What the chicks of a Delaware and a ISA Brown look like and lay, worked out from both breeds' standards.
A Delaware hen crossed with a ISA Brown rooster gives you what keepers call a first-generation (F1) cross. The pullets should lay brown eggs: there is no blue gene in this cross. Every chick gets a single comb. Expect a large bird, a top layer, calm, the average of the two parents.
Preset to a Delaware hen and a ISA Brown rooster. Change either side to see how the blue gene and the brown coat move the shell colour.
He never lays, so his blue gene is read from his mother's eggs.
Too uncertain to call: 0–100% blue-based (Olive if it is, otherwise Brown). Add lineage to narrow it.
Brown shade shifts with a hen's age, diet and stress, so identical genes still lay a little differently. Speckling and bloom are cosmetic and not modelled.
| Trait | Delaware hen | ISA Brown rooster | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comb type | Single | Single | Single |
| Barring | Not barred | Not barred | Not barred |
| Fibromelanosis | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Skin color | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| Feather pattern | Columbian | Solid | varies: polygenic, parents differ |
| Leg color | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow likely (both parents share it) |
| Trait | Delaware | ISA Brown | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frame height | large | medium | large |
| Egg production | good layer | top layer | top layer |
| Broodiness | rarely broody | never broody | rarely broody |
| Docility | calm | calm | calm |
| Bone density | medium | medium | medium |
| Foraging skill | good forager | decent forager | good forager |
| Cold hardiness | cold-hardy | fairly hardy | cold-hardy |
Chicks land near the average of the two parents for these traits. Reaching one parent's extreme takes another generation of selection.
This is the breed-standard version. Add your flock, set a breeding goal, and the pairing engine ranks every hen and rooster you own against it. Free for up to 15 birds.
Checked September 2026. Hybrids and breeds no reference covers are marked approximate. Egg colour on these pages follows one rule: Brown is any shade a buyer would call brown; Cream/tinted is off-white.