Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[dstokely]

That is to bad about your splash. My grandson's birthday chicken was dead when he went out to their coop one day and it was real healthy. They haven't had good luck with their chickens either. They have had two different attacks that wiped out half of their birds. At one time they had fourty and now maybe after the second time they have maybe 12. They bought a few replacements and I hatched 4 of their eggs for them and rehomed one of mine to them also. Their Polish white crested roo ran and hid in their garage when a fox attacked them. I can understand that I guess since he was so small himself. But same thing. Where were the protective roosters at. I hate foxes and at my house I have raccoons and I live in town. It's cold here, enough that I could turn on the heat but it's way to early. Supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow. Sorry about the Splash.They are so pretty.

The ONLY thing any of my roosters has ever attacked was when my RIR roo attacked my then 7 yr old grandson who was just walking on the road. He was re-homed, the rooster, that is. I think the others just head for cover.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

I actually thought that the shells being strong depended on the food. I never heard before about the other. I think calcium is the factor.Just my opinion.

it seems naturally that way. my birds get get calcium available to them but they seem not to need much . Penedesenca eggs just seem that way it is probably do to with them producing more calcium then a strictly layer breed more similar to true heritage breed. its not much but when hatching them they have a harder time transpiring moisture. the few Marans eggs I have hatched seem that way as well. I have hatched way more eggs than I care to think about lol.

 

[jajeanpierre]

The ONLY thing any of my roosters has ever attacked was when my RIR roo attacked my then 7 yr old grandson who was just walking on the road. He was re-homed, the rooster, that is. I think the others just head for cover.

I've read story after story of roosters saving their hens--and sacrificing themselves in the process--but I don't see it in the useless bunch I have. I have two flocks of birds free ranging--my mostly bantam Silkies in the back yard and my Ameraucanas in the front two acres.

The bantam flock has five Silkie hens and a Polish hen "protected" by two roosters--a Silkie and a frazzled Cochin. The nasty little frazzle (double copy of the frizzle gene) rooster is quite aggressive to people but is pretty much harmless if you don't put your hands near where he can bite you. (He jumps up to either flog you with his wings or spur you with his feet, but because he has dwarfed wings and no feathers, he flips over on his back. It is the most ridiculous thing to see a rooster repeatedly attacking by jumping up in the air and falling over on his back. One day he will break a wing and I will happily put him out of his misery.

The front flock has a mature really nasty Ameraucana rooster (he is Coq au Vin whenever I get around to it and recover from double wrist surgery) to look over them. He's great with the hens, polite and watches for them, but really nasty with people. (No, I don't move around the hens in any way that should make him feel the need to protect them.) There are four mature hens and twelve (now eleven after I lost the GORGEOUS splash pullet) six-month-old juveniles. Of course, I have more cockerels than pullets in the juvenile flock and the boys are getting a bit stupid around the pullets. Do you think my nasty, people-aggressive rooster would put them in their place???? Noooooo, he just stretches his neck up high, cackles and doesn't know what to do. If I chased those pullets around like that, he would try to kill me. I am so annoyed with my stupid roosters right now. Two out of three whose ONLY purpose is to watch out for the hens are just nasty.

I had originally planned to replace "Coq au Vin" with one or two of the new juvenile Ameraucanas. I was intending to chose the best show-quality bird, but decided to throw conformation out the window and pick strictly for temperament. Two of the seven 6-month-old cockerels have already dropped a wing and sidled towards me. These birds are just not nice. I wonder if it is the bloodlines. They all came from the same breeder.

 

[sssharon]

I love the story about your roosting attacking you and falling on his back. You're the first person I've heard even complain about roosters or chickens period. You sound just like me. Love it. That really is to bad about your splash. It's so funny, I read the other posts people write and they have nothing but good things to say about their chickens. I had three of the most worthless Brown leghorns and even heard how good leghorns were. Worst birds I ever had and they got rehomed. They were good layers and that was it. I guess I must get the wrong ones. I imagine you will keep that roo around just for entertainment. I really like your sense of humor!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I've read story after story of roosters saving their hens--and sacrificing themselves in the process--but I don't see it in the useless bunch I have.  I have two flocks of birds free ranging--my mostly bantam Silkies in the back yard and my Ameraucanas in the front two acres. 

The bantam flock has five Silkie hens and a  Polish hen "protected" by two roosters--a Silkie and a frazzled Cochin.  The nasty little frazzle (double copy of the frizzle gene) rooster is quite aggressive to people but is pretty much harmless if you don't put your hands near where he can bite you.  (He jumps up to either flog you with his wings or spur you with his feet, but because he has dwarfed wings and no feathers, he flips over on his back.  It is the most ridiculous thing to see a rooster repeatedly attacking by jumping up in the air and falling over on  his back.  One day he will break a wing and I will happily put him out of his misery.

The front flock has a mature really nasty Ameraucana rooster (he is Coq au Vin whenever I get around to it and recover from double wrist surgery) to look over them.  He's great with the hens, polite and watches for them, but really nasty with people.  (No, I don't move around the hens in any way that should make him feel the need to protect them.)  There are four mature hens and twelve (now eleven after I lost the GORGEOUS splash pullet) six-month-old juveniles.  Of course, I have more cockerels than pullets in the juvenile flock and the boys are getting a bit stupid around the pullets.  Do you think my nasty, people-aggressive rooster would  put them in their place????  Noooooo, he just stretches his neck up high, cackles and doesn't know what to do.  If I chased those pullets around like that, he would try to kill me.  I am so annoyed with my stupid roosters right now.  Two out of three whose ONLY purpose is to watch out for the hens are just nasty.

I had originally planned to replace "Coq au Vin" with one or two of the new juvenile Ameraucanas.  I was intending to chose the best show-quality bird, but decided to throw conformation out the window and pick strictly for temperament.  Two of the seven 6-month-old cockerels have already dropped a wing and sidled towards me.  These birds are just not nice.  I wonder if it is the bloodlines.  They all came from the same breeder.

Just wanted to say I love reading your posts. Funny about your frazzle. I don't think is the bloodline, if you are talking about your AMs, because my ps AM cockerels are sweet as pie

 

[jajeanpierre]

Just wanted to say I love reading your posts. Funny about your frazzle. I don't think is the bloodline, if you are talking about your AMs, because my ps AM cockerels are sweet as pie

Well, if your Ameraucanas are sweet, why are mine nasty?

No, I haven't done any of the things that "they" say will turn a good rooster into a jerk. I didn't make them pets. I don't hand feed them. I don't bother the hens/pullets. I'm careful and respectful of the hens and them. There is absolutely NO reason for these cockerels to show any aggression at all to me, and two six-month old ones have dropped a wing to me. Not good news.

The nasty mature Ameraucana rooster was dropping a wing and sidling up to me throwing sticks and stones on the ground by about 6 months. I just didn't recognize it as aggression. Silly me. New to chickens, I read his body language as tit-bitting.

I think it's the line.

I'm going to select for nice termperaments and try to breed it out or simply slaughter them all when they are six to eight months old and just keep getting new ones to fill my freezer. I need a rooster to watch for hawks. It appears I can't count on any to actually do anything in the event of an attack, but a warning of areal predators is a good thing.

Of the four adult roosters I have, the Ameraucana is dangerous and it will be a pleasure to slaughter him. I am just sick and tired of always walking around my front yard listening for him rushing me. The Silkie will very occasionally jump up in the air like a hopping bunny if he feels a person is a thread. My 6'3" son gets a more aggressive response. The frazzle will come flying across the yard, flare up and jump at my pant legs repeatedly, falling heavily on his back. He's a jerk with the hens, too. I really should try to take a video of it because it is so ridiculous looking. My fourth adult rooster is a bantam Cochin who lives alone in a pen. He shows no aggression at all to people. I wish he had friends, but I need him alone to A.I. him when I finally get around to actually doing it and collecting/hatching the eggs. I have a trio of bantam Cochin pullets in another pen, but can't put the rooster in with them because one of the hens is a frazzle (double copy for the frizzle gene) and what little pathetic feathering she has would be shredded in one or two days even if she were wearing a saddle.

The Ameraucana can really hurt if he flogs you. It feels like someone took a baseball bat to my shins. He just has to go and I have just put it off and put it off (for all my gruff talk, I HATE slaughtering anything). I just had surgery on both my wrists, so have a legitimate excuse.

 

[jajeanpierre]

The ONLY thing any of my roosters has ever attacked was when my RIR roo attacked my then 7 yr old grandson who was just walking on the road. He was re-homed, the rooster, that is. I think the others just head for cover.

I forgot to mention....

I have big macaws that I fly outside. They used to like going to ground in the back yard--these are big birds. The Silkie HENS won't stand for it. They attack. You can see they are afraid, but they make little rushes at the macaws on the ground and drive them off. Where are the roosters during all this???? Standing around clucking frantically and they are the farthest away from the danger ont he ground. My little Silkie hens would also drive off any Dachshund that was in the back yard. Roosters???? Nope.

 

[sssharon]

I'm fairly new to chickens too. What does it mean he dropped a wing to you? Flogging is definitely not fun. I had a chicken flog me when I was a kid and didn't like it at all. The only thing funny about that was my uncle kicked that chicken real hard with his engineer boot. The chicken went flying. Maybe you need to get some big old boots and show that chicken what for! Don't blame you for being mad.

 

[Hinotori]

I'm fairly new to chickens too. What does it mean he dropped a wing to you? Flogging is definitely not fun. I had a chicken flog me when I was a kid and didn't like it at all. The only thing funny about that was my uncle kicked that chicken real hard with his engineer boot. The chicken went flying. Maybe you need to get some big old boots and show that chicken what for! Don't blame you for being mad.

Dropped his wing and danced sideways. It's a threat. Roosters do that to each other. My silkie does it to my cats as well. It leads up to flogging.

 

[Hinotori]

Quote:
Some are jerks and I wouldn't breed from them. My wheaten rooster is the sweetest boy you could ever ask for and I did everything you're not supposed to with him. He was allowed to snuggle and be petted. He comes when you call his name. His offspring have been very good tempered as well and tend to be very friendly. He watches the sky for hawks and gives good early warning but I don't think he'd actually fight. The silkie rooster I have would probably stand and fight. He goes after the cats and has all the LF roosters terrified of him.