Question for ameraucana breeders

[Redhousecoops]

Hello!
I know it’s hard to tell just off a chick.BUT If you over incubated a bunch of ameraucanas had to let some go without waiting to grow them out what qualities do you look for in the chicks?

 

[NatJ]

Apparently no Ameraucana breeders showed up.

I don't breed them, but:
The first thing I would look for is things that are just wrong for the breed--any chick that lacks muff/beard, any chick with the wrong kind of comb, any chick with obviously wrong leg color, and so forth. You might sell those as "Easter Eggers," because they aren't right for Ameraucanas.

Any with physical problems (crossed beak, missing toes, etc) you probably do not want to keep, although I doubt anyone wants to buy them either. You might cull them, or raise them for meat.

You probably want to keep the healthy, vigorous, active chicks--not the ones with pasty butts, or the ones that sit in the corner while the rest run and play.

You might want to keep the ones that hatch first, and sell the stragglers--early hatchers are probably more vigorous.

If you're breeding for certain colors, don't keep chicks that are the wrong colors. For example, blues produce black/blue/splash--but you can sort those by the color of their down at hatch. So if you really only wanted blacks and blues, you could sell the splash chicks.

If any specific chicks pick on the others, you might not want them either.

Also, the amount of space chicks need up increases as they get bigger. If you can raise them for 2-4 weeks, you'll be able to start picking the cockerels (red combs), and sell them as cockerels--then you'll have space to keep the pullets and the maybes a bit longer.