The Delaware Breed

[ChickenCide]

I have been trying to find the Best Meat Bird. I will define Best. Decent size. Growth is average to fast. Hearty, Decent feed to meat ratio. Most important, I can breed them and have more of the same bird.
I have been reading about cornish cross, what they are, how they are created and how they have focused on genetic defects in order to create and monopolize grocery store chicken with these birds and I really have been turned off my these. I dont like the cornish broilers, I dont like the rangers either. But the more I have read and looked into it, It seems that the Deleware are a great choice and also offer a better tasting meat. Jersey giants take too long, and I suppose the Nh reds and Barred rock, which apparently were used to create the Deleware are also good choices, but I am leaning towards the Deleware and using it for meat purposes. the big thing is beign able to incubate and hatch more of its eggs. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Positive or negative?

 

[SweetieChicken234]

I have been trying to find the Best Meat Bird. I will define Best. Decent size. Growth is average to fast. Hearty, Decent feed to meat ratio. Most important, I can breed them and have more of the same bird.
I have been reading about cornish cross, what they are, how they are created and how they have focused on genetic defects in order to create and monopolize grocery store chicken with these birds and I really have been turned off my these. I dont like the cornish broilers, I dont like the rangers either. But the more I have read and looked into it, It seems that the Deleware are a great choice and also offer a better tasting meat. Jersey giants take too long, and I suppose the Nh reds and Barred rock, which apparently were used to create the Deleware are also good choices, but I am leaning towards the Deleware and using it for meat purposes. the big thing is beign able to incubate and hatch more of its eggs. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Positive or negative?

That's exactly the reason I have Delawares. I'm going to do the same. Hatchery Delawares are poor quality and you need a breeder. Those breeders are hard to find. I found one in California but she's just about to stop selling her Delawares I think.

Her name is Erin Angulo. She's in California and her farm is Dawnridge Farm. She has good size Delawares like the original store birds. I'm determined to acquire some of her birds in January. I told her if she is done selling then please charge me an "inconvenience fee" because I need those birds.

The Delawares I have are cute but way too small. One of them is nearly a bantam size. She's cute but I have no need for her. I wish I could rehome her.

I hatched some of my Delaware eggs 2 weeks ago to see if their size would be any better. I also have some crossbred to Wyandottes. The Wyandotte crosses are much bigger.

 

[ChickenCide]

That's exactly the reason I have Delawares. I'm going to do the same. Hatchery Delawares are poor quality and you need a breeder. Those breeders are hard to find. I found one in California but she's just about to stop selling her Delawares I think.

Her name is Erin Angulo. She's in California and her farm is Dawnridge Farm. She has good size Delawares like the original store birds. I'm determined to acquire some of her birds in January. I told her if she is done selling then please charge me an "inconvenience fee" because I need those birds.

The Delawares I have are cute but way too small. One of them is nearly a bantam size. She's cute but I have no need for her. I wish I could rehome her.

I hatched some of my Delaware eggs 2 weeks ago to see if their size would be any better. I also have some crossbred to Wyandottes. The Wyandotte crosses are much bigger.

thank you for your response, i was just checking her out, looks like she is in Grass Valley, Im in CA but by the Mexico Border, so its a drive, looks like she does shit though. So you were happy with her delewares? what hatchery did you use that they came out small? I was hoping to get some 8ish pounders at least.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

thank you for your response, i was just checking her out, looks like she is in Grass Valley, Im in CA but by the Mexico Border, so its a drive, looks like she does shit though. So you were happy with her delewares? what hatchery did you use that they came out small? I was hoping to get some 8ish pounders at least.

I don't yet have Erin's Delawares but it is my goal by January. She tracks her chicks weights by 6 weeks old and I compared my hatchery Delawares growth to hers. Mine is pitiful. She spent about 10 years recovering this breed and it's unbelievable. I am convinced she has some of the best Delawares you will find. She does ship but I think she's wanted to travel and not breed Delawares so much. I would call her soon as you can and have a long chat with her.

My Delawares came from Tractor Supply so that's Hoover's Hatchery. One of my Delawares has a tail that is stuck down it's deformed. She also has 2 different color eyes. My rooster isn't too bad. He's handsome and just a bit lighter weight.

 

[ChickenCide]

Oh Im glad you said tractor supply, I was thinking I might check them out, Ill stay away then. thanks. And I will follow up with Dawnridge Farm cause I would love to get some good quality birds. I was thinking cornish cross were the way to go then started watching the absolute crazy way they are bred through generations and decided, I need a less genetically controlled bird.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

Oh Im glad you said tractor supply, I was thinking I might check them out, Ill stay away then. thanks. And I will follow up with Dawnridge Farm cause I would love to get some good quality birds. I was thinking cornish cross were the way to go then started watching the absolute crazy way they are bred through generations and decided, I need a less genetically controlled bird.

Your thinking is about on track with mine. I think the Cornish crosses are a mess and I would rather have birds I can hatch myself. It seems so much more sustainable this way. I had a successful hatch of my flock. My neighbor wanted more laying hens so I decided to incubate and watch the growth just to see what my flocks genetics do. I already prefer the Wyandotte crosses. They are bigger right off the bat. Interesting project anyway. I am hoping to rehome 2 of my Delawares once I get Erin's chicks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Positive or negative?

The most important thing to me is that you need to define your goals. You've mostly done that. One important piece to me is how do you plan to cook them? Are you planning on eating only the cockerels?

Cockerels mature at different rates than pullets. As they go through puberty the hormones add texture and flavor to cockerels. Texture means the older they are the tougher they can be so age at butcher has a lot to do with how you can cook them. You can turn an old mature rooster into a gourmet meal but he has to be cooked correctly. Otherwise he is probably going to be inedible.

The hormones also add flavor as they mature. Some of us like that flavor, others consider it too gamey and hate it. Pullets add texture and flavor too but much slower than cockerels.

Another factor is that we each have our own preferences for texture and flavor. If you are used to "store" chicken (Cornish X butchered at 6 to 8 weeks of age) you may not enjoy the texture or flavor of our cockerels. An additional complication is that different cockerels (even the same breed) start puberty at different ages. While one may start adding texture and flavor pretty young a sibling may be a month or more later.

You can find charts that say you can cook a cockerel a certain age a certain way. Those are a general guideline but I think you need to do some trial and error to find out what suits you the "best". We are all different.

Another thing to look for is at what rate they gain weight. If you are butchering them at 16 weeks you want one that gains the most weight at 16 weeks, not at 20 weeks. When you are selecting your breeders keep the ones you want to eat and eat the rest.

I agree, since you want to breed your own stay away from the Cornish X. It is too hard to consistently keep them alive long enough to breed. Some people on this forum that have had some success have crossed a dual purpose chicken with a Cornish X but even that is hard.

The Rangers are not quite as hard as the Cornish X. Some people have had success breeding them to each other but it is generally a good idea to watch how you feed them. Don't feed them as if you are trying to get them to gain weight quickly if you want to breed them. Rangers were bred to grow a little slower and to be able to forage for a lot of their food. Again, some people have bred them to dual purpose chickens.

You read a lot about how Cornish X or Rangers don't breed true. That is correct, they do not. They are crosses and you can get variation when you breed crosses to crosses. There can always be an exception no matter what you do with chickens but for the vast majority of cases your worse rejects from cross bred Cornish X or Rangers are still a better meat bird than a dual purpose bird. So is crossing them with a dual purpose breed. Still, without special techniques consistently keeping Cornish X alive to breeding age and beyond can be very hard. Rangers are easier but can be challenging.

Before the Cornish X took over the meat bird industry in the 1950's Delaware, New Hampshire, and certain strains of White Rock were the commercial meat birds in the US. When the Cornish X took over breeders stopped breeding those for meat so they soon became normal dual purpose chickens. There are very few breeders today that have Delaware or New Hampshire bred specifically for meat. One is mentioned above. If you can get breeding stock from them you are in a pretty good position but you need to learn how to choose which chickens to breed to maintain their quality. If you don't select your breeders wisely in a very few generations your flock will not be that different from many other flocks.

Another decent place to get starting stock is from show bird breeders. They breed for size, show birds are typically bigger than hatchery stock. But they do not breed for efficiency of putting on meat. Their concern for size is when they are ready to show more than when they are ready to butcher so feeding efficiency could be less. How well they work for you could depend a lot on how well you choose which chickens get to breed.

Welcome to the adventure of raising chickens for meat. It can be as simple as getting some birds and raising them to butcher age. It can be as complicated as you wish in learning how to feed them and breed them to get the chicken perfect for you. Good luck!

 

[SweetieChicken234]

Another thing to look for is at what rate they gain weight. If you are butchering them at 16 weeks you want one that gains the most weight at 16 weeks, not at 20 weeks. When you are selecting your breeders keep the ones you want to eat and eat the rest.

This right here is exactly why I am determined to get Erin's birds. She has them bred back to right about this age to butcher. She has told me all the work she has done on this breed to get them back where they used to be.