Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I wish I was going to the Ohio nationals

 

[mstricer]

Not far away, you should make the trip

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I can't

. I am busy. Are you showing?

 

[CackleJoy]

CackleJoy...did you see the feather pictures I posted? What do you think of those? I would love it to be a hen. I guess time will tell!

Excellent feather pictures. I've never seen that demonstrated. It is true that some birds just mature really slow. Maybe you'll get lucky and have time to find him a good home. The enclosed picture was of a 24 wk cockerel we just found a home for - the reason I was surprised at how underdeveloped yours looks

The next one is another Blue Wheaten at about 30 wks.



All my EE's were laying at about 18wks -- I'm sure you are correct in the roo diagnosis. Those wings look like they are trying to come out in some red. Bummer! Also so sad not to get those coveted blue eggs!

Even though we call ours EE's, they are all Ameraucana's. They're from mixed color flocks so they are called EE's but lay a nice blue egg (see avatar pic). Our new Cockerel is a purebred Wheaten Ameraucana. If you hatch eggs and want some fertile ones, I can ship them in a couple weeks. Filling other orders now. I only charge $12 a dozen for the mixed EE eggs. I'm partial to the blue eggs myself and attempting to add more blue-egg layers to my egg-flock. It's slow going for some reason!

 

[Audio51]

Wow...he is a very handsome boy! Sure wish I could keep this one long term. I think he will be a very unique bird. Mine definitley is much slower to deveope than those! I love Roos and had a couple at our old place in the same town. Different zoning here so no roos. I had someone interested in one a while back but they may have found one. I will post him on our local Freecycle when the time comes.....

As for eggs.....I may take you up on it in the spring. Just have to be prepared for more roos and have takers lined up. I know someone who processes them for their family, but hate to think of this one that way. I don't really have the space to raise chicks this time of year and I just broke my broody hen about a week ago. Is it true with EE that they will lay eggs close in color to what they hatched from?

 

[CackleJoy]

Wow...he is a very handsome boy! Sure wish I could keep this one long term. I think he will be a very unique bird. Mine definitley is much slower to deveope than those! I love Roos and had a couple at our old place in the same town. Different zoning here so no roos. I had someone interested in one a while back but they may have found one. I will post him on our local Freecycle when the time comes.....

As for eggs.....I may take you up on it in the spring. Just have to be prepared for more roos and have takers lined up. I know someone who processes them for their family, but hate to think of this one that way. I don't really have the space to raise chicks this time of year and I just broke my broody hen about a week ago. Is it true with EE that they will lay eggs close in color to what they hatched from?

As to your egg question - I don't know. My EE's (except one green egger which is easy to pick out) are actually mixed color Ameraucana's. Putting a purebred Roo over them SHOULD guarantee pure blue eggs. Am I correct? Expert input needed as I am no geneticist. I too am working on getting takers for my culled cockerels. I have a terrible time letting the pretty ones go for meat!

 

[TulsaChick]

OK......I just went out a plucked a hackle and saddle feather from the bird in question. Definitley pointed. I think I'm convinced.

Well poo. They do look rather pointed.

 

[ChickPooh]

She is a hatchery Americana (Easter Egger) in full molt. All my hatchery birds look like that right now. They aren't the best for plumage - and the hatcheries have crossed them with leghorns to up the egg production.

No, an EE because it isn't an Ameraucana. Splash Wheaten does not look like that. They do not have red breasts or modified pea combs.

Actually I think I got people confused... I have a blue splash wheaten roo and 3 (wheaten, blue wheaten and blue splash wheaten) hens. All the girls lay blue eggs. My friend asked me if I wanted her purebred black Ameraucana (a cutie!!!), but since I breed mine I was wondering if the babies would be recognized by the APA.

The "shaggy hen" I bought at the auction for a friend of a friend that wanted an Ameraucana or an EE. I bought that one and was just curious about her color and breed - she kinda reminded me a bit of a leghorn on the color.

So she's not an offspring of my chickens, and I decided to not take the black hen in, since I have limited space and don't want to sell people non recognized birds.

Thanks all for your input.

 

[mstricer]

I can't

. I am busy. Are you showing?

I am, I'm showing my d'Uccles. I am looking for AM's at the show.

 

[Penny Hen]

Really? I thought that was why they were called Easter Eggers...because they lay blue or green eggs. Well...maybe I will just have to be content with chocolate eggs from my Marans for exotic colored eggs....

Easter Eggers are crosses between Ameraucanas and other breeds mostly light brown egg layers. This causes the possibility of getting blue, green, cream, brown and pink eggs, an "Easter egg basket of colors". The blue gene is dominant but if you breed two heterozygous blue egg layers together (Oo and Oo) one quarter of them will not lay blue. Through several generations of not paying attention to what color egg a bird was hatched out of and you can start to loose the dominant gene. If you wish to restore the blue egg laying of your EE's get an Ameraucana rooster (a real one from a breeder not the hatchery many of whom pass off EE's as Ameraucanas). [To be fair you can order the genuine article from My Pet Chicken. Look in their showstock.] From then on never use a rooster that was not hatched out of a blue/green egg. You will restore the blue egg laying the fastest this way as well as restoring some of the physical unique features like beards and muffs that sometimes get watered down in EE lines.

Alternately, you can work with in your own stock and only breed those who lay blue eggs or were hatched out of blue eggs in the case of roosters. This is slower than getting a pure blood Ameraucana rooster.

It is all in the Spellings by the way:
Auracana (American) - rumpless, ear tufts, blue eggs
Auracana (British) - Tailed, muffs and beard, blue eggs Essentially the same as the Ameraucana just done by the Brits instead of the Yanks.
Ameraucana - Tailed, muffs and beard, blue eggs
Americana, Easter Egger - Tailed, usually muffs and beard but some clean faced, lay blue, green, brown, cream and pink
Olive Egger - a subclass of Easter Egger these are formed by breeding an EE or Ameraucana or a Cream Legbar (all blue genes) with a dark brown egg layer like Marans or Pendenescas. If you use a Wellsummer you get a medium green with dark green speckles.

By the way if you are wanting the bluest eggs, among the color types of the Ameraucana it is usually the White, Wheaten and Blue Wheaten color variety that throws the best blue without a hint of green. The Cream Legbars that I have seen compare favorably in their blueness too. Sandhill Preservation has good line of Easter Eggers that are bred for the blueness of their eggs. They have many rare varieties too that are only available in small quantities, so their Easter Eggers are good for filling the box inexpensively but are probably one of the best EE lines anywhere. They also have pure Ameraucanas in white, blue and black that are of show quality. If you go to their website it may surprise you that there are no pictures of the chickens. Their reputations and customer satisfaction make them unique in the poultry world in that they function quite well and sell out of many of their birds without them. I do understand that you can correspond with them and get pictures emailed if you like. I had correspondence with them about some of the rare seeds and plants that they also sell and all hesitation to order anything from them without a picture vanished.

For history on the ancestors of these chickens from South America, reference posts made by Yashar and Resolution. The history is fascinating. Scientists are now tracing human migrations by analyzing chicken DNA! Resolution covers some of what they found that applies to South American chickens in his posts.