Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[heatherscooby77]

Thanks for the help you guys,
I am getting the birds from a good breeder, she also sells Red Stars.
How are the amerecauna's egg laying abilities, do they lay 5-6 eggs a week?
I already have one RIR an she is a good layer, but she is very noisy and aggresive towards my poor silkie. I don't want a bird to join her in her reign of terror which is why I am hesitant to get another RIR.
So when it comes down to amerecaunas, RIRs, and red stars which would you recommend?

From my experience any large fowl that I put in with the Silkies picked on them. RIR if they are from a hatchery are usually aggressive. If you buy Heritage Breed stock from a reputable breeder your Silkie might be okay. With that said if you want lots of eggs heritage breeds are not "egg machines", they lay well 5-6 a week. Ameraucanas can be nice or really mean??? It depends on the group dynamic. If you get a younger hen/pullet you will probably do better then throwing in a grown bird. Good Luck!!!

 

[MoriahQuilts]

combs

below are lavenders, see the difference in color?

Beautiful!

 

[fowlsessed]

Just wanted to forewarn you that your good breeder may not be the breeder you think she is. Red Stars are a specific commercial strain of black sex link hybrid that is, I believe, copyrighted. There are no private breeders of any of the commercial sex-link strains that I am aware of as the parent stock tends to be a closely guarded "trade secret." And none of the sex-link hybrids breed true, meaning a Red Star rooster + a Red Star hen does not produce Red Star chicks. If she is advertising Red Stars I would strongly suspect that she is either using misleading or inaccurate names for her birds (which may or may not be technically illegal) or that she is simply re-selling chicks she purchased en masse from a hatchery. Or she may be a reputable breeder who also happens to sell hatchery birds on the side, I don't know. But at any rate, I'd be at least a little suspicious that any "ameraucanas" she sells you are actually easter eggers. Not that there's anything wrong with EE, mine is my favorite bird in my small mixed flock, but it's always good to know exactly what you are buying.

As for egg laying abilities, that depends a lot on the strain and a little bit on the age, health, and diet of the individual bird. Some strains lay better than others. My hatchery EE lays 5-7 green eggs a week even in her second year of laying. My 1 year old ameraucana lays slightly less at about 4-6 eggs per week, or at least she did before she went broody on me a month ago. Egg laying abilities is something that you should ask the breeder about if it is a priority for you. Any breeder, even one who does not breed their birds to the standard, should be able to tell you what kind of egg production the parents of the chicks or birds they bred have.

As for which I would recommend, I have no experience with RIR or stars. However, if you are looking for a bird of a slighter build, then an ameraucana, easter egger, or red star would probably be a better choice than RIR. If egg production is really important to you, it's hard to beat the commercial sex-links like Red Stars for rate of lay in the first 2-3 years. However, after that their egg production will drop significantly and because they are bred to be egg machines they do tend to be somewhat more prone to reproductive problems such as egg binding, internal laying, egg yolk peritonitis, and cancers of the reproductive tract. If you are just looking for chickens as producers and intend to cull your flock every few years as the hens' production starts to decrease then these issues may not be a problem for you. If however you are looking at chickens as pets who also happen to produce yummy eggs, then this reduced long-term productivity and increased risk of potentially fatal reproductive problems is going to be an issue in the long run.

Well if I'm not mistaken and red-stars are the same as all the other names such as golden comets, cinnamon queen, red sex link ect. then it is possible to breed that laying hybrid by crossing a RR cock with a white leghorn, white rock, delaware or a rhode island white hen. please correct me if I'm wrong and I'm sorry if I may have mis-read your post.

 

[AinaWGSD]

No, technically I believe you are right in that those are the breeds supposedly used for these hybrids. However, I believe the commercial sex link strains are similar to the cornish cross broilers in that the companies that produce them use specific strains of these breeds (that are far enough removed from those breeds through selective breeding that they may as well be a totally different breed) in the parent birds to produce the offspring sold under those names. Breeding a RIR cock to a delaware or rhode island white hen will give you red sex-link chicks that can be sexed at hatch based on the color of their down. But those chicks do not have the same genetics as the commercial strains the hatcheries produce. And I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that some of these commercial strains have copyrights attached to the names and/or genetics behind the specific hybrid.

 

[DMRippy]

I will correct one thing... you can't use a White Leghorn to make sex links. They are dominate white and just do not produce the color differences in Sex Links. Dom white will produce 100% white chicks... maybe with leakage but would not make a red and a white chick to sex at hatch.

 

[heatherscooby77]

Lovely ladies!

combs

below are lavenders, see the difference in color?

 

[Josh02]

sorry for the bad pic but can you guys help ? I Know a few black and mostly blue but I have a few light blues.... I think. or are they a different color? the two in the bottom center? thanks

 

[heatherscooby77]

sorry for the bad pic but can you guys help ? I Know a few black and mostly blue but I have a few light blues.... I think. or are they a different color? the two in the bottom center? thanks

Blues come in a bunch of different shades. Lavender is a self blue, no other color or patterns on the feathers. The blue that is in the SOP has lacing around the edges. It looks like the light colored on the left has some edging, The one to the right seems like the light is shining so bright on it I can't tell. Maybe a close up pic would help for both of them, to be sure.

 

[ashandvine]

I wanted to ask a question about this girl- she has a beautiful beard and muff IMO. These were the best pics I could get as she is so busy. Th beard really sticks out- as partially seen on ttop pic. Is this as nice as I think it is?

 

[Reyvaughn]

Look at what I brought home today!
Blue/Splash Wheaten & Wheaten babies!



@Ashandvine:
I think she has an amazing beard and muffs!
I am no expert, though.​