Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

I always thought the same thing.........and now I have eight bazillion bantams running around. Those darn bantam cochins are the sweetest things ever. Hard to beat a mop on legs, you know?
 
Oh, don't get me wrong, I think they are cute enough .... but just not, "practical," for me. I hatched out the cutest little bantam cochin ever. Gorgeous! But, I am just not a bantam kinda gal. I know alot of people like them, but to me, bigger is better.
 
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Amen to that sister!
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I'm with you Kathy. When I pick up one of my birds, I want their weight to at least give me a hernia!!
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None of these little fluff ball chicken wannabees for me! TYVM! Give me real chickens, with real sized eggs!

No offense to those who keep and raise bantams. To each their own, as I always say. My personal tastes just run to the full sized birds only.
 
I like eggs too much to have bantams. Also, my DH has size 13 feet, and he is scared enough to walk in the run the way it is - can you see him trying to dodge bantams? Ha!
But I do think they are cute- especially that cute little Del boy!

Rachel- I am not the wisest person here, but I will try to answer those questions. If Goliath is 5 months old and not crowing, you may have a problem. However, I don't know what the problem would be.
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Does he make ANY attempts? Does he croon like a kazoo?

The standard for Dels that we talk about is in the SOP-Standard of Perfection, a book which covers the breeds of chickens accepted by the APA. (I think. . .??) We have some of the Delaware sections of it quoted on this thread, try the search engine and see if you can pull it up - there are pictures from it, too, that Cynthia has posted. Basically it tells you that Dels are to have a single, 5 point comb,broad and chunky body, horizontal wing set, males have black and white tail barring, females have black tail feathers outlined in white, both have lightly barred hackles, bright yellow legs, horn colored beaks (not brown), tail angle at 40 degrees, etc,. etc. The pictures are artists renditions, which is a little disappointing, but it gives breeders something to aim for.

Keeping two lines - one for breeding roos and one for breeding hens. As I recall, a roo with a darker barred tail- more like black and charcoal, is more likely to father hens with good tail black. The SOP shows and says, however, that the standard is a black and white barred tail. The first thing to breed for, however, is body type- you want a broad, deep chested, chunky looking bird first.

Hopefully others will join in and add to this - GOOD MORNING!!!! ANYBODY ELSE UP????
 
Morning all....I'm up, but no coffee yet.

Looks like I have 2 Del x blue rock babies hatched and the remaining 10 eggs are either pipped or zippin'.....sure to have a bunch of little fuzz butts here shortly. I'm a little shocked as the Dels are usually the first to hatch and most of the time a day early

TERRIBLY hot here all weekend with no rain to speak of. No casualities thank goodness

Cloudy and windy here this morning, which is really weird. They said sunny and HOT with a high of 96F. Maybe they were really wrong
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Hope everyone had a great weekend. This is our last week before kids go back to school
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Things here are a little crazy

More later on the hatch....gotta go find some coffee!!
 
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.

You have to be kidding me. I've never seen more than 7 points on any of my culls. That is just bizarre. Would you please send me a photo of that 13 pointer? I have to see this. Only one of my girls has six points that I'm aware of. Many of the kids have perfect 5 pointers. Are you sure you're not counting the back blade or the front hump?

Green sheen is not a problem. The black in the tail feathers does have green sheen. What you don't want are solid black tail feathers--even if they are dark, I think you'll see barring in those feathers.

If you did get multiple extra points like that on more than one bird, especially, I would doubt those came from Isaac, truthfully. Were you incubating other Del eggs at the time? I suppose it's possible for all the bad genes to come out in one batch, but none of Isaac's progeny have ever had that many points on a comb.​
 
Yard full o' rocks :

Morning all....I'm up, but no coffee yet.

Looks like I have 2 Del x blue rock babies hatched and the remaining 10 eggs are either pipped or zippin'.....sure to have a bunch of little fuzz butts here shortly. I'm a little shocked as the Dels are usually the first to hatch and most of the time a day early

TERRIBLY hot here all weekend with no rain to speak of. No casualities thank goodness

Cloudy and windy here this morning, which is really weird. They said sunny and HOT with a high of 96F. Maybe they were really wrong
fl.gif


Hope everyone had a great weekend. This is our last week before kids go back to school
woot.gif
Things here are a little crazy

More later on the hatch....gotta go find some coffee!!

Whoo hoo, babies!

My silver laced girl was up on a roost in the brooder this morning.....I took her out and she went straight for the feeder.

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She was moving better this morning....hopefully I found her in time and now she just needs to regain her weight. I have feeding stations of gamebird starter and scratch (mixed together) around the yard to make sure all the birds get their share. Hopefully she will continue to have a good appetite and bounce right back.​
 
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You have to be kidding me. I've never seen more than 7 points on any of my culls. That is just bizarre. Would you please send me a photo of that 13 pointer? I have to see this. Only one of my girls has six points that I'm aware of. Many of the kids have perfect 5 pointers. Are you sure you're not counting the back blade or the front hump?

Green sheen is not a problem. The black in the tail feathers does have green sheen. What you don't want are solid black tail feathers--even if they are dark, I think you'll see barring in those feathers.

If you did get multiple extra points like that on more than one bird, especially, I would doubt those came from Isaac, truthfully. Were you incubating other Del eggs at the time? I suppose it's possible for all the bad genes to come out in one batch, but none of Isaac's progeny have ever had that many points on a comb.

I was gonna say the same thing last night when I was on BYC, but decided to wait until you responded, Cyn. I have hatched out LOTS of roos sired by Isaac, and kept many pictures of combs. I usually post them here. NONE of my culls have ever had that many points. Maybe 7 on occassion, but NEVER 10+. Are you sure those are Isaac babies?
 
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And what does that make me? The woman who wants Orps and Cochins plus little d'uccles? You ain't lived till you have held a rooster in the palm of your hand
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They are just too dannged cute!
 
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Do you really want me answer that?
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I had a couple Serama roosters .....
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As Serrin said .......
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When I pick up one of my birds, I want their weight to at least give me a hernia!! None of these little fluff ball chicken wannabees for me! TYVM! Give me real chickens, with real sized eggs!

Scott ..... Hope your hatch is going well ! Gotta see pictures! Anybody, pictures?​
 

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