Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[robnms]

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The breeder sells birds at a feed store on weekends and said they were Columbian Wyandotes but they're not. I got them when they were about 4 weeks old, they are huge birds and I like they way they look but I have no idea what they are.

 

[kathyinmo]

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The breeder sells birds at a feed store on weekends and said they were Columbian Wyandotes but they're not. I got them when they were about 4 weeks old, they are huge birds and I like they way they look but I have no idea what they are.

I think they may possibly be closer to that, than a Delaware though. Gosh, I am sorry I am of no help.

They look like wonderful, healthy birds. Enjoy them.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

I was thinking they might be Columbian Plymouth Rocks (or mixes thereof). Check this out: http://www.farmwest.com/index.cfm?method=photogallery.drilldown&photoid=175

Plymouth Rocks are fine dual-purpose birds, in my opinion!

(I have white and barred, myself.)

Bryan

 

[HorizonSon]

I let my sub-3-week old chicks out to play in the 40deg rain'n'wind, until they got cold and went back inside the brooder: about ten minutes later, lol. They had fun

P.S. The cockerals are already starting to challenge each other and others: two, in particular.

 

[rancher hicks]

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I have to agree with this. When you toss a bunch of animals together and go with what you get you have stopped being a breeder and now are simply propagating an animals. Even in most production livestock operations there is some form of selection and breeding program followed.

That said I don’t view hatcheries as the “great evil”. Yes they mass produce large quantities of chicks without regard for the SOP. Yet their purpose is not to produce show quality birds but rather provide the consumers with a wide selection of breeds at a cheaper price and they do this very well! Hatcheries are not the place you go to find showstock, it’s an outlet for production stock. I am amazed by people who go to a hatchery expecting to find show animals, you wouldn’t go down to your local auction pick up a horse and expect to set the A rated breed show world on fire. This just doesn’t happen, show animals are bred for the show ring/ pen and production animals are bred to produce. You can look at just about any species and see this difference. Why, because often when we breed an animal to be pretty for the show ring production takes a back seat or is completely overlooked.

Now as far as pollution of bloodlines go I think this comes down to the preservation vs progression argument. I personally do not see crossbreeding as a pollution of bloodlines in poultry, particularly in the American breeds where most of them are composites to start with. In livestock pedigrees are kept and purity of a breed is monitored, or in the case of an association allowing an outcross bylaws state a specific number of recorded generations required to gain registry. In poultry it seems that what you see is what you have. If it looks like a Delaware and meets SOP then it’s a Delaware, it doesn’t matter if it’s a ¼ something else its still going to win if it’s the best bird. In this way it is possible for a breeder (notice I say breeder) to improve their flock through the utilization of out crossing if they so choose.

I’m not advocating hatcheries as a place to buy show stock but simply saying they do have their place and in most any livestock breed there are show and then production animals.

Well then what happens when you breed two Dels that are 1/4 something else and they have chicks that look more like that 1/4 something else instead of a Del? It's seems to me that if I breed two dels all the chicks should look like Dels. not the 1/4 somethng else. It also seems to me that most birds do not meet the SOP but are lacking in one area or another. Including what I have right in my coop. Point being they look like Dels but don't meet the SOP, yet they are still Dels, right? And if I breed them their offspring should all look like Dels, right? or can they throw the occasional Barred Rock looking chick? As for preservation, what's being preserved if there is the 1/4 something else? Certainly not pure Dels. My point being, why should anyone bother caring whether a breed is considered rare, cuz after all those that do exist may be 1/4 something else anyhow, and it may look like a del and walk like a del but be Del/NHR. Is this according to the ALBC or the APA or the SPPA? So why should I buy from so called breeders when hatchery stock is cheaper and just as fitting, or just hatch my own and that's cheaper still. I know this sounds snarky , I'm just trying to find a reason to care. If I can breed anything into the line then I just don't see the point.

 

[kathyinmo]

Delawares are frustrating, that is for sure. It has been said before that many use two totally different flocks to obtain "near SOP," appearing Delawares (one for males, one for females). However, this is also done routinely in other breeds, I have discovered.

As far as crossing with another breed, this is done frequently as well, I am learning. I guess if the bird's genetics include New Hampshire and Barred Rock, and they are lacking genes from one of those ..... well, what could it hurt? I dunno .....

Tim, We know what the Delawares were created from. We can only do what we think is best. We can not dictate to others, but just the best we, ourselves, can do.

 

[robnms]

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I think you got that one right, I checked the link you sent and others and I'm positive that what I have.

 

[Serrin]

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Tim? Sweetie?

Did you not get your nap today? Why such a long face?

I know it's tough sometimes, especially with these Del's. Heck, I haven't even started breeding them myself, and I can already see that it's going to be an incredible uphill climb all the way, if I even ever do!

I guess it's like Kathy says though. It's something each of us has to keep plugging away at in our own ways. Teddy Roosevelt said it best: Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." And when it gets too deep and too wide, then sometimes you just have to step away from it all for a little while and take a breather. Are you in need of a break dear?

Don't let it get you down, and don't give up! The Del's are counting on us!

 

[HorizonSon]

My word! Not a single comment on the last set of pictures I posted?... When I get back from my weekend job, Monday morning, I better have some nice comments to share with my lil chicken nuggets! Or there will be hell to pay! Imagine TWENTY-FOUR precious, fragile, innocent lil babies; heartbroken! Imagine the cost of therapy alone!

 

[joletabey]

Boy, they really did the mind control thing on you, didn't they?

OK, I cant' disappoint a Delware, especially those cute, adorable little precious thangs!!!!
Seriously, they are darling - makes me anxious for spring!