Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[MrsBachbach]

Hey everyone! This is Guinness one of my Ameraucana chicks, about 5 days old. I'm about 80% sure he's a Roo just by the way he acts! Chest bumps everything and gets mad when you mess with the other chicks. Lol have any of you had any experiences with this, is there any way I could tell the sex of this chick? Its so funny, my Ameraucana chicks follow me around the room. Love them! Thanks in advance!

I bet it's a boy too. If you have any to compare with, compare it's legs. It sure has big feet! I think the males have thicker legs. Not a sure fire way of telling though, just a hunch. Sometimes males will take over like you said. They run up to confront anything like a pencil or something you put in the brooder. They are the first to raise their head and search the area. Just opinions here as I have never really kept track of those observations to see if it holds true.

 

[minamisfit]

I would bet money it's a boy, that's how much different he acts. Even at one day old he ran at my feet when I scooted towards him. He's so funny. Haven't had a rooster before. It's going to be an adventure!

 

[MrsBachbach]

There should be no yellow tint at all with a splash Ameraucana. I've had splash birds with white legs (all Ameraucanas and Orpingtons have white skin) and with dark slate legs, but never with yellow. If you look at the bottoms of her feet, they should have no yellow tint-that tells the tale. If you're not sure of the leg color, that is the way you determine it. If the soles do have yellowish cast, she has yellow skin. Even if there is a darkish overwash, the skin is still yellow, and with a dark color on the fronts, the yellow sometimes will appear greenish like many Easter Eggers.


Funny thing about yellow skin. The parents can have perfectly correct white skin and slate legs, but if there was a yellow skinned breeder somewhere back in the line, a yellow skinned chick can pop up spontaneously. That happened with many of Sandhill Preservation's Blue Orpingtons because at some point, they bred in Blue Plymouth Rocks for some reason. There is also a barring gene that is in there and expresses itself. My own Blue Orp rooster once produced a barred chick-he himself had a hint of it in his sickle feathers.

There was a discussion once on a breeders forum regarding the yellow pads on Ameraucanas. What was being discussed was an article or study, I can't remember which, that proposed that the feed or what the chick was eating, was responsible for the yellow tint on white skinned birds. I imagine a breeder was trying to figure out why the pads on his chicks were changing color. I, myself have noticed this. The best time to tell if your chick has the correct skin color is when it is taken right out of the hatcher. The first couple of days. I have seen this happen myself. Day olds have correct skin and pad color then a week to two later it starts changing. I don't fret over it because they always end up with white foot pads by the time they finish growing.

 

[speckledhen]

Baby legs go through some changes, yes, I've seen that. On a "teenage" bird, you should be able to determine the leg/skin color, though. Hopefully, no one is feeding them enough corn to change color of plumage or anything else.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I would bet money it's a boy, that's how much different he acts. Even at one day old he ran at my feet when I scooted towards him. He's so funny. Haven't had a rooster before. It's going to be an adventure!

Well, let me warn you. Getting too familiar with a rooster can backfire on you. Especially when he is grown and breeding. I don't think EE's are bred for temperment and some of them can be pretty mean. If you get too familiar with a rooster he will lose his fear of you and may try to fight you later on. Especially when you touch his hens. It is very hard to change that behaviour once it starts. Do what you have to do with them and put them down is the best way not to encourage that behaviour in the future. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[minamisfit]

Thanks for the heads up! I had no idea.

 

[Nofowlplay]

Ooh he's so cute!

 

[Nofowlplay]

Rita my Ameraucana produced her first egg since going broody over 3 weeks ago. So glad to see her pretty blue eggs again!
I wanted to post a pic but can't figure out how .

 

[Nofowlplay]

Not today's egg but still a typical Rita egg. She is a medium sized girl....!

 

[MrsBachbach]

Not today's egg but still a typical Rita egg. She is a medium sized girl....!

Nice! I have four broody hens right now.

And not enough wire cages to put them in to get them out of the mood.