Delaware chicks for sale February to July. The Delaware chicken breed originated from crosses of Barred Plymouth Rock roosters and New Hampshire hens. A few off-colored sports were produced that were almost white with black barring on the hackles, primaries, secondaries, and tail. This coloration is very similar to the Colombian color pattern, but with the barring substituting for the black sections.
Temperament: Delaware chickens have a calm and friendly disposition.
American Poultry Association Class: American Chicken Class
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy Conservation Status: Threatened
Production: Delaware hens are great brown egg layers. Delaware chicks still make an excellent dual-purpose bird. Delawares have well-developed egg and meat qualities. The Delaware chicken breed is noted for rapid growth and fast feathering of the chicks. Delaware cocks grow to 8 pounds and Delaware hens to 6 pounds.
History: Delawares, originally called "Indian Rivers," were developed by George Ellis of Delaware in 1940 and were used for the production of broilers. For about twenty years the Delaware and the Delaware x New Hampshire cross were the most popular broiler chickens on the Delmarva Peninsula, because of the Delaware?s ability to produce offspring with predominately white feathering. Perdue Farms was the company producing the Delaware broilers for the entire east coast market. This is an advantage for carcass appearance since white feathers don?t leave dark spots on the skin when feathers are growing in. Both the Delaware and the Delaware x New Hampshire were replaced in the late 1950's by the Cornish x Rock cross (solid white) that has come to dominate the industry. The Delaware breed was added to the American Poultry Association Standard of Perfection in 1952. A brief description of the Delaware and the White American can be found in Marble and Jeffrey, Commercial Poultry Production, 1955. At that time there was no idea of making a new breed. The aim was simply to develop a male line to replace the Barred Rock to use with New Hampshire females and thereby produce Colombian pattern (rather than barred rock) broilers. These were to be called Indian Rivers after the name of Ellis' hatchery and the beautiful Indian River and the bay nearby.It soon became clear, however, that however convenient it was to have a broiler with fewer black pinfeathers, it was even more convenient to have no black pinfeathers.
Crossing: 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.
The Delaware is listed in Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste, a list of heritage foods in danger of extinction.
Delaware Club of America is dedicated to the preservation and restoration of this endangered breed. The Delaware Club of America was founded in 2008 due to the response to the status of the Delaware breed on the ALBC's Critical List. It's important to us to preserve this breed and bring it out of the endangered list. We must also work to setting breed shows and grow interest into why it is important to save it. With you help and support, we can do just that. Membership to the Delaware Club of America is open to anyone. The Delaware Club of America Certified Breeders program is designed to help protect and encourage the purebred Delaware breeding.
