Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[lovinchicks]

I went out tonight and got a picture of all my Ameraucanas. I'm still not to sure on what to keep and not to keep, or if to keep at all. I wish I had someone around my area that could show me what some good birds looks like. I'm not so good at reading the SOP and saying.... yes I have a keeper. So here is my bunch. Can you share with me the good, the bad and the ugly

. I posted a picture of the one of the Roo's. Someone said that it had some black in the hackles, and you don't want that. Is that something that can disappear or not? They are all a little over 14 weeks old.
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#3 not the best picture. He would not cooperate at all! He definitely has a different body shape that the other Roo's. Or his feathers are just really puffy around his neck.


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#8

 

[Reyvaughn]

@ Putty and Tellynpeep: I am after Cree, Wayne Meredith or Jean's lines. Right now I have birds not from Blehm, but the original stock came from him and the believe the breeder needs new blood because she's hatching some bad birds. Again, John has nothing to do with these birds, but the original stock was his! He's be appalled if he saw what the chicks look like... He's cull and cull hard! -shifty eyes- The other flock is all from Peachick's line. I am may be heading to Maryland next month, but NJ and NH is way to far away.

If anyone closer has a wheaten rooster from the above lines - not necessarily directly from the above breeders - they want to sell (I'd do a 2hr drive for the right boy), let me know.

 

[lovinchicks]

-

@ Putty and Tellynpeep: I am after Cree, Wayne Meredith or Jean's lines. Right now I have birds not from Blehm, but the original stock came from him and the believe the breeder needs new blood because she's hatching some bad birds. Again, John has nothing to do with these birds, but the original stock was his! He's be appalled if he saw what the chicks look like... He's cull and cull hard! -shifty eyes- The other flock is all from Peachick's line. I am may be heading to Maryland next month, but NJ and NH is way to far away.

If anyone closer has a wheaten rooster from the above lines - not necessarily directly from the above breeders - they want to sell (I'd do a 2hr drive for the right boy), let me know.

We're in Ohio, just south of Cleveland, and will be looking to get rid of some of the Roo's I posted pics of, once I can figure out how good or bad they are. But these guys came from eggs purchased from someone that had birds from Peachicks. I also wanted to tell you, those are some mighty pretty eggs in your avitar

 

[Christie Rhae]

Neat. I just filled out the ABC/APA form and will be sending in my membership. Hopefully this will help the kids and I to become more educated.

Good decision! Don't get bummed if it takes ages to get onto the forum. Seems that is not a streamlines process. lol

 

[Christie Rhae]

Okay, back to the experts again

I hatched out (with the help of a friend with an incubator) 4 little wheaten Ameraucana (LF) chicks this past weekend. Two hatched last Friday and two in the early morning hours of Sunday. The latest to hatch sadly didn't make it through Monday AM.

Anyway - here are pics of the three remaining chicks. Anyone care to expound on pullet vs cockerel at this ripe young age? I have some opinions, but as a relative newbie to these guys, I'll just keep 'em to myself for a bit. lol

So...here is the 5 day old chick:




Here is the first of the two (nearly) one week old chicks:



Here is the second of the two nearly one week old chicks:



For comparison sake, here is a pic of the two one week old chicks side by side:



And, finally, one of all three from above (youngest of the three is at the top, one week old chick #1 is at 3:00, and one week old chick #2 is at 6:00:




Please share what you base your opinion on so I can learn. TIA

Can't tell if anyone responded to you. In my humble opinion they are too young to tell. Don't worry... with wheatens it will become very obvious in the next 6 weeks or so.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: My wheaten chicks do not have chipmunk stripes. They are yellow too, not tan and I have never had one with a spot on there head. I would be concerned they are not wheaten.

Wheaten chicks day olds


I think they are about 2-3 weeks here

 

[Fyremare]

Can we talk conformation for a bit? I see some "knock-kneed" birds in some of my juveniles, hatched April 2, about 5 months old now... They were purchased as day old chicks from a reputable breeder of good quality pure bred Ameraucanas. When I watch them run I cringe... their legs are so close at the top, and spread so far apart at the bottom. My Blue Wheaten (different breeding stock) roo is set fairly wide and quite sturdy looking. I never saw this in him, he was purchased at six months old.

It IS really hard to figure things out when we are new. The learning curve can be very painful I am finding out. So... help me please?
Thanks...

 

[Christie Rhae]

Quote: My wheaten chicks do not have chipmunk stripes. They are yellow too, not tan and I have never had one with a spot on there head. I would be concerned they are not wheaten.

Wheaten chicks day olds


I think they are about 2-3 weeks here


Oh gosh I was scared to even insinuate that they were EE.

 

[Tailfeathers]

I went out tonight and got a picture of all my Ameraucanas. I'm still not to sure on what to keep and not to keep, or if to keep at all. I wish I had someone around my area that could show me what some good birds looks like. I'm not so good at reading the SOP and saying.... yes I have a keeper. So here is my bunch. Can you share with me the good, the bad and the ugly

. I posted a picture of the one of the Roo's. Someone said that it had some black in the hackles, and you don't want that. Is that something that can disappear or not? They are all a little over 14 weeks old.
#1


#2


#3 not the best picture. He would not cooperate at all! He definitely has a different body shape that the other Roo's. Or his feathers are just really puffy around his neck.


#4



#5



#6



#7



#8

As one who breeds the WBS variety exclusively, I'll give you a few things. To be honest, it's late and it's been an extremely exhausting day so please forgive my brevity and don't take it as a lack of responsiveness or attention to your questions. I'll be back home (and back with my birds!!) on September 1st. So if you'd like to email me after then, perhaps I can provide more info. I'm also happy to take calls and help if I can too.

First let me say that I'm not even going to address the most important trait - which is Type - because no snapshot in time can accurately judge Type. So I'll just address various colors or other obvious things I see. Also, wrt to W & BW, and especially the males, they can often be very hard to make your choices from until they're almost fully matured. Second, If it's good (i.e. nice leg color) I'm not going to mention it. Only those things I'd cull for. Having said that, here's a couple of things about the cockerels:

1) Cockerel #1 seems to have some brown barring in the tail feathers. He also seems to have excess fluff at the base of the tail now. Both of those may disappear as he gets older but I doubt it. Same goes for the hackles. You will see them lighten up tremendously as he gets old. That goes for all the cockerels so I'll just say that here. And I'll also just say here that if I were you, I'd grow them all out and keep some meticulous records so you can learn what changes and what don't.

2) Cockerel #2 is pretty good overall at this point. I see a little fluff at base of tail but not bad.

3) Cockerel #3. You can cull that bird now or mark him for the freezer. Extremely poor tail color, poor leg color, poor primaries, comb is too big for his age. Never seen anything like him.

4) Cockerel #4. Not too bd. I see a little too much brown/red in his tail and I'd keep an eye out on that white in his breast feathers. Leg color is a little light but acceptable.

5) Pullet #5. Not bad. A little dark overall but acceptable. Pretty good black in the tail and I don't see any ticking in the hackles.

6) Pullet #6. Overall good but notice the difference in black in the tails. Here's where you have to grow them out and make your choice based on an already established breeding plan focused on one or two specific traits you want to improve and/or get set.

7) Pullets #7 & #8. Pretty much the same comments as #6.

Sorry, but I'm getting pretty tired. Hope that helps though.

Btw, Samouw, I don't recall ever having any W or BW chicks with that much of a pronounced "dot" or "strip" on the head. I've had 'em with dots but certainly not that big of a stripe. Also the chick at 1800 has got a pretty dark back. I hate to tell you this but I think you've got something in your chicks besides W or BW. Also, if that 5 Day Old chick is still walking on his elbows, you might as well cull it. And it's way too early to tell a male from a female for W or BW.

God Bless,

 

[Nicole01]

Here are my Ameracuana chicks. They are suppose to be blue and black in color. The middle one has a straight comb.:/