Delaware

The Delaware is a dual-purpose breed developed in the United States during the 1940s. Its body is mostly white, with black barring across the neck, wings and tail, a pattern that marks it out from the solid-coloured utility breeds many Kiwi keepers already know. The birds are medium framed and put on weight quickly, which is what first caught the eye of commercial growers.

The breed carries a name for being easy going. Hens stay settled around the person doing the feeding, and cope equally well shut in a run or let out to range over a section or lifestyle block. They lay large brown eggs across most of the year and keep laying through the cooler months better than some of the lighter breeds do, which suits our temperate winters.

Once the big broiler hybrids took over commercial sheds, the Delaware lost its place in large-scale production and numbers fell away sharply. These days it's mostly small-flock owners and conservation-minded breeders, here and overseas, who keep the breed going, valuing the temperament and the balance between meat and eggs.

Who it suits

The Delaware suits keepers after one breed that covers both meat and eggs without going all in on either. Its steady nature makes it a fair pick for households with kids and for anyone keeping chooks for the first time. Heritage-poultry enthusiasts also keep the breed simply to help hold its numbers up.

The Delaware's story starts in the state of Delaware in the early 1940s. Breeder George Ellis is credited with the cross, working New Hampshire hens over Barred Plymouth Rock roosters. He was after a broiler that grew fast and carried light pinfeathers, since that gave a cleaner-dressed carcass than birds with darker feathering.

The breed went by other names before Delaware stuck. The American Poultry Association added it to the Standard of Perfection in 1952.

Through the 1940s and into the early 1950s, the Delaware and its crosses were a mainstay of the broiler trade on the Delmarva Peninsula in the eastern United States. The combination of quick growth and pale feathering suited processors well.

That commercial run ended once the Cornish Cross and similar hybrids took over meat production. Numbers dropped away fast, and the Delaware became a genuinely rare breed. Poultry conservation groups later flagged it as a priority for preservation, and small breeders both in North America and further afield, New Zealand included, have worked to build flock numbers back up.

The Delaware has a broad, reasonably deep body that reflects its dual-purpose build. The base colour is white, marked with black barring concentrated on the neck hackle, the wing tips and the tail. Overall it reads as a mostly white bird with restrained black accents rather than a heavily patterned one.

The head carries a single, medium red comb with five points, plus red wattles and earlobes. The beak is reddish horn, the eyes reddish bay, and the legs and skin yellow. The feathering sits close to the body and is moderately soft.

Coat and colours

The recognised colour is the Columbian-influenced white-and-black pattern described above. Legs and feet are clean, no feathering, and yellow. A bantam version exists at lighter weights. Chicks hatch pale, a trait the breed was selected for so the dressed carcass stays clean.

The Delaware has a name for a steady, friendly temperament. Birds are generally relaxed around the person handling them and take to being picked up, which makes day-to-day care straightforward. Hens are not particularly noisy set against some of the more highly strung laying breeds.

Around family the breed tends to be approachable, and individual birds tame down with regular handling. They're usually wary rather than aggressive around strangers. In a mixed flock, Delawares hold their ground without throwing their weight around, and they get on fine with other standard dual-purpose breeds.

Given a run or a section to work over, the birds forage keenly, though they cope with confinement just as well. Roosters are generally described as good natured, though as with any breed, individual temperament varies bird to bird.

The Delaware is a hardy breed and copes with cold well, helped by its size and its tolerance of cooler conditions, useful given how changeable a New Zealand winter can be. Routine care follows standard poultry practice.

Grooming

• Keep feathers clean by keeping housing dry and well bedded
• Check the single comb and wattles for frostbite during hard frosts
• Check legs and feet now and then for scaly leg mite
• Provide a dry dust-bathing spot to help keep external parasites down

Exercise

• Give daily access to a run or supervised free range for foraging
• Provide room to scratch and move about, which keeps muscle tone up
• Avoid overcrowding, which cuts down on stress and pecking

Environment

The breed copes with both confinement and free range. A secure, draught-free coop with good airflow and solid predator-proofing suits it well. The single comb means shade and ventilation matter through summer, while the bird's size and feathering help it handle winter cold.

A complete commercial poultry feed matched to the bird's life stage covers most of what it needs. Chicks start on a starter crumble, move onto a grower ration, and hens shift to a layer feed once they come into lay. Because the breed grows fast, steady access to a balanced feed backs up healthy development. Foraging and kitchen scraps can top up the diet but should not take the place of a formulated feed.

Treats and supplements

Offer insoluble grit whenever birds eat anything beyond commercial feed, since they need it to grind their food down. Provide a separate source of calcium, such as crushed oyster shell, for hens that are laying. Treats such as greens, mealworms and grain are fine in small amounts and should stay under about ten percent of total intake.

The Delaware is regarded as a hardy, healthy breed with no notable breed-specific genetic disorders. With good husbandry, birds commonly reach 6 to 8 years old. Most health issues trace back to parasites, respiratory infections or management shortfalls rather than anything inherent to the breed.

Preventive care

• Provide clean, dry bedding and good ventilation
• Quarantine new birds before adding them to the flock, and follow MPI import rules if birds or hatching eggs have come from overseas
• Keep feed and water clean and away from wild birds
• Offer dust-bathing areas to keep external parasites down
• Watch body condition and laying as an early sign of trouble

The Delaware settles well into standard backyard housing. A predator-proof coop paired with an enclosed run, or supervised free range over a section or lifestyle block, meets its needs. As a medium, active breed it does better with room to move and forage, though it takes to confinement more readily than flightier breeds. Good airflow without draughts matters year round, given how quickly our weather can turn.

Setup checklist

• Secure coop with locking doors and predator-proof mesh
• Roosting bars set above the nest boxes
• Clean nest boxes with dry bedding
• Feeder and waterer kept up off the ground and clean
• Shaded outdoor area for hot spells
• Dust-bathing spot in the run

Delaware eggs incubate on the same timeline as other standard breeds, taking about 21 days. Modern Delaware hens aren't strongly broody, so most keepers here rely on an incubator or a broody hen of another breed to hatch eggs. Set clean, well-shaped eggs and hold incubation conditions steady the whole way through. Anyone bringing in hatching eggs from overseas needs to work through MPI's import health standard first, since fertile eggs and day-old chicks are tightly controlled at the border.

Hatching steps

1. Pick clean, undamaged eggs and store them pointed end down before setting
2. Preheat and stabilise the incubator before adding eggs
3. Turn eggs daily through day 18, keeping an eye on temperature and humidity
4. Candle around day 7 to 10 to check development
5. Stop turning and lift humidity at day 18 for lockdown
6. Let chicks hatch without help and dry off in the incubator before moving them to a brooder