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RE: Great Chicken Breed: Barnevelder
We raised heritage-line Delawares for years. Also very excellent birds. We had a breeding program and everything for around five years.
Similar to the Barnevelder, these are great dual-purpose birds with the girls laying steadily all year and the boys topping out at around 6-7 lbs by 16 weeks.
All-around good backyard birds. Also, since Delawares are a rare-breed now, heritage-line birds command good prices for laying eggs, $15-20 per dozen easy.
Lastly, you can cross the girls with a Barred Rock or Rhode Island Red to make sex-linked crosses, which allow you to sex by color on birth. Sex-links are also excellent dual-purpose birds as long as you start both lines from heritage stock.
Thanks for the post.
That is very interesting. Thanks for the comment!
I think it was the mix of heritage rare breed AND making sex-linked chicks that were the main reasons my wife chose Delawares over prettier chickens like the Barnevelder. :)