Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[JekkaLynn]

I just bought a gorgeous blue Ameruacana rooster. I will be sure to get pictures tomorrow morning and put one on here.
Me, my two young kids, and my Hubby drove over two hours to pick up a French Black copper Marans Cockeral from a show breeder. While there she was showing us her breeding stock and we were talking about getting fertile eggs in the spring. She took us to show js her show birds in their cages and she had two show quality blue Ameruacanas out of a line from a breeder in New York waiting for a buyer to come pick one and the other would be culled because she didn't need it.
We offered to buy it right away. He is MASSIVE! Twice the size of my birds at home.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

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.

Sometimes they are jerks for no reason and there is no explaining it. I treat mine more like pets, though I still take them seriously. I also did emery thing you are not suppose to do with your rooster and sometime I get a mean one or two, but none in tho batch. It is very hit and miss. But I have been nothing but pleased with my Paul smith ameraucanas. One black has slight gold leakage and the same with a splash. But I can get over that, I have others I can use for breeding. Temperment is one thing a lot of people pay attention to when breeding. I won't breed a mean rooster because all the male offspring I hae ever gt from and aggression rooster, also ends up aggressive. Besides there are so many good unwanted roosters to waste my time on a mean one.

 

[johnderosa1]

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.

I wonder how much of this aggression is related to free ranging? I got chickens three years ago and have been lucky with all my roosters. I've only had one rooster show any aggression at all (a black am) and that was when i entered the pen with the red bottom of a waterer in his face . He attacked the waterer but never showed anything towards me. I might be lucky but i am thinking that part of is it that they only interact with me when i enter the coop, go into one of their pens for something, otherwise, there is fencing between us. They are either intimidated by me entering a limited space with them and move away or ignore me. I dont think that they ever get in a position that they feel confident enough to even think about challenging me. If they had free range of the place maybe they would be different. I think my demeanor also has something to do with it as well. I am very calm and matter of fact around them. Its like being around a potentially aggressive dog... They can read your body language pretty well and if you appear weak or timid around them, you can have problems. My guess is that roosters can pick up on this as well. All this said, i do think my roosters have had good temperaments by nature so i am lucky to have avoided problems so far. As for your current problem rooster, i wouldnt put off "dealing" with him too much longer. Its an accident waiting to happen and someone is likely to get hurt. I hope you dont have any kids around... A nasty rooster can do some damage. A colleague of mine was talking about an aggressive welsummer rooster he had and I warned him to deal with the problem immediately but like many of us, he kept avoiding it. Well to make a long story short, the rooster nailed him good one day, driving a spur deep into his leg, causing a pretty serious wound, he fell trying to get away and injured a his ankle as well. A visit to the hospital was required and several weeks of antibiotics and recovery time followed. Luckily the rooster got him and not his wife or one of his kids or a neighbor for that matter. Anyway, good luck and please dont wait too long, its too much of a risk to have a rooster like that around.(imho)

 

[Hangtown Farms]

I wonder how much of this aggression is related to free ranging? I got chickens three years ago and have been lucky with all my roosters. I've only had one rooster show any aggression at all (a black am) and that was when i entered the pen with the red bottom of a waterer in his face . He attacked the waterer but never showed anything towards me. I might be lucky but i am thinking that part of is it that they only interact with me when i enter the coop, go into one of their pens for something, otherwise, there is fencing between us. They are either intimidated by me entering a limited space with them and move away or ignore me. I dont think that they ever get in a position that they feel confident enough to even think about challenging me. If they had free range of the place maybe they would be different. I think my demeanor also has something to do with it as well. I am very calm and matter of fact around them. Its like being around a potentially aggressive dog... They can read your body language pretty well and if you appear weak or timid around them, you can have problems. My guess is that roosters can pick up on this as well. All this said, i do think my roosters have had good temperaments by nature so i am lucky to have avoided problems so far. As for your current problem rooster, i wouldnt put off "dealing" with him too much longer. Its an accident waiting to happen and someone is likely to get hurt. I hope you dont have any kids around... A nasty rooster can do some damage. A colleague of mine was talking about an aggressive welsummer rooster he had and I warned him to deal with the problem immediately but like many of us, he kept avoiding it. Well to make a long story short, the rooster nailed him good one day, driving a spur deep into his leg, causing a pretty serious wound, he fell trying to get away and injured a his ankle as well. A visit to the hospital was required and several weeks of antibiotics and recovery time followed. Luckily the rooster got him and not his wife or one of his kids or a neighbor for that matter. Anyway, good luck and please dont wait too long, its too much of a risk to have a rooster like that around.(imho)

I have not had any bad roosters in my runs. Had a mean Icelandic when I free ranged . Mean Rooster equals a good meal.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I wonder how much of this aggression is related to free ranging? I got chickens three years ago and have been lucky with all my roosters. I've only had one rooster show any aggression at all (a black am) and that was when i entered the pen with the red bottom of a waterer in his face . He attacked the waterer but never showed anything towards me. I might be lucky but i am thinking that part of is it that they only interact with me when i enter the coop, go into one of their pens for something, otherwise, there is fencing between us. They are either intimidated by me entering a limited space with them and move away or ignore me. I dont think that they ever get in a position that they feel confident enough to even think about challenging me. If they had free range of the place maybe they would be different. I think my demeanor also has something to do with it as well. I am very calm and matter of fact around them. Its like being around a potentially aggressive dog... They can read your body language pretty well and if you appear weak or timid around them, you can have problems. My guess is that roosters can pick up on this as well. All this said, i do think my roosters have had good temperaments by nature so i am lucky to have avoided problems so far. As for your current problem rooster, i wouldnt put off "dealing" with him too much longer. Its an accident waiting to happen and someone is likely to get hurt. I hope you dont have any kids around... A nasty rooster can do some damage. A colleague of mine was talking about an aggressive welsummer rooster he had and I warned him to deal with the problem immediately but like many of us, he kept avoiding it. Well to make a long story short, the rooster nailed him good one day, driving a spur deep into his leg, causing a pretty serious wound, he fell trying to get away and injured a his ankle as well. A visit to the hospital was required and several weeks of antibiotics and recovery time followed. Luckily the rooster got him and not his wife or one of his kids or a neighbor for that matter. Anyway, good luck and please dont wait too long, its too much of a risk to have a rooster like that around.(imho)

I have put this off for a long long time. I kept him around to be sure there was a rooster to watch over the hens and younger birds until some of the new batch grew up enough. There is also a lot of pressure from my family, particularly my adult son who lives at home. None of us like killing an animal. I just hate slaughtering birds. I don't mind the processing--it's the killing that I find incredibly difficult.

I really need to do this for all the reasons you've given. He IS a serious risk to people. If I'm out, I always am aware of where he is. My property has a lot of live oak trees and there are a lot of dried leaves on the ground that make a lot of noise when he rushes me, but this is no way to live. I have a gated property, so no one can come on my property without me opening the gate. I'll meet them at their car and escort them into the house, but it is darn inconvenient. I can always put him in a spare pen if people are coming, but he just has to go.

I just had surgery on both wrists last week (carpal tunnel) and will have to wait for awhile. I slaughtered a group of 10 or 11 month-old cockerels last winter and they were really hard to process. I had to use a knife to release the guts from the body. They took brute strength to process and I don't have any strength in my hands right now. There was nothing easy about processing that group and this one is a lot older. I'm dreading it.

 

[johnderosa1]

I have put this off for a long long time.   I kept him around to be sure there was a rooster to watch over the hens and younger birds until some of the new batch grew up enough.  There is also a lot of pressure from my family, particularly my adult son who lives at home.  None of us like killing an animal.  I just hate slaughtering birds.  I don't mind the processing--it's the killing that I find incredibly difficult.

I really need to do this for all the reasons you've given.  He IS a serious risk to people.  If I'm out, I always am aware of where he is.  My property has a lot of live oak trees and there are a lot of dried leaves on the ground that make a lot of noise when he rushes me, but this is no way to live.  I have a gated property, so no one can come on my property without me opening the gate.  I'll meet them at their car and escort them into the house, but it is darn inconvenient.    I can always put him in a spare pen if people are coming, but he just has to go.

I just had surgery on both wrists last week (carpal tunnel) and will have to wait for awhile.  I slaughtered a group of 10 or 11 month-old cockerels last winter and they were really hard to process.  I had to use a knife to release the guts from the body. They took brute strength to process and I don't have any strength in my hands right now.  There was nothing easy about processing that group and this one is a lot older.  I'm dreading it.

I agree, the culling and processing part of breeding /raising chickens is the hardest part. I've got three cockerels that i should have culled at least 2 months ago that i still havent done yet .... Good luck!

 

[JekkaLynn]

I need to learn how to set him up for pictures...but this is my gorgeous new man!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Honestly I just pay someone a few bucks a chicken to do the deed for me. Makes my life easier.

 

[JekkaLynn]

A slightly better picture.

 

[JekkaLynn]

Is this hen a splash?