey]

I wish I could see all this - you need to get a video camera trained on these kids 24/7!!!! Referee Ike!!! He's even got the right color shirt!

 

[speckledhen]

That boy is right on the spot when the girls start fighting. And he is pretty firm in his reprimands, too! I love that rooster.

You may want to take a peek at this thread, too. Suede got his blueberry pancake and created a bit of drama: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3430074#p3430074

 

[kathyinmo]

I love Isaac stories! I sure hope his offspring are just like him!
Here are some pictures from this morning ...

As usual, pull the camera cord or shoestrings!

One of the girls ...

Posing pretty.

Forget it, I'm not coming away from this heat light!

 

[Cetawin]

Oh I love that little boy in pic #3. Such a handsome little fella.

Here are pics of my precious boy

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=283124

 

[joletabey]

I agree- the "posing pretty" roo looks elegant- and they all look so nice and round! But how come yours look so much cleaner than mine? Mine seem to have this new game of "let's poop on each other".. ...of course it might help if I could get the run done and get them out to the coop - dang this snow!

Kathy- do you know for sure how many pullets/roos you have? (If you said that already, I apologize for forget fullness) Are your roos wattles getting big enough to help tell the difference? I still have about three that have me foxed, and ours are pretty close to each other in age.

 

[speckledhen]

Nice head carriage on that little boy posing pretty, though, he has too many comb points. The last pic shows a cockerel with extra dark, too-solid hackles. Any like that wouldn't be the best to keep. You may not have a perfect one to keep, but you keep the best of the bunch and go from there. My first boy had perfect tail barring, but his comb was messy. Isaac's group had the too-many-points issue on some and even Ike has a little short sort of half-point that is one too many. but his daughter, Gracie, does not. Start with body type and go from there.


ETA: You don't want a male with solid or "laced" hackles rather than barred. Even an extra comb point would be preferable to that, I'd think. And to me, the male was more important than the females, getting a fabulous rooster was my goal. Two of my hens have a slightly laced-and-barred look to their hackles, but they have fabulous body type and tail black and pretty decent combs on them. It's a balancing act, this breeding thing!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

What a great way to start my morning! Thanks for the pictures Kathy and Cetawin. And thanks for your input Cynthia. I just sit here and ohhh and awwwww and you see what I don't. And that's important!

How old are your Dels now? They aren't babies anymore, them's big!

Speaking of big, hahhah Thor is almost as big as you Cetawin! He is huge! But such a handsome man.