Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Caitlin_VT]

My LF BBS AMs are a little over 1 year and just started laying. I did hatch them in February ,so not the best timing on my part.

Wow, okay, I don't feel quite as bad! The girls were about 9 months old when they started to lay. I hatched my Lavs in May, so I pretty much assumed they would wait until early spring to begin laying.

 

[lualshannon]

I have a 6 yr. old Ameraucana hen who did not lay any eggs until well over a year old. But, once she started to lay, was quite consistent of producing pretty blue eggs, save for when molting, or broody. She still lays an egg or two a week which I see it as a special gift from her.

Lual

 

[Nikon]

I have a 6 yr. old Ameraucana hen who did not lay any eggs until well over a year old. But, once she started to lay, was quite consistent of producing pretty blue eggs, save for when molting, or broody. She still lays an egg or two a week which I see it as a special gift from her.

Lual

That makes me feel a lot better! I have an EE (she's got pure blood, but she's not a recognized color) who is 13 months old and I've only found one tiny wind egg from her and that was about a month ago. Poor thing looks like she wants to fit in with all the other girls and sits in the nest box sometimes, but just can't seem to produce.

 

[Firekin1]

What exactly would be a pure blood EE? Not trying to be rude or anything, just curious, here there's no such thing...lol

 

[jajeanpierre]

That makes me feel a lot better! I have an EE (she's got pure blood, but she's not a recognized color) who is 13 months old and I've only found one tiny wind egg from her and that was about a month ago. Poor thing looks like she wants to fit in with all the other girls and sits in the nest box sometimes, but just can't seem to produce.

I have a Wheaten doing exactly the same thing. I was getting worried she was laying internally, but with all your stories, I have some hope.

 

[draye]

What exactly would be a pure blood EE? Not trying to be rude or anything, just curious, here there's no such thing...lol

That would be from both parents being recognized Ameraucana colors (or sometimes both the same color but doesn't produce the right color) being bred together. Their chicks usually do not produce recognized colors for the Ameraucana breeders club. So folks call them Easter Eggers.

 

[Northie]

Why isn't splash a recognized color? I've noticed a few breeds that have blue/black/splash colors don't recognize the splash and it seems odd... I have some blue and black chicks that I bought from a breeder. So I'm trying to learn a bit more about them.

 

[speckledhen]

Why isn't splash a recognized color? I've noticed a few breeds that have blue/black/splash colors don't recognize the splash and it seems odd... I have some blue and black chicks that I bought from a breeder. So I'm trying to learn a bit more about them.

I do find that odd, especially with the "must breed true" thing in the must-have for Ameraucana. Splash to splash always produces splash, whereas blue to blue does not always produce blue, but also black and splash, being as blue is genetically a black chicken. It's like things that make you go "hmm", like why does the drive up teller have braille?

ETA: You never see ANY breeder advertising his wares as "Blue & Black Ameraucanas and Splash Easter Eggers". Nope, doesn't happen, shouldn't happen, because splash is a natural product of breeding blue to blue, not some mixed breed weirdness. Maybe it can't be shown, but it's an Ameraucana, more so than any of these lavenders.

 

[Firekin1]

Ahhhhh...see here an easter egger is just any mixed bird that carries the blue egg gene but doesn't necessarily lay a blue egg...could be different shades of green (exception being the olive egger), pink, or blue. An Ameraucana is a pure Aamarucana as long as the line is pure regardless of color, though certain colors are only recognized as show colors. I could breed 2 pure blue Ameraucanas, get a splash and it's still a pure Ameraucana, it's just not a recognized color so therefore not show quality. Kind of like poodles....you breed a purebred black poodle with a purebred white poodle and you could get black, white, silver, or even a black/white mix( doesn't happen very often though) it's still a purebred poodle but the black/white mix isn't a recognized color. This is why I love BYC...you get a wide range of people from different places and honest answers when you ask and I always learn something new...lol Thank you.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I'm having rooster trouble.

I have one Ameraucana rooster who just turned a year old. He's a great free range rooster, very observant and he manages to hustle his hens to safer areas whenever he perceives a threat. However, he is a lousy rooster with people, taking his protective duties too far. He's destined for freezer camp whenever I have another to replace him. My current group of 12 from the same breeder that I am growing out should have a cockerel that is as nice looking as he is and hopefully has a nicer temperament. They are almost 8 weeks old.

I grew out four cockerels from the same breeder last year. The two--one I still have--who assumed the "leadership" roles were both a real pain around people. The other two were subordinate to the nasty two, so who knows if they would have been problematic had they been the sole roosters. Three of the four ended up in the freezer.

I think part of the problem is my fault--I didn't recognize his behavior for what it was right at the beginning. I had too many cockerels for the number of pullets and it took me a long time to get around to culling three of them. In my back yard, I have another flock of mostly Silkies with two roosters--a Silkie and a bantam Cochin--and don't have people aggression problems with them, so it isn't completely my doing.

The flock with the nasty rooster free ranges on almost two acres out front. It is treed and fenced, dog proof but not fox proof. There are fox very near me. My neighbor has lost a lot of chickens to fox and this spring, one to a Red Tailed hawk.

I want to keep this rooster around until my 12 Am chicks are grown up and integrated into the flock. I'll let them out with the flock when I get back from a trip at the end of the month; they will be 10 weeks old.

How "safe" is it to have hens and 3-month old Ameraucanas outside without a rooster to watch over them? I'm out in the country.

Do LF Ameraunas "tend" to be people aggressive? Is people aggression something that runs in certain lines?

Last, but not least, I would appreciate some advice so I don't create a new group of younger monsters.

Thanks.