Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[dldolan]

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HA! Mine aren't squatting at 21 weeks but started laying... Who knows??

 

[cheryl98117]

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HA! Mine aren't squatting at 21 weeks but started laying... Who knows??

Oh good grief! lol Now its really driving me nutts!

 

[Gerry2011]

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HA! Mine aren't squatting at 21 weeks but started laying... Who knows??

Oh good grief! lol Now its really driving me nutts!

x2

 

[Goose and Fig]

Sorry about having to let the roos go Steve- they are so much fun to have around. Its good that you'll get to see them down the road though!

Illia- I had an awful spring and summer for chicks as well. Unreliable broodies, tons of quitters, a bout of cocci in one of the brooders....I am surprised I have anything left to work with in my marans and dels.
Are you going to try again with the buffs?

 

[Illia]

Oh surely! I couldn't possibly give up, at least not yet. I've got a huge handful of eggs waiting to hit the incubator today. My family thinks it is an utter waste of time, but, they kinda rely on me breeding popular more expensive things.

 

[ParadiseFoundFarm]

I don't have internet at home and came right from the show to work to write this to you. Please help. I will read your advice in the morning ad do what the consensus thinks is right.

A desperate plea for advice from Ameraucana Breeders, and people with common sense.

OMG I don’t know which way to turn or what to do. Please, Ameraucana People, ADVISE ME!

I have 1 pullet, 1 cockerel, 1 hen and 1 cock at a show. This morning when I dropped them off, there was no vet check as advertized in the procedure manual for this show. People were just driving up and putting their birds in cages marked with their name. The Woman in Charge (WIC), when she finally returned, told me it’s OK because she knows who most people are. I asked if she wanted to check my birds since she had never met me before and she said no. I was informed that I would have to be there to feed & water them twice a day myself as no one will even water them. The “dishes” are too high for my birds and are plastic human drinking cups held there by clips above my birds’ head. Of course they spilled them as soon as they tried to drink or eat from them so off to the store I went to get my own cups for their cages. I wasn’t going to allow them to be there in what was expected to be 90 degree heat without water!!!

So when I come back this afternoon, the Woman in Charge (WIC) is not there but the 4-H showing has already finished. I see a white “Ameraucana” has a blue ribbon on it. Lovely white bird with puffy cheeks, willow legs and a single high pointed comb. I also see that my birds have the classification of “American Breed” not AOB as they should have been.

Earlier, WIC told me they she had hired the best judge – the vice president of the American Poultry Association. Well I am impressed. But now I am confused. So I ask her why the judge gave a blue ribbon to the previously described white EE. I told her I knew that it was an EE and she asked me how. I told her. She told me “Well it’s 4H and we give them latitude. If we didn’t they would never show again and get discouraged.” I said how could the judge give any ribbon to an EE? She asked me to look in my SOP and I told her it would not be in an SOP as EEs are not there. She told me of course they are not there – I’m glad you know this. DUH? I think at this point she was trying to double talk me. She said the bird was judged by the SOP again and I told her that it was an EE. She said well what’s an EE but an Ameraucana that is not quite perfect. I finally said the word to her….”an EE is a MUTT bird and cannot be shown as a purebred”. To which she said an EE is perfectly OK to enter as an Ameruacana , go buy a current copy of the SOP.” I gave up on that point

I ask the WIC to correctly categorize my birds. She can’t. I said well I don’t know why I am here. The judge can’t tell the difference between and EE and an Ameraucana” She said the judge is the best and “he is the Vice President of the American Poultry Association and knows what he is doing”

I say well my birds are incorrectly categorized and cannot compete in the category they are in and the judge will rule against my birds anyway so I should probably take them home now before they have more of a possibility of contracting something” She tells me that if I pull my birds now, that I will be barred for life from any further competition ever sponsored with the American Poultry Association.

What The Heck Have I Gotten Myself Into??????

What do you advise?

 

[Cass]

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Talk to the judge and see if you would be barred in fact. I don't know how one person can bar you from " any further competition ever sponsored with the American Poultry Association." She isn't God or even judge....she is only one person who knows you know more than she does and is threatening you to "keep you in line".

IF it were me, my birds would come home with me immediately and I would deal with the future when it got here. IF I found myself barred in the future,I would enter my birds under my SO's name....he may not feed them as often as I do, but he loves them almost as much.

 

[OSUman]

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She Lies. Do you know the name of the judge??? At our 4-H show the birds get an A as long as they are in good condition and are the right gender, but they get placed and then he judges them accordingly.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Denise you need to report that lady to the APA. Who gets banned for life for pulling thier birds? As she said herself- she "knows everybody there", so.....

 

[Illia]

Just reading your post makes me twitch.

I'd find out who the lady is, really, find out who's judging and all, and try and take it to the highest power. Bring an SOP, the latest version you have. I'd be outraged, and in detail, I'm not sure what I'd do, I just know I'd certainly protest. I can tolerate seeing 4-H and County Fairs giving EE's the champ ribbon, not many know better or can do better, however if you're supposedly hosting the APA vice pres, or are a part of an APA sanctioned show, or anything to do with the APA - There is NO excuse to be doing as done. Not only did she insult you and your knowledge, but, she's down-right ridiculous.


At the point she mentioned EE's being okay, I wouldn't have given up. Being so used to the Araucana vs Ameraucana vs EE thing, I'd always have the SOP handy, and throw the truth at her. The most obvious and right there in the book is a DQ for having yellow soles. And I'd daringly mention the fact that the Ameraucana Breeders Club and all its members know perfectly well about this issue. . .



And, what authority and ruling is there that you'd be banned?