Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[jeremy]

A friend of mine hatched two "Delaweggers" from my Ameraucana roo over my Del hens in early February, they're turning out to be the neatest birds. The pullet is an orangey Buff color with Blue in her tail and wing feathers. The male looks like a Delaware, except with Blue barring in his hackles and Blue tail feathers. I have a pullet growing out at my place who's just over a month old, I cannot wait until she's a big girl.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Jeremy, I would love to see pics of those. I plan on trying for some delaweggers sometime.

 

[Stevenson]

My Delawares will be 10 weeks old this weekend. I would like to become a full out breeder of this breed eventually, so I don't want to make some major mistakes my first year. I don't have a copy of the SOP yet....I will be getting one for father's day....woot! But I wanted to know what kinds of things that you all think I need to be looking for right now? I know I want to start to pay attention to which is the largest. Can I start looking at shape at this age? What are your thoughts?

 

[Lotsapaints]

about all you can make notes on is how fast they feathered out and weigh them keep track of that Dels are supposed to mature right out so you don't want to keep any runty ones it should work out that the biggest ones of each sex will stay the largest at 10 weeks look for split wings green legs narrow ones short backs and put those on the cull list in a few more weeks they'll be tasty

 

[Serrin]

Is it asking too much of folks that they use punctuation and capitalization in their posts? If a person must read a post 20 times, carefully, in order to have even a vague understanding what the poster meant, it rather loses something in translation!

Please, people! At the very least, make the attempt! Proof read your post before you hit that submit button!

Sorry for the rant, but this is an issue that really burns my backside!

OK, on the issue of yellow legs versus greenish legs. I noticed with my trio, that their legs were a healthy looking pink when I first got them at the tender age of 2 or 3 days old. They're now approximately 6 weeks old. With each passing week, two of the three are developing increasingly yellow legs, while the third one still has a bit of a greenish caste to her legs. Although, I have noticed that the greenish tinge isn't quite as pronounced as it was earlier, and that she is now leaning more towards the bright yellow of her siblings.

Is it possible, if this is indeed a genetic issue, for the green to fade with time and be replaced by the yellow trait? I have been feeding them the Mana Pro chick starter almost exclusively from the very beginning. They are indoors now and will continue to be until they are both large enough and the weather is warm enough for them to join the rest of my flock. I will be very interested to see how they develop once they are exposed to sunlight and a diet more inclusive of corn and other raw grains. Here's hoping that the yellow intensifies!

 

[math ace]

Quote:
I swore that I would not open my mouth again on this discussion, but here I go again...

Serrin, that is exactly what happens.... The greenish hue disappears as the bird ages and the legs end up looking like other delawares.
Other delawares start out with nice rich yellow legs and they fade once the ladies start laying. The pullets with the greenish hue to the yellow legs will lose most of the green tint by the time they start laying. Needless to say, most won't be able to tell the difference between the two sets of legs by laying age.
This is why some chose to ignore the issue.

I did say LADIES, because the males suffer from a darker green color to their legs. I haven't had any males with this issue..... so I don't know what would happen for sure. I suspect that the green would not fade enough on the males to disappear.....

If this is a genetic issue, then this is the real problem.... the MATURE girls can hide the issue but still carry the genes to cause it to show up again. If it shows up in the males.... there is no hiding it.


It will be VERY INTERESTING to see what happens with your experimenting . I will be looking forward to seeing your results.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
CAPITALIZATION? NO PROBLEM..I USE LOTS OF ........SO MY PUNCTUATION IS JUST FINE. FLAD YOU ARE OK WITH SPELING EROARS.........

I wouldn't worry about the chick leg color yet. If it looks sort of yellow it will probably be just fine. BR females many times have a greenish tinge to the yellow when young. Maybe that is where that influence originated. The males are usually the darkest yellow from the beginning and all through adulthood.

Walt

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
So, Walt, are you saying that we are too focused on this issue? Is it not really such a big problem as we thought?

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
So, Walt, are you saying that we are too focused on this issue? Is it not really such a big problem as we thought?

Leg color is very important. It is a DQ if not correct. From what I have read and seen here, there is a good possibility that people are being too critical either before the legs have a chance to color out or before trying some free choice hen scratch, or corn in some form. The corn makes all kinds of things on the chicken yellow...but it won't, if the bird has white legs. You can feed it anything you want and they will remain white.. I have raised white leghorn bantams for years. They have white earlobes. if I feed them too much scratch the ear lobes turn yellow...so I have this balancing act of keeping the legs so that they look yellow, but not enough to affect the ear lobes. I can make most other breeds legs so yellow they don 't look real by feeding them hen scratch...but they have to be a yellow legged bird genetically.

It just seems as if people are obsessing over what shade of yellow they have. What do your female BR leg color look like? Many times they have either spots or a greenish cast to them. The males are always nice and yellow.

It is possible that some really have white/green legged birds. If they do then that is a serious problem. Everyone should also keep in mind that pictures posted at 72dpi only give you a general sense of color. In addition not many of us calibrate our monitors every day for accurate color viewing.

Walt

 

[GhostRider65]

Hey guys,
I ordered 5 Delaware chicks, and finally got them 2 months late, they are 3 weeks old and feathering in nicey. wondering if theres anyway you can sex them at this age?
2 are darker with more black feathers in the tail/ neck and wings while the other 3 are much lighter and smaller? the 2 darker chicks are much more aggressive as well, they keep pecking open my scuffs on my hand every time I put my hand in the brooder......... but they are so very cute and freindly..... I love them even though they are hatchery stock I think they are perfect. what do you all think? I took a couple pictures when I cleaned the brooder tonight