Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[Inkheart]

Quote:
Well somehow - here i am thinking why are the other hens not laying - well i look this morning and she has 6 under her now - the usual sweet and friendly Bubble has turned into a monster - squawking at me - flapping her wings - hissing - Lord . What is she thinking? WE havent seen the sun in a week it is 26 degrees out - I didnt think Dels were this broody! Imagine her in the "real" spring!

 

[knaup109]

I have 3 Delawares hen that is 5 or 6 months old. At what age do the Delawares start laying egg?
thanks

 

[Inkheart]

Quote:
Mine started at 5 months on the dot! Almost weirdly to the day!

 

[speckledhen]

Mine all start between 18-24 weeks, with most of them laying by 21 weeks.

 

[rancher hicks]

Well I'm here.

I've only had one Del go broody and she didn't do so good but that may have been my nesting style. Chick got out and couldn't get back in so she got off and that was that. When they break there is no going back. Now others go broody yeah but they are unpredictable. Got a Friz on a peeping egg and hopefully she'll get this out ok. She hatched three and two got out and died and one i sold. I really have to modify the nest. Anyone got any advice. Thing is chicks get out and then can't get back in and freeze, poor things.

Now the other reason I weighed in was I was on another forum (alberta) and there was a discussion on feather sexing. There is of course a page for it, but does this work with Dels? Is this something that needs to be done by a certain age? Is it breed specific?

Now Trylin hatched out 6 for me (long story) and marked then according to what she thought they were, according to her ability to feather sex. Well thank the Lord she was wrong all turned out to be pullets.

I'm sure this has been discussed before but hope we can discuss it again. As for when they start to lay, I just wait and never really give it a thought. They lay when they're good and ready. Can't hurry them up you know.

Inkheart - hope you can find some fertile eggs.

Thanks

Rancher

 

[popcornpuppy]

Ok, time for me to pipe in here. I had 4 Dels go broody last summer. They all did well as Moms. I had one quit after 15 days of setting only to go broody again later and hatch her brood out. Here is a pic of just one of my broody Del gals. So I would say YES, Dels do go broody, but I think it depends on their bloodlines. Some are more prone to go broody than others and this is a trait that I hope to keep in my lines. I like when the Momma hen does all the work and I don't have to worry about heat, humidity and lockdown

 

[kathyinmo]

This feather sexing, Tim? It has to be done the first couple days, I believe. I haven't tried it. I did read somewhere, that it doesn't work on bantams. Heck, I dunno ....

I took a picture of Oliver today. I do not like the way he is letting his wing hang down, instead of having it up tighter and "well folded." He does this off and on, I have noticed. Why is that????

# 8 on the feed can

Floozy:

Another one (#10), headed to the nest ....She is larger than she looks here; one of the bigger girls.

#4 is a sweet one, begging to be picked up...

# 2 is still a molting mess, though is awfully friendly... She didn't even yell at me when I stepped on her toes today.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
I'm with ya there. Really I think Dels should go broody! Love the determined look of that one!

 

[rancher hicks]

Well of course I would prefer my Dels go broody as they are my passion. I have no idea the bloodline however so I'll just have to wait and see if any of the others go. Kathy what size bands have you got on your girls? I have 11's but they've all fallen off, so I guess I need a smaller size but how much smaller. (I have no idea why they would offer "red" in bands) . I have blue.

I haven't feather sexed because I understood it didn't work. Now I'm just confused. I may give it a shot next hatch. It certainly didn't work for Trylin, thank the lord. She had 3 and 3.

I noticed I have a roo with crooked toes. Could this have happened from roosting at to young of an age? Glad it a roo though, he's not a keeper. He's about two months old.

popcorn- where did you get your girls?

Take care

Rancher

 

[popcornpuppy]

Quote:
Rancher, 3 of my broodies came from a breeder in PA. I got them as eggs from an ebay auction. The 4th gal is from Speckledhen. She is the one in the photo. Cynthia has said that one of her girls came from broody lines, and I guess those are the genes I got in my hen in the photo.

regarding your roo with crooked toes......I have heard that is a somewhat common problem with the Dels with many probable causes. Everything from incubation, hatching issues, genetics etc can be to blame. I know it is a vauge answer and does not answer if it's from roosting young. The only experience I have had with crooked toes was genetic and have not seen any other cause in my own birds. I hope you find your answer though.