Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Jazzygirl63]

I guess I will wait a few more weeks to see or eggs come. On average when do they start laying? I was told anywhere from 5-8 months.

 

[dstokely]

That might explain some of the issues if she did a cross in the past. The first three are boys. You can tell by the color in this case.

Here is what my blue wheaten looked like at around thirteen weeks.




Here is a full grown wheaten male



In the blues, there will be blue where there is black in the wheatens.

Here is a blue wheaten grown female. Now, there will be some variation in the lightness or darkness of the buff color.


How old are your males? At second glance they do seem to be lacking the red filling in on the head. The wheaten male comes close, but that tail doesn't look right. Yes, I would say something is going on in that flock.

They sure are pretty. I hope mine are as pretty as yours when they grow up. Are their legs lighter than the other Ameraucanas? I am going to check mine later. You have silver too, don't you?

 

[MrsBachbach]

I guess I will wait a few more weeks to see or eggs come. On average when do they start laying? I was told anywhere from 5-8 months.

Yes, that would be correct, although I haven't had one start that early that I can remember. Did the parent stock look correct? May just have to grow those males out and see what they end up looking like.

 

[MrsBachbach]

They sure are pretty.  I hope mine are as pretty as yours when they grow up.  Are their legs lighter than the other Ameraucanas?  I am going to check mine later.  You have silver too, don't you?

No, I don't have silver. I do like the silver males though.

Yes, their legs are a light slate color and do appear lighter than those I have seen in pictures. I would like to see them darker though.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Ya know....If I had the room and resources Id just buy some hatching eggs for her. She has a ceramic egg for comfort. She takes up the favorite nesting box out of the 4. The other girls just go right in the nest box and lay their eggs and then she has those to sit on too! LOL!  She probably thinks she has a large clutch of eggs to hatch...poor girl.  

You know, somewhere on this site, people were talking about hatching refrigerated eggs. Store bought refrigerated eggs. I wouldn't think it would be from cage layers, but maybe free range organic or something? Sounds crazy. I sure wouldn't think any store bought eggs would be fertile.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I got them from wings n things. Shes sold birds for 20 yrs. She said they were pure as well as her blue splash marans. She has ribbons for her show birds and showed me all her adults. I cant imagine she didnt know the difference. Im a little bummed if the are EE's. As I wanted pure.

Did she have any blues there? I wonder if she crossed to a blue. Some people will cross their ameraucana colors and still consider their birds pure.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

You know, somewhere on this site, people were talking about hatching refrigerated eggs. Store bought refrigerated eggs. I wouldn't think it would be from cage layers, but maybe free range organic or something? Sounds crazy. I sure wouldn't think any store bought eggs would be fertile.

Some small town country stores have fertile eggs. Like farmer joe stores. Believe it or not we don't have one here

 

[unkadan]

I guess I will wait a few more weeks to see or eggs come. On average when do they start laying? I was told anywhere from 5-8 months.

I have watched this discussion for a couple of days, this statement is exactly what you want to do. The males will change as they add some age. I started with Wh/BWh Ameraucana 4 years ago, got my breeding stock from a well known respected breeder as juvies. This coloration in any breed is a very tough one for exacting standards,,,,lots of genetics going on here. Finally on year 4 I now have 20 young birds growing out, maybe 3-4 will make the breeding pen next spring. Patience is the key with all birds, some varieties require more than others. Good luck and enjoy!
(one thing, you will almost always get a "throwback" or two that are going to be EE's,,,,)

 

[Jazzygirl63]

Did she have any blues there? I wonder if she crossed to a blue. Some people will cross their ameraucana colors and still consider their birds pure.

first, thank you so much for your help and info!
She did have wheaten and blue wheaten. They were all separated in different pens with a couple hens with a roo. I was thinking maybe one of each soul make the funny colors?
Do EE's have the slate legs?
So if a wheaten and a blue wheaten mix its not a pure AM?

 

[Jazzygirl63]

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I have watched this discussion for a couple of days, this statement is exactly what you want to do. The males will change as they add some age. I started with Wh/BWh Ameraucana 4 years ago, got my breeding stock from a well known respected breeder as juvies. This coloration in any breed is a very tough one for exacting standards,,,,lots of genetics going on here. Finally on year 4 I now have 20 young birds growing out, maybe 3-4 will make the breeding pen next spring. Patience is the key with all birds, some varieties require more than others. Good luck and enjoy!
(one thing, you will almost always get a "throwback" or two that are going to be EE's,,,,)

So wheaten and blue wheaten will create EE ? I have so much to learn.... How do you all figure out which are best for breeding?