Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Muggsmagee]

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$100 is nothing! I spent $96 on a batch of eggs to have only one chick hatch, which the cat ate!

$20 each bird isn't bad...really. You have yourself an almost mature flock that you can eventually breed. I say you are ahead of the game.

Have I meantioned I work in a low paying job and that $100 represents over 10 hours of work? I don't make $96 a DAY so spending that much on one batch of eggs is out of my league.

So far I have been very lucky with hatches. *knock, knock on wood* The eggs I have set right now are mystery eggs. I don't even know if they are fertile, but they are home grown, so no money has been spent, if they don't hatch.

Someone commented that they would be glad to get their chickens for $20 each. I think they missed the part where I got all these as CHICKS...some only 1 week old....so I don't feel like I got a bargin....I got what I paid for, assuming they EVER lay. I have been feeding them, waterering them and cleaning up after them for 6 months so far...oh, and I have over $50 in medication cuz they were not overly healthy when I got them.

I tend to assume everyone is on a shoestring budget. I have wanted to tally everything I've put into my chickens and ducks these past few years...I don't dare set myself up for DH to find THAT evidence!

Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.

Culling has been my least favorite part...people around here don't buy roos. I see dollars tossed down the drain for every cockerel I give away.

I'm not interested in raising Ameraucana roos for our consumption...there just isn't much meat on them. The time and money to feed them to raise to butcher isn't worth it IMO.

And as far as the money spent...if your chicks grow to be wonderful representation of the Ameraucana breed, you are again, ahead of the game. Give the girls a few more months to lay...you are going to be stoked when you find that first egg!

 

[Muggsmagee]

* double post *

 

[flower]

I am always amazed at the prices that people pay for eggs and birds here on BYC buy and sell. But I have spent quite a bit on just trying to hatch eggs. I do not want to know the total amount although I have kept the receipts. On the other hand I love my birds and the variety that I have collected but it is a very expensive endeavor. However so was scuba diving, running my own darkroom and the other hobbies that I had and still have. But I have met remarkable folks who raise chickens and other poultry, learned a lot about myself, am starting to develop customers for eggs and finally my beautiful white ameraucana pullets are both providing beautiful eggs. They did seem to take longer but they are more beautiful . so worth the wait !

 

[vebyrd36]

Okay here is a pic of one of my babies. So can some tell me what color it is , m/f/. Thank you.........

 

[Phage]

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Sorry about the chick though. What were those eggs/chick???

Silkies!

Fluffy cat food.
Who were they from/color?

 

[Muggsmagee]

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Seriously, when you factor the friends and connections you make to other chicken breeders/flock owners, that can't be measured monetarily. At this point in my life, I am closer to my chicken friends than I am to close friends I've had since childhood!

 

[ChicKat]

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Ok, so I am new to poultry breeding, and I have my own ideas about how I want to approach it, so prepare to shoot me!

Several conversations along this line have helped shape my thinking. I grew up in a rural area and with the thinking that all farm animals had to pull their weight or they were culled, and I still believe this. It is common knowledge that production and fertility tend to be lower in many show quality lines in many breeds. It is also a well documented fact that inbreeding/linebreeding is behind this trend. By crossing two unrelated purebred lines of the same breed one can get the same hybrid vigor that is seen in mutts according to the the authors of "The Mating and Breeding of Poultry" . I understand that by line breeding one concentrates the desired phenotype genes and achieves a more consistent 'type' of bird through out the flock. But in our quest for perfecting the type we are losing what I feel are the most important things: production and vigor. I myself would rather see a bit of variety of type and maintain the production and vigor. So I plan on doing more careful outbreeding and minimize the linebreeding. I know many of the experienced show breeders will disagree with my plan, but what is the point of having the most perfect looking bird if it can't do its job?

I can't afford a flock of freeloading chickens, I expect them to pay for themselves, or they are off to freezer camp.

I see many trends in breeding show birds that don't make sense to me like breeding silkies to have such a big top knot that they can't find food and water when turned out in a large area, and breeding them to have a hole in the skull that the brain protrudes through.

This makes as much sense as it did breeding huge bodied quarter horses to have tiny feet for halter classes which gave us generations of navicular disease in horses. I also know that many people are practicing AI in breeds like Cochins with a lot of fluff. Does it make sense to breed them to be sooo fluffy that the can't procreate without human intervention? I don't think so. ( My daughter is also raising bantam cochins for 4H, and we don't plan to pratice AI). I just think we, the human breed, need to rethink our priorities and be careful about the long range effects of our choices are on the creatures we love. Sorry this is a rant, I love a friendly debate, and I won't be offended if lots of people disagree with me.

In fact I expect several will, but these thoughts have been bouncing around in my head for months and this topic is the perfect time to express them.

Really good insights. no shooting--but instead support!

 

[The Lisser]

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Thank you for your reply. I think the rustiness may be due to the photograph - there was some reflected light. Here's another photo of him.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/52617_dscf6278_copy.jpg

He looks pretty good. The goldish tint may just be end-of-summer blue. It shoudl moult out- he doesn't appear to have leakage or anything. What color girls did you get? BBS are usually a nice investment as far as egg color goes.

Thanks! I have one blue girl, and one (??) girl - she was supposed to be Ameraucana, but I'm considering her an EE, her coloring is off. I also bought an EE chick from my neighbor out of her hatchery EE and an off-color silver Ameraucana rooster - and this girl is turning out to have silver Am. coloring! I don't know if her body type will be Ameraucana quality, she is still very young, but she has lovely muffs.

Will try to get pics soon.

How is Grover's type? Is his tail carriage a bit too high? Sometimes he holds it at 45 degrees, sometimes a bit higher (he was running away from me and the "evil" camera - lol) I've read the standard, but I don't have enough practice to discern the little things.

 

[Goose and Fig]

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He looks pretty good. The goldish tint may just be end-of-summer blue. It shoudl moult out- he doesn't appear to have leakage or anything. What color girls did you get? BBS are usually a nice investment as far as egg color goes.

Thanks! I have one blue girl, and one (??) girl - she was supposed to be Ameraucana, but I'm considering her an EE, her coloring is off. I also bought an EE chick from my neighbor out of her hatchery EE and an off-color silver Ameraucana rooster - and this girl is turning out to have silver Am. coloring! I don't know if her body type will be Ameraucana quality, she is still very young, but she has lovely muffs.

Will try to get pics soon.

How is Grover's type? Is his tail carriage a bit too high? Sometimes he holds it at 45 degrees, sometimes a bit higher (he was running away from me and the "evil" camera - lol) I've read the standard, but I don't have enough practice to discern the little things.

His tail may be a bit high, but I wouldn't consider him a cull for it. I use a blue wheaten guy with similar carriage because his other qualities make up for it.

 

[Goose and Fig]

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I believe that is a boy. Can't tell if its white, splash, or an EE (legs look a bit green) Can you get some pics that aren't so close? They worked great to see the comb, but hard to see color.