Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[scflock]

Ok, sorry for the barrage of pics, but I got several good pics this morning. As you can see, I have way too many cockerels, so I'm starting to try and decide which ones stay. I'm keeping one blue and one black. One black is still holding on to a good bit of the purple sheen, but the rest are turning to green

Splash hen


Splash cockerel


More cockerels, but nice beard on this blue


This is the biggest black, but still holding on to the purple, and the beard looks a little rough. This is typical of all the combs at 18 weeks


Showing a lot of purple


But they are turning to this nice green. It really shimmers when the sun is out


Group shot

 

[MrsBachbach]

Ok, sorry for the barrage of pics, but I got several good pics this morning. As you can see, I have way too many cockerels, so I'm starting to try and decide which ones stay. I'm keeping one blue and one black. One black is still holding on to a good bit of the purple sheen, but the rest are turning to green

Splash hen


Splash cockerel


More cockerels, but nice beard on this blue


This is the biggest black, but still holding on to the purple, and the beard looks a little rough. This is typical of all the combs at 18 weeks


Showing a lot of purple


But they are turning to this nice green. It really shimmers when the sun is out


Group shot

Ha! Well, you have much evaluating to do! Really like the curious blue. It's so hard to determine who to keep when they are not full grown yet. Especially if there are no obvious faults. Eye color take time to develop, tail carriage sometimes hard to really determine when so many males are present and still a young age. Some, if not dominate, will keep them a bit down. Temperament is another to consider. Sometimes (not always) the friendly ones will challenge you later. If egg color is important, and you know which birds came from the best color eggs, you could start from there.

 

[scflock]

Ha! Well, you have much evaluating to do! Really like the curious blue. It's so hard to determine who to keep when they are not full grown yet. Especially if there are no obvious faults. Eye color take time to develop, tail carriage sometimes hard to really determine when so many males are present and still a young age. Some, if not dominate, will keep them a bit down. Temperament is another to consider. Sometimes (not always) the friendly ones will challenge you later. If egg color is important, and you know which birds came from the best color eggs, you could start from there.

I wish I knew about egg color, but they were live chicks when I got them. Hopefully the hens will be laying by late October and I can see how they are doing, but I have no idea on the cockerels. Out of 17 straight run, I have 10 cockerels, so at least I will have a good variety to pick from. The plan is to keep one black in the Am Pen, and put a blue with some BCM hens for Olive Eggers, and to have a backup blue cockerel. One blue is showing lwakage, and that's the only obvious fault I can see. I will be watching the others as they develop. Egg color will definitely be important, because my customers care more about their egg baskets than they do SQ, but at the same time I want to keep the birds as good as I can while maintaining color

 

[MrsBachbach]

I wish I knew about egg color, but they were live chicks when I got them. Hopefully the hens will be laying by late October and I can see how they are doing, but I have no idea on the cockerels. Out of 17 straight run, I have 10 cockerels, so at least I will have a good variety to pick from. The plan is to keep one black in the Am Pen, and put a blue with some BCM hens for Olive Eggers, and to have a backup blue cockerel. One blue is showing lwakage, and that's the only obvious fault I can see. I will be watching the others as they develop. Egg color will definitely be important, because my customers care more about their egg baskets than they do SQ, but at the same time I want to keep the birds as good as I can while maintaining color

Well, you could look at the combs at this age and see which have the most perfect pea comb, (small, straight). Could look at blacks and see if they have all colored in (no white showing), wing carriage, leg color, etc. A nice big muff should be considered. Beaks should not have gaps when closed. On blues, I would also look for which male has the best lacing if they are equal in other aspects. Will likely find some fault on each of them, but make a list and those with the less faults should be considered.

 

[scflock]

That's what I need to know, thanks. I expect faults, but not sure what to look for yet.
So, lacing is desirable in blues? A couple are definitely more defined. So far, all combs look the same, but they are just starting to crow, so still some growing to do yet. One blue is showing leakage. I will see if I can get a better pic of that to show you guys, just random goldish feathers popping up in a few spots. Overall, these birds are a much better start than the BCM I fell for

 

[cgmaster]

I wish I knew about egg color, but they were live chicks when I got them. Hopefully the hens will be laying by late October and I can see how they are doing, but I have no idea on the cockerels. Out of 17 straight run, I have 10 cockerels, so at least I will have a good variety to pick from. The plan is to keep one black in the Am Pen, and put a blue with some BCM hens for Olive Eggers, and to have a backup blue cockerel. One blue is showing lwakage, and that's the only obvious fault I can see. I will be watching the others as they develop. Egg color will definitely be important, because my customers care more about their egg baskets than they do SQ, but at the same time I want to keep the birds as good as I can while maintaining color

I wish I had a blue, or a black roo to use for my buff laced white project....

 

[tao chick]

I wish I had a blue, or a black roo to use for my buff laced white project....

Tell me more about this project. I'm trying to decide how to get all my favorite characteristics into a single line of chickens. Buff-laced and Ameraucana are two of my favorites.

 

[samouw]

As of tonight (9/9/15) there are 77 Ameraucanas entered in the Facebook virtual Champion Row poultry contest. Entries close this Friday (9/11) at midnight, so you've still got time to get those entries in! It's free and the most painless poultry show you will ever enter - no bathing, no traveling, no expenses, - just a decent pic, upload, and you're in.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/792030287517165/

Here's the breakdown

14 Black
2 C
2 H
5 K
5 P
6 Blue
1 H
2 K
3 P
1 Blue Silkied K *
19 Blue Wheaten
2 C
2 H
3 K
12 P
1 Brown Red C
7 Buff
4 K
3 P
5 Lavender *
1 C
2 K
2 P
8 Silver
3 C
1 H
3 K
1 P
1 Splash K *
1 Splash Silkied P *
13 Wheaten
2 C
3 K
8 P
1 White K

*Not APA/ABA approved color. Entered as "any other variety"

 

[jerryse]

I wish I had a blue, or a black roo to use for my buff laced white project....

To be clear are you talking white laced buff like in the Polish breed or the reverse of this pattern . I may be able to offer some tips . Dominant white will be required to remove black in either case .

 

[cgmaster]

Tell me more about this project. I'm trying to decide how to get all my favorite characteristics into a single line of chickens. Buff-laced and Ameraucana are two of my favorites.

To be clear are you talking white laced buff like in the Polish breed or the reverse of this pattern . I may be able to offer some tips . Dominant white will be required to remove black in either case .

i am talking about white laced buff as in Polish, unfortunately all I have to work with at the moment is 1 wheaten ameraucana rooster ànd 1 white laced buff hatchery Cornish (lacking the mahogony gene to make it white laced red) I have one chick from them that is approximately 14 weeks old