Are Delawares good for showing?

Yes. They are shown in the APA's **American class** as a single recognized variety, judged on a broad dual-purpose body, a five-point single comb, yellow legs and skin, and the correct **restricted Columbian-type pattern** — a white body with black barring only in the hackle, wing, and tail. Watch for brassiness and stray body ticking, the usual color faults.

How hard are Delawares to hatch?

No harder than any chicken — **99.5–100°F, lockdown day 18, 21-day hatch**, with no breed-specific quirks. Chicks are fast-growing and hatch vigorously, so give the brooder ample feeder and floor space.

What breeds were crossed to make the Delaware?

It came from **Barred Plymouth Rock males over New Hampshire hens** in 1940s Delaware. Light 'sport' chicks from that cross were selected into a new breed, admitted to the APA Standard in 1952.

Are Delawares broody?

Generally not — Delawares rarely go broody, so plan on an incubator or a broody hen of another breed to hatch their eggs. As a bonus, non-broody hens keep laying rather than pausing to sit.

Are Delawares a rare breed?

Yes. Once a leading broiler bird, the Delaware was nearly lost when the commercial Cornish-cross took over, and The Livestock Conservancy now tracks it as a **recovering** heritage breed. Buying and breeding pure Delawares directly supports its conservation.

Delaware: The Recovering American Dual-Purpose Breed

Q: What color eggs do Delawares lay?

Large **light-brown** eggs. Good hens lay about four a week — roughly 200 a year — and many keep laying through winter. It is a plain, consistent tan; Delawares are prized as dual-purpose layers, not for novelty egg colors.

Verified September 2026Brown eggs

The short version

The Delaware is a single-comb American-class dual-purpose breed that lays large light-brown eggs and wears a distinctive white plumage with black barring restricted to the hackle, wing, and tail — a Columbian-type pattern with barring in place of solid black. Developed in the 1940s in Delaware from Barred Plymouth Rock × New Hampshire crosses and admitted to the APA Standard in 1952, it was once a leading broiler bird before the Cornish-cross displaced it. It is now a recovering rare breed on The Livestock Conservancy's priority list — fast-growing, calm, and only rarely broody.

APA class: American

Egg color: Brown

Broodiness: Rarely broody

Varieties: 1

Egg-color genetics

Delawares lay a plain large light-brown egg — brown pigment (protoporphyrin) is laid down as a surface coating over a white shell late in shell formation, so it wipes and fades rather than penetrating the shell like a blue egg does. There is no blue base and no chocolate-dark overlay, so the color stays a consistent light tan and does not put Delawares in olive-egger crosses.

Where the Delaware came from

The Delaware is an American composite created in the 1940s by George Ellis of Indian River, Delaware, who was crossing Barred Plymouth Rock roosters onto New Hampshire hens to produce a fast-growing broiler. The cross threw occasional light-colored 'sport' chicks — white birds with black barring limited to the neck, wing, and tail — and Ellis selected those sports into a distinct breed, first called the Indian River. The American Poultry Association admitted it to the Standard of Perfection in 1952.

For a short window in the 1940s and 1950s the Delaware and the Delaware × New Hampshire cross dominated the mid-Atlantic broiler trade because the white-based plumage dressed out cleanly. The rise of the Cornish-Rock commercial cross then pushed it aside almost entirely, and the breed nearly vanished. The Livestock Conservancy now lists it as recovering as small farmers and exhibitors rebuild flocks.

What color eggs do Delawares lay?

Large light-brown eggs, and plenty of them — good hens lay roughly four eggs a week, on the order of 200 a year, and often continue through winter. The brown is a light tan surface coating over a white shell, so it is consistent and unfussy; Delawares are a laying and meat bird, not a colored-egg novelty.

Breeding notes

Know the foundation cross: the Delaware traces to Barred Plymouth Rock males over New Hampshire females run by George Ellis in the 1940s. A handful of light 'sport' offspring showed the white, lightly barred pattern, and selecting those sports fixed the breed — so a modern breeding pen is really selecting to hold that composite color and fast growth true.
The signature look is Columbian-type restriction: solid white body with black confined to the hackle, primary and secondary flight feathers, and tail — but with barring through those black areas instead of clean solid black. Breed for crisp barring and a clean white body; birds that go too dark (heavy body ticking or smutty backs) or too washed-out (little to no neck and tail marking) both miss the pattern.
This is a recovering rare breed, so the priority for breeders is a viable, unrelated gene pool as much as feather perfection. Keep breeding numbers up, avoid narrow single-rooster bottlenecks, and select for the breed's original economic traits — quick growth, good size, and steady brown-egg laying — so you conserve the working dual-purpose bird, not just its color.
Delawares breed true for their color once the pattern is fixed, unlike a New Hampshire × Delaware cross (the historic 'Indian River' broiler), which was a market cross, not a self-perpetuating breed. If you want reproducible show birds, keep a pure Delaware pen rather than chasing hybrid vigor.

Showing notes

Exhibited in the APA's American class as large fowl (a bantam Delaware also exists). Enter simply as 'Delaware' — there is a single recognized color variety, so there is no variety split to declare.
Judges look for a broad, deep dual-purpose body, a bright-red single comb of five points, yellow shanks and skin, and above all the correct restricted pattern: a white body carrying black barring only in the hackle, wing, and tail.
Common faults are color faults: brassiness or yellow tinge in the white of males exposed to sun, black or gray flecking (ticking) bleeding into the body and back, and either overly heavy or nearly absent neck-and-tail markings. Shade white birds before a show to keep the surface white bright.

Hatching & incubation

No breed-specific incubation requirements — Delaware eggs incubate like any standard large-fowl chicken egg at 99.5–100°F forced-air, lockdown day 18, 21-day hatch.
Chicks are fast-growing and hatch vigorously; the breed was bred for quick early growth, so brood with adequate feeder and floor space to match their pace.

Recognized varieties

White with Columbian-style black barring (hackle, wing, and tail)

Frequently asked questions

What color eggs do Delawares lay?: Large light-brown eggs. Good hens lay about four a week — roughly 200 a year — and many keep laying through winter. It is a plain, consistent tan; Delawares are prized as dual-purpose layers, not for novelty egg colors.
Are Delawares good for showing?: Yes. They are shown in the APA's American class as a single recognized variety, judged on a broad dual-purpose body, a five-point single comb, yellow legs and skin, and the correct restricted Columbian-type pattern — a white body with black barring only in the hackle, wing, and tail. Watch for brassiness and stray body ticking, the usual color faults.
How hard are Delawares to hatch?: No harder than any chicken — 99.5–100°F, lockdown day 18, 21-day hatch, with no breed-specific quirks. Chicks are fast-growing and hatch vigorously, so give the brooder ample feeder and floor space.
What breeds were crossed to make the Delaware?: It came from Barred Plymouth Rock males over New Hampshire hens in 1940s Delaware. Light 'sport' chicks from that cross were selected into a new breed, admitted to the APA Standard in 1952.
Are Delawares broody?: Generally not — Delawares rarely go broody, so plan on an incubator or a broody hen of another breed to hatch their eggs. As a bonus, non-broody hens keep laying rather than pausing to sit.
Are Delawares a rare breed?: Yes. Once a leading broiler bird, the Delaware was nearly lost when the commercial Cornish-cross took over, and The Livestock Conservancy now tracks it as a recovering heritage breed. Buying and breeding pure Delawares directly supports its conservation.

Sources

Delaware Chicken (breed history, color pattern & conservation status) — The Livestock Conservancy (Reference)
Delaware Chickens — Brown Egg Layers (breed profile) — Cackle Hatchery (Hatchery)
Delaware Chickens: Heritage Poultry Breeds — Mother Earth News (Reference)

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