Can someone tell me what a Delaware/New Hampshire cross looks like?

[Casey3043]

Have been formulating my chick order, and looking for something different than what I have. I came across a Delaware/New Hampshire cross offered by Cackle Hatchery. They show the parent stock as a Delaware roo and a NH hen, but no picture of the resulting chicks (as adults). There are chick pictures, but they don't show me anything about what the mature hens will look like.

I think Delawares are beautiful but I am staying away from white chickens due to an abundance of hawks in this area. I think darker colors have a better chance of escaping notice.

Are these crosses brown, red, or black? Also, are they called "Indian River"? The Cackle page seems to indicate that, but an internet search for that breed just comes up with Delaware.

Thanks for any help anyone can give.

 

[speckledhen]

Indian River is the original name for the Delaware breed. Those at Cackle are not the original Indian Rivers, of course, but hybrids. I don't know exactly what the cross looks like, but I imagine it would be white with red leaking into the hackles or something similar, or could be the girls will be reddish and males white. Here is something I found for you. It does depend on which is the male and which is the female in that cross, as to what you'd get.

Delaware males may be mated to New Hampshire or Rhode Island Red females and produce chicks of the Delaware color pattern. Delaware females mated to New Hampshire or Rhode Island Red males produced sex-linked offspring; the males having the Delaware color pattern and the females having the solid red color of the sires. Chicks from this second cross can even be sexed by their down color when hatched.

I looked at Cackle's site. It's Del male over NH femals, which will be white chickens. They are not the sexlinked hybrid of NH male over Del female.​

 

[Casey3043]

Thanks, Cynthia! I guess I will pass on these, pretty as they are. I do want to get some speckled Sussex and am looking for other well-camouflaged breeds that I don't already have. I appreciate your help with this.

CASEY

 

[speckledhen]

I have Dels myself and live in the woods. No losses so far--my Delaware rooster, Isaac, is top notch! However, I find that my dark RIRs and the Barred Rocks as well as my Speckled Sussex hen are very hard to spot in a bed of oak leaves.

 

[SE_Gardener]

Have been formulating my chick order, and looking for something different than what I have. I came across a Delaware/New Hampshire cross offered by Cackle Hatchery. They show the parent stock as a Delaware roo and a NH hen, but no picture of the resulting chicks (as adults). There are chick pictures, but they don't show me anything about what the mature hens will look like.

I think Delawares are beautiful but I am staying away from white chickens due to an abundance of hawks in this area. I think darker colors have a better chance of escaping notice.

Are these crosses brown, red, or black? Also, are they called "Indian River"? The Cackle page seems to indicate that, but an internet search for that breed just comes up with Delaware.

Thanks for any help anyone can give.

Poultry genetics - generally the phenotype of the male is the dominante genes for several traits including feather color. A Delaware carries a silver white gene which will predominate offspring color.