Americana breeds?

[ccarver80]

So are there different Americana breeds like golden laced or rocks??

Ordered the rainbow package from a Hatchery and got 3 different looking Americanas .. are they all just a random color or are there specific sub breeds??

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Yes. There are specific recognizer types (colors)of ameraucana ...you can find them here ameraucana.org. ...that said, your birds are actually easter eggers, often misrepresented ad ameraucana by hatchrries

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Agree.
There is no such breed as Americana. If you see that name applied to a chicken, you know it is an Easter Egger.

Ideally, and Easter Egger should be a close hybrid (meaning from pure parents) with one parent being an Ameraucana or Araucana (pretty rare in America) and the other any other breed.

As Ameraucana and Araucana are much harder to find and more expensive birds, many hatcheries shortcut by having only some blood in their lines to produce EEs.

Since an EE is a mix (hybrid), the genetics allow for a lot of color variety, and often no two EEs will look alike even if they are siblings.

Here's a good article to read about the difference:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/ameraucana-easter-egger-or-araucana.html

You have some lovely EEs, which should lay bluish or greenish eggs for you but could also (because of the genetics of using only 1 Ameraucana parent or parentage) could also lay brown, pink, or white tones...hence rainbow layer.

LofMc

 

[drumstick diva]

EE's

 

[ccarver80]

awesome guys thanks for the info!!! as there getting older I believe one maaaaayyyyy be a rooster ... which the hatchery said "all females".... anywhoo..... say hypothetically, I have a rooster and 3 hens of EE's.... what are my options??? I have a 150' x 30' run with a 26' camper for a coop. LOTS of room for my 25 chickens!

What if I sectioned off a small part of the run and built a small coop just for the EE's and breed them???

Can you collect eggs and store them till you have enough to put in an incubator???

Just curious cuz if I have 1 rooster and 3 hens.... be kind of cool to breed them....

 

[Gray Farms]

The one on the far left in the last pic "red and blue'' is a cockerel. That will be plenty of room for all the chickens. If you sectioned part off just for them I would recommend aprx 10 square feet per bird. Ideally 2/3 run to 1/3 coop. You can keep eggs for up to 10 days with decent hatch rates. 5-7 days is better though. Keep them in a carton pointed end down and tilt the end of the carton up and twitch ends twice a day.

 

[ccarver80]

The one on the far left in the last pic "red and blue'' is a cockerel. That will be plenty of room for all the chickens. If you sectioned part off just for them I would recommend aprx 10 square feet per bird. Ideally 2/3 run to 1/3 coop. You can keep eggs for up to 10 days with decent hatch rates. 5-7 days is better though. Keep them in a carton pointed end down and tilt the end of the carton up and twitch ends twice a day.

although if that is my only rooster in the whole 25 batch.... I really shouldn't have to separate them should I? just collect the colored eggs for breeding?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Exactly. If you only have 1 rooster, there is no need to separate for reason of maintaining pure breeding goals.

However, generally it is recommended to have 1 rooster for every 10 hens to ensure good fertility.

In larger flocks, he may have favorites that aren't the ones you want.

I'd let them roam and see how he does. Crack open eggs periodically to see if he is getting the job done. If not, then pen for a few days with appropriate girls before setting eggs.

It takes a couple of days after mating for eggs to be fertile, but that lasts for 2 weeks to a month.

LofMc

 

[ccarver80]

ok cool! maybe when im all ready I can set up a small pen and have them in there for 3 days just to ensure a good er..... you know... deed??? lol

 

[Gray Farms]

Sounds like a plan.