Heritage chickens have a stereotype of being slow to grow and low yield, making them a difficult choice for production-based pastured poultry farms. Ok, maybe the stereotype has strong roots in reality. That’s why Erin Angulo (Dawnridge Farm) is on the podcast discussing the improvements she has made with her line of Delaware chickens in addition to her work with the Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation.

Breeding Delaware Chickens for Weight Gain

As we discuss in the podcast episode, the Delaware has strong roots as an American chicken prior to the development of the faster growing Cornish Cross. The Cornish Cross dislodged the Delaware’s popularity. Ultimately that development of the faster chicken growth turned chicken into a common food and sent heritage breeds, such as the Delaware, on a fast track to neglect.

Seventy years removed from the Delaware chicken’s popularity, breeders like Erin are trying to restore their potential.

Just how far has she come? Her first batch of chickens yielded a 3.5 lb carcass in 16 weeks. That’s very common of heritage chickens, and probably above average for most people who try the heritage chickens today. Five years later, Erin has selected her cockerels to achieve a 3.5 lb. to 4.5 lb. carcass in 12 to 13 weeks. The variance in slaughter time is due to processing availability.

That improvement is not going to put the Delaware back into mainstream production, but it’s true to historical breed standards, and it’s the kind of improvement that would make Delaware meat chickens a potential option for more farms. As a comparison, many of the slow growing hybrids are bred for 12 week grow outs with average yields a couple pounds heavier.

Heritage Chicken Breeding Strategies

In the episode, Erin shares her basic approach to breeding Delawares, and it’s not complicated. She doesn’t use any specially formulated feed. Instead, she weighs birds twice a month to track the weight gain of each developing bird. When she makes final selections in September, she has already handled each bird for eight months and is knowledgeable about what she’s looking for and familiar with the birds. Her success is hands on.

When selecting breeders, Erin only selects the birds that are as good or better than the father. In a recent season, that meant she kept 3 cockerels out of 75.

Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation

Erin discovered heritage chickens through Sustainable Poultry Network (SPN) and was an active member of that association. As SPN restructured and different community needs arose, she was a founding member of the Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation (HPB). HPB became a separate organization with it’s own mission  to create a community of poultry breeders and enable sharing, educating and developing a knowledge base needed to improve and restore standard breeds to their original purpose.

HPB’s niche is declared in the name of the organization, and it aims to make deep breeding knowledge accessible to a wider audience. As a startup organization, there is untapped potential waiting for new breeders to jump in and engage the community. Check them out – I’m a member.

Contact for Erin and Heritage Poultry Breeders

Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation: website |  Facebook | Instagram

Dawnridge Farm: Facebook | info@dawnridgefarm.com

Resources from the Episode

• The Fighting Farmer Episode 44
• American Pastured Poultry Producers Association
• Livestock Conservancy
• Smokey Buttes Ranch
• Peak Poultry
• The Fertrell Company
• Sustainable Poultry Network

Topic Timestamps [mm:ss]

• 01:02 Introduction to heritage birds through SPN
• 05:12 Delaware breeding improvements
• 06:30 Feeding and and selection process
• 10:12 Egg laying capabilities of Erin’s Delaware chickens
• 11:39 Biggest problems: predators and color pattern on males
• 13:21 Advice to new heritage poultry breeders: choose correctly
• 18:33 Introduction to Heritage Poultry Breeders Educational Foundation
• 19:00 Goal of Heritage Poultry Breeders is to reach anyone raising heritage poultry

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