Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds - Page 1474

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChickenLeg 

I went out and took some Sunday pics, the little rascals were very photogenic today! and quite playful.

Blue (my blue wheaten rooster) jumped on the feeder and played king-of-the-hill, and before I left the coop they all started pecking at the hay/feed that was stuck on my clothes. (I enjoy crawling in and spending time with them inside the coop, my mom calls me the big chicken haha)

 

Awww- great pics.They look very happy. I do see muffs on that girl in the middle pic.  

Can't wait to have colorful teenagers here again!  

:) they are so much entertainment, they each have a personality of their own!

How long can the 3 roos stay together before they start fighting each other?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChickenLeg 

:) they are so much entertainment, they each have a personality of their own!

How long can the 3 roos stay together before they start fighting each other?

Mine that have hatched and grown up together do not fight.  Every now and then there is a small half hearted scuffle but wouldn't call it fighting.  If you separate them for a time then put them back together...there can be trouble if you don't do it right.

I raise mine in an enclosed coop and then put them out with the big chickens while they are still juvies.  The head cockeral beats his chest the others listen and from that day forward no fights. 

thanks guys, mine have been together ever since birth, so it sounds like there should be no problems (ill keep my fingers crossed!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by collaire 

Why are you keeping chickens? That's a question you should ask when considering egg size and production. Ameraucana hens which should weigh 5 pounds at maturity, should lay a large egg, 25+ ounces per dozen, or they are not really earning their keep. They should also be fairly good producers. If you are just keeping them for their looks then small to medium eggs and poor production are OK. Blue eggs do lighten up as the laying cycle proceeds, but I've never seen an egg get completely white.   

That's a good question that I'd say folks should give some thought to.  However, I can't really think of any good reason to keep a LF chicken that consistently lays a small to medium egg AND has poor production.  Even if one solely has birds for breeding and showing, egg production and size should be a consideration in a breeding plan. As for my birds earning their keep, I imagine if that was a priority, I'd be selling most of my birds!  LOL  I think my chickens come close to paying for themselves and may actually obtain that goal but I haven't actually sat down & looked at my spreadsheet in some time.  I only know that because of the ducks, I'm lucky to break even in a year and the last couple I haven't even come close to doing that.

I'm wondering Collaire, what varieties do you have?  How long have you been breeding?  What have you experienced with your Ameraucanas in the way of production and size?

As I said in my previous post, productivity became a major focus of my breeding plan a few years ago when I began having birds that didn't give me an egg for 6-9 months.  And so I took steps to correct that.  That included setting every single egg from my two BW #10's that laid a white egg and a white egg with just a tinge of blue.  I didn't state this before but those #10's were the result of a mating that was done to eliminate brown egg genes that were throwing green into the color. 

So, even though the eggs were white, they gave me 5 eggs/week and as I recall those eggs probably weighed somewhere around 1.85oz.  My Ameraucana eggs have never been my largest eggs.  Most weigh right around 2oz - give or take .25 of oz.  Most of the F1 generation laid smaller than that.  So size is something I've improved on as well and hope to increase even more.  But it's gonna take some time.

I don't know a thing about other varieties so can't speak to what the BBS, Whites, Brown/Reds, Silvers, Buffs do but I'd be interested in hearing what others who have them say.  I think I'm safe in saying that egg color, productivity, and size are all things that need to be improved with the WBS variety.  Would you other WBS breeders agree?

God Bless,

And how would one work on getting the egg size up?  I think I understand that if you are working on production you hatch eggs from your more productive hens only.  Then the lazy layer traits do not get passed on.  How do you get larger eggs? Only hatch big eggs?  But it seems like that would take forever if they are already laying small eggs.  Does the next generation really improve much in egg size?

I just hatched my very first Ameraucana chick from my own eggs!!  I think it is a blue (hard to tell when it is still wet).    I have 15 more eggs in the incubator, I can't wait to see them all fluffed up!