Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[GhostRider65]

Roosters are a chicken of a different color..... some get along good at least all the 34 of mine in 2 separate batches 2 months apart did, but I didn't try to combine the older and younger, but did move around the boys of the same age, back and forth a few times, because i could not decide on what roosters I wanted to keep so they got a trial period and if they didn't pan out it was back with the boys and try another.
They did fight a little but not bad, posturing mostly maybe a comb grab or plucked feather....... to show the old new guy who was boss. My pen now has 2 roosters GrayBeard and Fred, both almost a year, they get along pretty good, chase each other a couple times a week to show the dominant roo, but no blood so far. my other 2 boys are loose in my barn 1 is the alpha, but they sleep together at night and spend almost all day courting the ladies together through the pen fence............. so I really think it also has to do with the roosters personality, if he's more timid, he'll just run and leave the big guys alone, if he's aggressive they will fight some until the winner has been declared. I have never seen them fight to the death, but I have heard of it happening if they don't have enough room to get away from each other. I had 22 roosters in a 9 x 12 pen and found no dead or injured roosters at 20 weeks before butcher and sold..... Kim
Ty everyone for your kind comments, and I will try to find the blue egg guy. with the best AM chickens. ( is that the Abbreviation for Ameracaunas?) anyone off hand have a city name or possibly a phone to contact him? I found a guy on Graigs list that had supposedly Am. but to me they appeared a cross no beards? plus when I emailed I asked about egg color he said Green.. so was that an EE then? Ty all for your help. Kim

 

[Tailfeathers]

I'd like opinions on this cockeral.
I bought him to cross to my linebred line. My current cock has a gorgeous beard and as you can tell.......this-new-guy-doesn't.

Does the rest of him make up for the beard issues???? Or should I keep looking?

Hennypen, WBS is my variety. Here are my quick observations:

1) Hackles, Comb, & Eye Color all appear to be very good
2) Tail set, length of back and overall type appear to be very good
3) Fluff at tail is not good - fault but not DQ. Also, I would be working to get all the red/brown out of his tail in order to have a nice clean tail color.
4) He looks to be a young bird still but I'd say you probably won't get a full black beard from him.
5) I can't tell at all about the legs.

Now to answer your other questions... If you are linebreeding the WBS, why are you outcrossing? What are you hoping to expedite by bringing in another bird? You can keep looking, if you want, for that perfect rooster but you need to realize that no matter how good he looks on the outside, you will be bringing in many "unknown" factors. How many? There's no real way of knowing. Whatever it is that you're looking to expedite in a specific trait improvement, you also run the risk of setting yourself back on others.

Based on what I know about the WBS variety, the gene pool isn't all that diverse to anyways. Personally, I think you'd be better off sticking to a specific linebreeding plan and set up a secondary line in case a need arises to outcross later on. I don't know if you saw my posts on this in the last month or so but, if not, you might do a search and check it out.

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

So anyone here in Wisconsin? I really really want some real Blue eggers...... I found a lady sorta close on the Ameracauna web site, I have emailed her , but so far not heard anything back...... so I;m still searching for some spring chicks or pullets, I would like maybe 8, and no roosters if I can help it, I had enough of roosters for a weeee bit,. plus I have 2 good ones to use for my girls that I want more of, which are my Dels, and SS.......so anyone who can help me out here I sure would appreciate that. I don't want to show them they don';t have to be perfect, they just have to lay me some pretty blue eggs. I don't at this time plan to breed them, so if they don't meet standard I don't care, other than for blue eggs. Later on if I like them more than the other breeds I may switch to all Ameracaunas, but so far I'm undecidedly undecided..... Thanks for listening to my gripes and story and I hope to post here often if I can just find me some chicks/pullets. Kim

Kim, I second the recommendation to look into Mike Gilbert. I believe Wayne Meredith is also in WI and you can't go wrong with either of them.

You may be able to get an blue egg from an EE but you'll be better off going with a pure Ameraucana for certainty. And, while you may be thinking now that you won't show, once the bug bites you you'll change your mind in a hurry!

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

That is what I assumed too. But does the Cock have to be W/BW split to throw BW?

No. This should help you:

WHEATEN / BLUE WHEATEN GENETICS

Wheaten x Wheaten = 100% Wheaten
Wheaten x Blue Wheaten = 50% Wheaten & 50% Blue Wheaten
Wheaten x Splash Wheaten = 100% Blue Wheaten
Blue Wheaten x Blue Wheaten= 50% Blue Wheaten, 25% Wheaten, 25% Splash Wheaten
Splash Wheaten x Blue Wheaten = 50% Splash Wheaten & 50% Blue Wheaten
Splash Wheaten x Splash Wheaten = 100% Splash Wheaten

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

I know this isn't exactly what you were asking, Christie, but the advice we all got from APA Judge and breeder, Troy Laroche at the clinic this weekend, separate the boys and the girls as soon as possible. Even earlier than 8 weeks was his advice although I know from experience that it can be tough with Ameraucanas. If you separate them and let them grow out separately, you might be prepared to let your boys grow out a little longer and see what they are really going to bring to the table - so to speak!

I started the separate grow out thing last year - separated at 12 to 16 weeks. It really is MUCH easier.

Can you tell us what exactly was Troy's reasoning for this? I seem to recall reading something similar - perhaps from Kenny Troiano but not sure - and I'd be interested in hearing why he recommends that.

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

Don't ever, ever put just one roo back into the bachelor pad. Sometimes even adding two is risky, but not as bad. I try to play musical coops all at one time so everybody is confused, and nobody is really in a position to be top guy. And always do it at night, and roos of similar sizes. Quote from Happy Mountain

Very good advice. That one rooster will be ripped apart. I also found out the musical coops is the only solution to moving birds around unless you are moving them to someone else's yard.

I just wanted to say the above is "generally" true but this is not an absolute - which you will find is true of most things you read on here about chickens.

I don't have a lot of time right now as I need to go make my rounds and then eat some supper so for now I'll just say this. I've had a half dozen or more roosters all in the same pen for most of the year without any problems. Then come breeding time I set up a half dozen breeding pens with specific hens in them. Then I go out about every third day and pull a specific rooster to put on the hens for a day or two at most. Then those roosters get pulled and put back in with the boys. "MOST" of the time I can do this without any problems.

I've also got a dozen or more males of various ages right now down in my lower coop with a couple dozen females of various ages. They are not only of various size and ages but of various breeds. Again, I have no problems.

Now, having said that, I can also tell you that when I take birds to a show and are gone for 2-3 days, even though the potlickers are side-by-side sometimes in the show cages, I will experience some initial fighting when I put them back in the pen after getting home. This is especially true between the Ameraucanas and say Welsummers.

The biggest thing I think is what somebody else already said and that has to do with personalities. I do NOT keep an aggressive bird. I like all my males to be Gentle Giants.

I could go on and on with more details but hopefully you get the drift. Gotta run now...

God Bless,

 

[Christie Rhae]

Well.... it is fitting that we are talking about roosters tonight. I just about rung the neck of 4 boys today. For some reason they were just being relentless attacking a hen in the pen with them. Not even trying to mount her. Just trying to tear her up. These boys are almost 5 months old. One after the other I had to go into the pen, grab them up and tell them "I don't need you...don't you get it? You are an extra!" lol I just cannot tolerate insano aggression. I left one boy in there with the girls. He better be on his BEST behavior or he is out of here too.

 

[PoultryPedia]

If you need to tone down rooster power to reduce risk of injuries, especially when doing initial integrations, you can try a few things:

Wrap the ends of their spurs with masking tape to cushion them (Be careful to not bend or twist the spurs too much while you do this--The base of the spurs can get damaged with too much torqueing.)

Clip toenails a little with wire cutters or a toenail clipper. Then round the ends of their nails & the ends of their beaks with a nail file.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

I know this isn't exactly what you were asking, Christie, but the advice we all got from APA Judge and breeder, Troy Laroche at the clinic this weekend, separate the boys and the girls as soon as possible. Even earlier than 8 weeks was his advice although I know from experience that it can be tough with Ameraucanas. If you separate them and let them grow out separately, you might be prepared to let your boys grow out a little longer and see what they are really going to bring to the table - so to speak! I started the separate grow out thing last year - separated at 12 to 16 weeks. It really is MUCH easier.

Can you tell us what exactly was Troy's reasoning for this? I seem to recall reading something similar - perhaps from Kenny Troiano but not sure - and I'd be interested in hearing why he recommends that. God Bless,

Read this in the Dorking and heritage breeds threads too, theory is that they grow better. Pullets don't have to compete with their larger more aggressive brothers and as the cockerels mature there are no pullets for them to fight over. Edit to add:

Well.... it is fitting that we are talking about roosters tonight. I just about rung the neck of 4 boys today. For some reason they were just being relentless attacking a hen in the pen with them. Not even trying to mount her. Just trying to tear her up. These boys are almost 5 months old. One after the other I had to go into the pen, grab them up and tell them "I don't need you...don't you get it? You are an extra!" lol I just cannot tolerate insano aggression. I left one boy in there with the girls. He better be on his BEST behavior or he is out of here too.

Been there, done that. That's exactly why I separate my sexes early, stops that sort of behavior before it starts.

 

[Hennypen]

Very helpful tail feathers! Thank you.

I wanted to add more curvy longer lines. The plan was to add and then take the best of that cross (current cock hen to new cockeral) and then cross that offspring to a nice offspring/cockeral of the current cock. So the end result would be 25% new guy. Hope that made sense.

I'lll get more pics of new cockeral this weekend. Also body pics of current guy.

Would you keep the current guy to use to cross back in later?