Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[MrsBachbach]

Ok, thanks, you guys! I had my suspicions that he was having confidence issues, especially with my head hen, who is terrifying, lol. I've seen him mount them several times and it looks like he's lining everything up fairly well, and I did trim him around his vent a week or two ago, because he seemed to be getting a bit too fluffy, but the girls look fine so I left theirs. There is one girl in particular that he gives most of his attention to, so I really expected to have quite a few fertile eggs from her, but she's only had a couple fertile ones so far and the others haven't had any. It's definitely not a nutritional thing, because I've been supplementing with foods that are high in all the necessary vitamins, namely calcium and vitamin d, but there's several others I've been focusing on. I'm pretty sure it's mostly the daylight issue, so hopefully his fertility will be increasing soon. Guess I'll just have to keep an eye on it for a bit. Thanks for the advice, though!

You might remove his favorite for a few days so he can pay attention to some of the other hens. Roosters can develop favorites. One other thing I have run across is hens refuse to let the male mate them. If there is a more willing female in there he will go to her instead. If he isn't a pushy, persistent type, even if left alone and she isn't willing, it may not happen. I've had to change males once or twice over the years because of picky females.

 

[FreedomFarm13]

You might remove his favorite for a few days so he can pay attention to some of the other hens.  Roosters can develop favorites.  One other thing I have run across is hens refuse to let the male mate them.  If there is a more willing female in there he will go to her instead.  If he isn't a pushy, persistent type, even if left alone and she isn't willing, it may not happen.  I've had to change males once or twice over the years because of picky females.

Ok, thanks so much for the advice! I was already considering removing his favorite for that reason, hoping he'd go for the picky girl, but like you said, he isn't a particularly persistent guy, so I don't know if it'll happen, but I will give it a shot. Do you think it'd help if I put him and the picky hen in a pen together, just them? Or should I just remove the favorite?

 

[Sylvester017]

You might remove his favorite for a few days so he can pay attention to some of the other hens. Roosters can develop favorites. One other thing I have run across is hens refuse to let the male mate them. If there is a more willing female in there he will go to her instead. If he isn't a pushy, persistent type, even if left alone and she isn't willing, it may not happen. I've had to change males once or twice over the years because of picky females.

Ok, thanks so much for the advice! I was already considering removing his favorite for that reason, hoping he'd go for the picky girl, but like you said, he isn't a particularly persistent guy, so I don't know if it'll happen, but I will give it a shot. Do you think it'd help if I put him and the picky hen in a pen together, just them? Or should I just remove the favorite?

I don't have a roo or breed. But is it possible a hen might not feel right, knows she isn't at the top of her game, feels an internal dysfunction, so that she doesn't allow a roo to mate her, and may have nothing to do w/ being picky? I've often felt that animals have an internal sense of whether it is a good time for mating or not -- whether it's a less-than-ideal environment, scarcity of sufficient food sources, unsuited nesting conditions, too much population, reproductive issues, etc. One can never know if an animal is in pain because they all hide discomfort as long as possible before symptoms show like my sweet Ameraucana before we lost her. Just thoughts that knock around in my head that not all bodies are equally robust and might explain uncommon animal behaviors?

 

[MrsBachbach]

Ok, thanks so much for the advice! I was already considering removing his favorite for that reason, hoping he'd go for the picky girl, but like you said, he isn't a particularly persistent guy, so I don't know if it'll happen, but I will give it a shot. Do you think it'd help if I put him and the picky hen in a pen together, just them? Or should I just remove the favorite?

It will be easier for her to avoid him in a crowd, so yes you can isolate them. I suggest in a pen beside her flockmates to reduce the stress. It can takes weeks for a hen to settle down in her new surroundings before she will decide to start laying again. And it can take weeks before she decides the male is to her liking. If he isn't an aggressive type, it may not ever happen.

 

[Gingersnap722]

Can someone please give me feedback on this Blue Wheaton Cockerel? Thanks!

 

[FreedomFarm13]

Can someone please give me feedback on this Blue Wheaton Cockerel? Thanks!

I'm no expert since every blue wheaten boy I've had has died before his adult feathers came in, but are you sure that's a blue wheaten and not a splash wheaten? There's an awful lot of splash-looking patches on him. If he is in fact a blue, his comb is very nice and neat, there's blue leakage in his hackle feathers, and his wheaten looks very orange/brassy. He has a nice tail, though, and I really like the shade of blue his legs have. That's all I really have to contribute.

 

[pips&peeps]

I agree, he is a very dark splash wheaten. He looks small and not finished. How old is he?

 

[Gingersnap722]

He's about ten months old. I haven't researched this breed too much yet and still learning so I appreciate the feedback. Dark splash, I'll have to go look that up. We want to eventually get into breeding these, but obviously want to make sure we have good stock first and know what we're doing.

 

[Gingersnap722]

Is a dark splash wheaten also known as a blue splash wheaten?

 

[junebuggena]

Is a dark splash wheaten also known as a blue splash wheaten?

Splash have two copies of the blue dilute gene. Blues only have a single copy.