Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

Oh, well hey there! Thanks for the advice. I'll keep an eye on the feathers as they come in and I'll be sure to let the unnamed individual I bought the eggs from know if/when I need more! :)

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It is impossible to sex by down color in my eyes. But I have a theory that the bright silvery downed chick's feather in cleaner (still just a theory, I am watching closely and time will tell) than the yellowish downed chick's (hen's with less shafting & better stippling/ Rooster with brighter silver and less brassiness). Once they start to feather though you should notice some with wider (more distinct)black stripes and some with thinner (finer) black stripes going across the feathers with stippling. Usually the ones with the wider/darker stripes end up being cockerels in my experience. Really becomes noticeable with age (of the chick I am not that old YET
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). If I was more computer savvy I could try and upload picture. Unfortunately I am not there yet, It takes a little time to distinguish the difference and I personally still don't cull at that age. I wait until they are fully feathered to cull for being a cockerel or pullet. They change so much when getting adult plumage especially the cockerels hard to tell exactly how clean they will be (at least for me it is). I still like to guess and then mark them and watch what they grow up to be and see if I am right. I do cull for a lot of other things along the way though (crooked toes, beaks, and now size) I have heard some where about the stripes coming all the way to the eyes or something but can never remember how or if it really works. You outta just let the breeder you got the eggs from send you some more to make sure you get plenty of the pullets/cockerels you want
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I almost bet they would be free lol
 
Hi there, I am brand spanking new to chickens. I got four Ameraucana chicks a week ago, the chicks are nine days old now. I answered a Craigslist ad by a local man who bought hatching eggs from two local breeders, incubated them, and sold them as straight run. He was quite adamant that they are true Ameraucanas, and made sure I knew there was a difference between these and easter eggers. So far so good, the babies are lively and a ton of fun, I've been busy building their coop so it's ready when they go outside. My question is, what colors will they be? Can you tell from this age? One is obviously white, but I'm not confident on ID'ing the others.

There is a difference between true Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers, but what he sold you were 4 Easter Egger chicks. True Ameraucanas, with the exception of silver which is a fairly rare color, are never "chipmunk striped" as chicks. He may have been duped by two very convincing local "breeders" himself and if he's just incubating eggs for the fun of watching chicks hatch it could be that he is not knowledgeable enough about the breed to realize that what he is selling are not "true Ameraucanas." But if what you're looking for is some nice backyard chickens that lay eggs of a "different" color, they will probably be just what you're looking for. Because they are not true Ameraucanas, it is really hard to say what color they will be as adults (that's part of the fun with EE, the waiting to see what they look like). The white one may stay white, or it may develop some additional colors (usually on the shoulders/wings) as the adult plumage comes in. The darkest one looks almost exactly like the hen in my avatar did as a chick, so for that one I'm going to guess you'll get an orangy/reddish brown with incomplete black penciling and some solid black tail feathers.
 
Buff roo I got from Wayne Meredith last year. Great temperment on this guy. 1/2 of my Wheaten flock "vanished" while we were in the hospital, so I won't be making splits anytime soon :(

 
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You have 4 easter eggers. If you do a google image search, you can figure out from the feather pattern, what colors they will be. It looks like you have a few girls there too. Good luck!

Oooohhhh! Please tell how you can tell gender! I'd love to know. I've got 3 Lavenders that are 3 wks old now and I'm 95% sure I know which one is a boy but that's only because he chest bumps my Faverolles boy all the time.
 
Buff roo I got from Wayne Meredith last year. Great temperment on this guy. 1/2 of my Wheaten flock "vanished" while we were in the hospital, so I won't be making splits anytime soon :(
Sorry to hear about your daughter.

That's one handsome guy. I'm about through hatching for the spring, so if you need to borrow some wheatens...

ETA: You're predators are just wily, aren't they?
 
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I set 20 of my own Ameraucana eggs on the 31st and another 8 on the 5th. All 28 are developing. I am freaking out because I didn't expect them to do so well! I still have 8 days to see who hatches, but if almost all hatch... I am in trouble. If you are wondering... I do need more girls and with my 14-25% hatch rates, I figured I'd get 6-8 hatched and 1-2 would be girls. Plus, I was watching the near 3 dozen Ameraucana eggs on my counter go to waste - just like the current dozen and a half I need to fry and feed back to my flock. =(

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I also set another 10 under my bantam Cochin and Silkie broodies (5 each). ><
 
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