Supposed to be all Delawares but methinks not! White Leghorn?

[zigmommy]

I bought 25 three-day olds from a local guy back in January. He told me they were all Delawares but only about half have the Delaware patterns.

Can you help me decipher what they are?

I really wanted the Delawares so I'm not happy I have only half of what I thought I had. Are they White Leghorns? Something else?

I appreciate the help (in advance!)

Danielle

 

[donrae]

They could be leghorns, they could be mixed breeds. I'd contact the seller and see what's up.

What are you going to do with all those roosters?

 

[keesmom]

And one I can see in the first picture looks more like a Columbian Rock than a Delaware.

Donrae is correct, you have a lot of males!

 

[zigmommy]

They were all supposed to be raised for meat. As soon as I suspected Leghorns and googled them I read they're terrible meat birds, of course!

I suppose we'll just keep them a while longer until they at least have SOME meat on their bones and then harvest them. I'm really ticked off at the guy...to be fair the chicks all looked similar but he should have been sure. Grrrrr....

 

[donrae]

I guess they could be Rocks, but I'm thinking Leghorns based on that amount of comb this young.

My understanding is Leghorns make good frying birds if taken younger. Most dual purpose birds get too tough for frying well. So, that's something!

You could always advertise them to see if someone wants a Leghorn rooster to put in their layer flock to boost production.

 

[keesmom]

Have you picked up any of them to gauge their weight compared to the others?

 

[Basskids08]

They look like white leghorns!

 

[zigmommy]

Yes, we've picked them up and the all-white ones are significantly lighter and less substantial than the (possible) Delawares.

It is good to know the Leghorns can be decent fryers if taken young.

Lesson learned. No buying "heritage breed" chickens from Joe Shmoe from some local Facebook group. :-/

Thanks for the input, all!