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hippiechickX4 said:
Do you hatch them out or will you only sell eggs? I have been looking into the LF and Bantam lavender Ameraucanas since you said you had them. Showed them to my husband and he's in awww of them too. We just started raising chickens and at this point don't want to start hatching them.
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Oh, I will be hatching them. I have an addiction - I love to hatch chicks. I like the lavender colors too, the big issue I see with lavender is that the chicks can't be sexed at hatch, so the chicks will be "straight run". Getting rid of roos is a problem for some people. Lavender roos are perhaps a little easier to unload, since it's a desirable color, but it can still be tought.

The only lavenders I'm hatching now are the silkied LF. They are not for everyone, but anyone that has kept silkie bantams will be familiar with their special needs. They are really more like a silkie that lays blue eggs.

My other lavender ams are too young to lay, the oldest is 4 months, so at least another 2 months and then I only have 1 pair that age, the rest are a month or 2 younger. I'd say there is a good chance I will have chicks from them in mid to late October. You'll have to decide if you are willing to get chicks that late in the year or if you want to wait until spring.
 
Auroradream26 said:
I wanted to show some pictures :) i do need to take some of the new silkies and the little polish babies though.

The turkeys :)

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The two CCL boys that i decided to keep for next season's breeding

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The BCM keeper. Only one season though. His comb is a little off. I told everyone that he doesn't get a name since he won't be around for too long. Immediately, hubby said "he who shall not be named". He is now Voldemort lol

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A few of the lavender ameraucana babies, just hanging out on the wood pile :)

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Everyone have a safe and happy 4th of July!
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LOL! Even when they don't have a name, they have a name.
 
Yesterday, my Obnoxious (his nameless name) roo caught a girl. As he jumped on, Stephen came flying out of nowhere. Stephen jumped over their heads, knocking off Obnoxious. He walked around for a moment, checking on everyone. Then he stood by the hen until she joined the others.
 
MotorcycleChick said:
To be honest, Myer Hatchery in Polk, Ohio began selling true Ameraucanas last year I think. In their description, they will tell you the difference between Easter Eggars and Ameraucanas. They bend over backward explaining that these really are the true breed.
Meaning, while I doubt the feed stores, anything is possible.
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The price is usually a good indication. I know of 2 larger hatcheries selling true, purebred Ams (Myer sells blues for $15+, Cackle has blacks for $12). Both sell Easter Eggers for under $5 and are careful to make the distinction (to justify the higher price).

But price is not a guarantee, someone could mark up an EE, and the local Agway was selling my purebred blue and black Ams for $4 - $8 each.

Really, the hatchery EE's are fantastic birds, colorful and good layers. The one thing they can't guarantee is the egg color of a particular chick, that requires more controlled breeding than a hatchery typically cares to do. But as general purpose egg layers of colorful eggs, they are hard to beat.

I love Ameraucanas. I invested a lot in about 100 chicks from a show breeder in Michigan (John Blehm) so that I could offer chicks locally and cheaper next year. I hope to have blacks and silvers, along with the Lavenders. I'm also trying to get my Wheatens to hatch better to build up my numbers of them. Wheatens and Silvers have distinctive coloring that allows them to be sexed at a much younger age than the blacks and lavs. The Lavenders are pretty, as are the silvers and Wheatens, but a good black is the prettiest of them all, IMO. They sparkle in the sunlight and lay such blue eggs.
 
I know this is probably a really dumb question for you experienced chicken keepers, but being new to it all, i would like to know the answer.

When you have raccoons, fox, etc kill your chickens, when/where does that occur? Are the foxes/raccoons getting into the coop at night when it is locked out? Or are they taking the chickens at dusk before they are locked up for the night?
 
MotorcycleChick said:
The only stupid question is the one you know the answer to. We were all newbies at one time.
Predators get the animals at dusk, dawn and overnight.
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And sometimes in broad daylight, if they are hungry enough. They are unpredictable from our perspective. If you want to be sure to never loose a bird, build a very good coop and run and never let them leave it. Otherwise, it is likely that you will eventually lose some.
 
dheltzel said:
And sometimes in broad daylight, if they are hungry enough. They are unpredictable from our perspective. If you want to be sure to never loose a bird, build a very good coop and run and never let them leave it. Otherwise, it is likely that you will eventually lose some.
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Does it make me a bad chicken owner so say that I would rather let them free range and take the chance of losing them?I currently have all my chickens in an enclosed run, and obviously locked into a secure coop at night, but once they reach adult size I planned on leaving them out to get bugs and fresh greens during the daytime hours, and locking them into the coop at night, using the enclosed run only if we will be away and unable to let them in and out
 

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