Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[Laney]

Well it's a good day for house cleaning. We've got probably about 3-4 inches. They've closed everything down. The malls, all the colleges and fast food places etc. Having grown up in Boston, I'm finding it a bit ridiculous even though I know it's because they don't have the equipment to handle any amount of snow other than brining the roads in anticipation.

We are thankful that we have kept our electricity. The heat did go a bit wonky in the night but my husband was able to fiddle with it this morning and get things back on track. Having a state of the art heating system is not all it's cracked up to be.

Cleaned out the brooder cage today. Chicken Mama is in the washing machine on sanitary cycle. I'm sure they are missing her while she is gone, but she was disgusting.

Now hubby is insisting I ...shiver...budget....shiver for my new incubator. How mean is that?

Laney

 

[joletabey]

Laney, glad that is all you got- we have at least 8 inches here and it's coming down again- sleety stuff, then more snow, it sort of goes back and forth.
BUDGET? OUCH!!!! But that is what I would have to do right now, too, so don't feel bad. What kind do you want to get?

Scott- hope your hatch goes well, I want to see baby Del pics! And those BBS, too. Maybe tonight will be wine night for you - I may make cocoa - this cold and snow sure calls for something comforting.

My Delaware story for the day - I just went out and took them some grapes and bananas- they all crowded around the door, looking down and out into the snow - you could tell they knew it wasn't like yesterday - the suspicious looks were hilarious. Then my brave Cora, who seems to be #1 hen, took a flying leap over my shoulder and belly flopped into the snow- talk about distress calls- it is pretty deep and she got stuck!!!Once I picked her up, she got mad about it - she grumbled at me and had a few nasty things to say about the white stuff. If it weren't so deep, I'd let them play in it for a while, but there is no way they could move. I think I will shovel them an area tomorrow. Is that spoiling them?

 

[speckledhen]

Spoiling a Delaware? Isn't that required? I think they demand it.

 

[jeremy]

Joletabey and Cynthia, thanks for your responses. I did end up plugging the seller for some more info and didn't get much of a reply still...

"On my listing on craigslist is a picture of the head man. The hens look like him more or less"

I don't know if it's because he can't or doesn't know how to supply the information I asked, or if he just didn't want to. But I don't see myself driving the hour and a half to Napa where he lives for eggs that I don't feel comfortable buying. (I'd rather have yours anyways Cyn.

) When I get home I'm gonna post the picture of his roo here on the thread, just for kicks, and y'all can help me make the final decision whether or not to pick up some of his eggs. Darn webfilters won't allow me to do anything at work so I can't access the post.

*sigh* Just another reason to love craigslist I guess.

 

[speckledhen]

Doesn't sound like some eggs I'd drive any distance for and pay that much for if he can't answer simple questions. If you want hatchery Delawares, you could get them from a hatchery or someone who wouldn't charge you big bucks. He seems to be someone who wouldn't know what "cull for type" means. Would like to see the rooster. I love that...." the hens look like him, more or less", LOL.

 

[Laney]

Beth, right now I have a hovabator 2632, or some similar number. It's a forced air model with automatic turner. I just have the worst time keeping things stable. It's an older model so things like the plastic trays don't fit right (new ones) and so you can't use the middle turner racks if you use the liner trays.

I want either a Brinsea 20 advanced ex with humidity pump, or an rcom suro king 20 with humidity pump. Right now the Rcom is on sale for 50% off. Because of that the instant gratification wh*#$e in me wants it now now now. But as my husband reminded me, if he let me just get everything I wanted now now now we would not have a penny to our names. He has to draw the line in the sand somewhere.

I just begged him to take over the finances now that he is retired. I was really bad at it and we were always broke at the end of the month, short when an emergency came up etc. He took it over and he has an emergency slush fund started, has savings for all the things that need to be paid for over the year (taxes, AAA, house insurance, christmas presents etc...) and he refinanced our mortgage to save us $600 a month in payments. He's taking that and paying off the credit cards so we save even more a month and once they are paid off will put that savings into the IRA. So where I was running us into the ground on the same paycheck, he's making us money. Go figure. The thing is though, now I have to wait for the things I want so we can pay cash. It's a small price to pay to not have the anxiety of handling the money.

So, once I have enough money saved up to buy one, I'll see which one is cheaper and get that one. In the meantime I'll have to keep going with my hovabator and just make sure my calendar is clear for the 21 days I'll be doing my eggs so I can babysit them the way they will need to be babysat.

On a Delaware note. Last night Shannon and I got home at almost 10pm. We pulled up to the pasture first to check on the animals. THey hadn't gotten their afternoon feed and we needed to be sure they were put up. We could see there were two chickens sitting on top of the outside nestboxes. I couln't believe it. It was freezing out and snowing so they were wet. Even Libra who had been left outside with the big girls for the day knew better and went inside the goat barn. There was Biden. He was standing above one of the Phoenix hen's sheltering her with his body. That stupid hen was too stubborn to go inside. I have never seen Biden stay outside unless there was a Hen out there too. So we shoved the Hen in the coop and then put him in behind her. He felt so BIG in my hands. I expected him to feel like so much fluff, but he was so solid!!! He was risking his own comb and wattles trying to protect one of his girls.

Laney

 

[speckledhen]

Aw, how sweet!

Gotta love a dedicated rooster!

 

[jeremy]

Here's the rooster whom supposedly is the sire of the eggs in question, has anybody seen this picture duplicated anywhere before?

His back looks a little smutty to me, though the picture is kind of dark. Though his barring seems even throughout and nice. Also, his comb has 7 points, I was under the assumption that Dells are suppose to have only 5?

Cyn- L0L is what I was thinking too. I don't know absolutely everything about Dells, but I feel like something that broad and general proves ignorance about the breed. Which leads me to assume that these probably aren't the eggs for me!

What do you guys think?

 

[kathyinmo]

Laney,
Loved that story! I just love roosters, and I miss my Rupert! Oh well, I have his sons!

Good day to clean house, Laney? Ha ... I got more than I bargained for in that department!

We thought we had a frozen water pipe break. But, with further investigation, found it was the water heater! Water all over the bathroom and kitchen, in the guest house.

Thankfully, the boys (sons currently living there) were home, and caught it quick enough to save the living room (carpet). Awww, a mess!

Scott, I hope you wake up to pips and pops!

Do you hatch in the Sportsman, or just incubate in it? How do you get the humidity up in that thing? .... oh, never mind, you are in GA, and have natural humidity, don't ya! On the other hand, I just hatched a Silkie (by mistake) in the Sportsman (in the turner!) ... with humidity at 35%. Enjoy that wine!

Beth ... Of course you have to shovel for the Dels ... that's a given!

urbanfarmboi ... looks like he has 6 points. (Yes, they should have 5). He looks like a big boy, and yellow legs, but I can't really see the hackles ... they look really heavy (dark) ... Really, I don't think he looks all that bad .... I've seen worse! And, I think the picture is taken in a shaded area, it's so dark. He may not be all that bad. I dunno

 

[Laney]

Ok..... from Head to toe:

Too many points on the comb
This bird is either filthy or he has a possible columbian neck? It looks like it has a grey background to me instead of white, could be the coloring.
Beak looks like it might be OK to a little light on the horn coloring (might be a little yellow)
Barring on his tail looks nice but the angle of the tail looks a bit to sharp, shouldn't it be a 45* angle, not a 90* angle?
I'm not really good at judging wing angle here, but that actually looks pretty good to me.
Legs are either filthy or the coloring is bad. They should be strictly yellow, no black coloring on them at all.

So, what I can tell from this little picture he sent/posted is that this is a fair/hatchery bird. It has good markings if it is a filthy bird, but has a poor tail angle and too many comb points. Ladies and gents, please correct any mistakes I made.

Laney