Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[NellaBean]

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I will be in either Lexington or Georgetown Saturday August 14th to meet up with the man

I can bring whatever you want that day....otherwise won't be back in Lexington until October as we are doing VEGAS for labor day weekend instead LOL.

The birds are fine in the quarantine pen in the garage for now, so I will just wait and see. I might pull them out one night and give them a good once over. The one bird is perfectly normal in one eye and the other is swollen and goopy. If you catch him from the one side he looks perfect.....the other side he looks horrible. Ugh.

 

[nobody calls me chicken]

are bantam dels a breed or just smaller standards?

 

[speckledhen]

Most standard breeds have their bantam counterpart, i.e. a miniature version. Delaware bantams are very rare.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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Luckily, I have 5 older hens...and, who knows, one of the little ones may yet be a hen. If it's a boy, its' waddles are way less developed than the other two. Guess we'll have to wait and see!

Ok, since you guys aren't minding the questions, here's a couple more:

1) Where can I find a copy of the standard for Delawares?

2) What is this I saw on the other thread (Dels vs. BR) about needing two lines to breed for good roos and pullets?

3) Goliath is just a hair over 5 months old yet and is still not crowing. Is that typical, or did I luck out and get a mute roo?

 

[tnchickenut]

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Yep, they are full bantams... not just smaller sized standards. I'm fairly impressed with what I got and already starting to try to find breeder to add to the mix. I got one boy who has a perfect 5 point comb, and another who's feathers are perfect... I'm keeping both, since they get along fine. The wing carrage isn't exactly horizontal in most, but that can be worked on. VERY CUTE! After having BIG 'OL standards for so long, the bantams are just crazy cute.

Cyn - The hatch turned out to be very roo heavy (isn't it always that way) and no one had a good comb at all. (sorry just being honest) They all had 10+ points. I kept the biggest (just tall, not wide) boy, but he has alot of green sheen in his tail which I'm not sure about. I still haven't put him with my breeders yet because I'm torn. He's tall, but skinny (yes he eats well. lol. ). He has 13 points on his comb too, but his legs are yellow and his wings horizontal. Like I said, I'm torn.



I got to tell you all. My bantam Dels are quickly becoming my favorite birds to watch. Gosh they are so tiny! I'll try to add a pic.

Here is one of the boys... he is next to a buff sebright hen. She is about 20oz and he isn't much bigger. I'd guess 24-26oz. I'll have to weigh them to be sure.

I REALLY want to get a picture of one of the bantam boys next to one of the standards. I think the standards would kill them though. It would make a cute pic, though.

 

[jeremy]

Stacy... I have always despised bantams... but that is probably the cutest little roo I have ever seen! Maybe it's just because they're Dels, but he's making me reconsider a couple bantams.

I think it'd be hilarious to see a picture of a standard and that boy side by side, maybe you could pen them right next to each other and get a shot then?

 

[kathyinmo]

Jeremy,
I didn't know you don't like bantams. Neither do I. Never have. Except the Silkies, that is. I do have a couple bantams, since they were sent to me when I ordered standard and got them..... one BR girl, and a RIR girl. I prefer the big standard birds.

 

[jeremy]

Kathy, I just don't really see a point to them? L0L. I mean, yes there are some pretty little birds out there, but I'm all about functionality. Bantams (most of the time) just can't provide that. Tiny eggs, too small to process, ya know? We do farmer's markets here in the Bay Area and nobody wants to buy a dozen tiny eggs. You'd have to use the whole thing to make an omlette!

I had 4 White Silkies at the beginning of the year... I'm gonna claim temporary insanity, I don't know what got into me. I sold them not too long after I got them. I just prefer big, beautiful birds! Gimme a Del or a fluffy Orpington any day.

 

[kathyinmo]

Talk about temporary insanity .... I had a few Seremas! HA, that lasted about 2 weeks, and I got rid of them quickly!

What do ya do with bantams anyway? Too small to eat. (maybe chicken nuggets?) I suppose they are good for small areas and you can still have fresh eggs.

Are their eggs much smaller? I don't even know that! Well, I must say, my Silkie eggs are smaller, but not dinky by any means.

 

[jeremy]

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We won't talk about this anymore Kathy... L0L! We'll just pretend neither of us had that temporary loss of common sense.

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I guess keeping bantams makes sense for folks with smaller places, I hadn't considered that. I still though would rather have 2 large hens over 4 or 5 banties though.