Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[QuailHollow]

pips&peeps :

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/13020_dscf5935.jpg

This guy is too wide in the back end. Have you crossed the birds with orpington or wyandottes? His comb also looks strange for a pure ameraucana and feathers look very loose.

Pretty bird though.

Yes, he's an odd one. My husband said he was an eater - like 8lbs when we slaughter turkeys 2 weeks ago. But as far as crossing goes, the only wyandottes I've ever owned are laced, and the orps I've had were buffs. I gotten rid of the orps a long time ago. So no, I haven't personally made that cross, but I suppose it's possible I purchased stock from someone who did? I guess anything is possible. The only crosses I have had are with my Barred Rock.​

 

[QuailHollow]

Quote:
QuailHollow, do ever get any Blue Barred EEs from those birds? I saw the Barred EE pic, but I couldn't quite make out if they were blue?

IF by chance you do, I would LOVE to get some of those eggs from you! I really want some Blue Barred birds, but I haven't been able to locate any near me.

Lemme know, okay? I'm really not looking for right now, probably a couple months down the road into the springtime.

Thanks!

Jeremy - if I did, I gave them away. The only reason I kept the bird above is because I thought it was a pullet. .. and I thought she would be a pretty addition to my flock. In the end, she is a he.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Quote:
Have you or anyone else answering this post read the material on this web site?
1. Chickens do not get colds
2. When a chicken exhibits symptoms such as these he has more than a cold
3. Never, Never treat with tetracycline, it does not cure, it may only mask the symptoms.
4. The bird will always be a "Typhoid Mary". It will always be a carrier of the desease.

Sorry for your bird, but these are the facts and the whole truth. Anyone getting a bird from you will now share in your luck. Read this site, it is here for a reason.

I thought I'd quickly respond to this as I had to go back and see what the discussion was about after reading Steve's comment that this is the reason he doesn't show.

Let me first just say that I would be cautious about jumping to the conclusion that the runny nose was a result of being at a show. This reminds me of something I read on BYC about a year ago. If I remember right somebody had fed their birds a banana and a rooster fell over stone dead immediately after taking a bite of the banana and the person concluded there was a link to the eating of a banana and the immediate death of the bird. There was none and somebody pointed out very well why that could not be the case.

Oftentimes a bird will have a disease for a couple of weeks before it will start to show any symptoms. I've been showing birds for years and can honestly say that I don't think I've ever contracted anything from a show. And anyone who's had chickens for any time at all knows that they're just as susceptible to diseases at the home farm as they are at a show. In fact, I would have to say that the folks I know who go to the shows are very concerned about their birds and would never do anything to pass on something to another's birds. Not only would the embarrassment of having something like that happen be enough to keep folks from risking it but all the folks in charge of the show and the judges would immediately have a bird removed from the premises if something were to be seen.

As for reading "the material on this web site", let me say that there is a lot of good stuff on here but there is just as much opinion and old wives tales and one can NOT take everything on here as literal. The fact is that chickens DO get colds. However, it's just not everything is called a "cold" anymore but has been broken down into more specifics. Here's an excerpt from Page 49 of Gail Damerow's "The Chicken Health Handbook":

"Respiratory disease has always been a problem in poultry. At one time, all respiratory diseases were lumped together as "colds" or "roup". During the middle part of the 20th century, they were recognized as a group of separate, sometimes unrelated, infections with common characteristics similar to a human cold: labored breathing, coughing, sneezing, sniffling, gasping, runny eyes and nose."

I'll let you get the book and read the rest for yourselves but as you will see if you read on it's not that a chicken has "more than a cold".

As for "3. Never, Never treat with tetracycline, it does not cure, it may only mask the symptoms." I would like to see the authority for this conclusion. Tetracycline is an antibiotic and it comes in many forms. Any of the drugs ending in "cycline" is most likely Tetracycline. Even Terramycin is a trade name for Tetracycline. Antibiotics do work. The "masking" referred to may be a reference to the fact that often when antibiotics are not used properly (and in some cases even when they are) there is a build up of resistance to the drug and therefore the particular strains become more resistant to the drugs. This is a current fear with one of the new antibiotics on the market today. I forget the name but while it is VERY effective today, the fear is that overuse and misuse will result in a strain of disease that is resistant to the drug.

As for the "Typhoid Mary" reference, that is already the case in more birds than people imagine. And with many, many things. That is why the best defense against disease is to breed a flock of birds that build up their own disease resistant immunity.

God Bless,

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Quote:
Music to my ears, Royce. There is more than one way to raise a flock and each poultry owner has to make choices as to his/her approach - but it's important to look at this from different angles.

 

[jeremy]

Quote:
QuailHollow, do ever get any Blue Barred EEs from those birds? I saw the Barred EE pic, but I couldn't quite make out if they were blue?

IF by chance you do, I would LOVE to get some of those eggs from you! I really want some Blue Barred birds, but I haven't been able to locate any near me.

Lemme know, okay? I'm really not looking for right now, probably a couple months down the road into the springtime.

Thanks!

Jeremy - if I did, I gave them away. The only reason I kept the bird above is because I thought it was a pullet. .. and I thought she would be a pretty addition to my flock. In the end, she is a he.

So... no Blue Barred eggs to share then?

 

[coturnix2044]

Quote:
oh well

..I like good sex ratios on hatches!

I love the roo in your Avatar!

Thanks He's my fav so far!
Flower- I'll try to get a better pic but yes a full sheet of plywood does make him look small!


~SteveH- I'm sorry for what happened, but I hope he gets better and lives a full life!

 

[Tailfeathers]

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Hi Megan! I'm sure glad I saw your post come into my email and decided to see who you were. Now I've got to go back and change you in my Outlook so I can remember your're not Megpat anymore! LOL

I made it home from the show about 1700 last night and found a mess with the birds. Long story but suffice it to say that my neighbor’s kids agreed to take care of my birds while I was away and they obviously didn’t put much concern into doing what I asked them. Two four gallon waterers were empty, feeders were empty, and other stuff. Had a nice talk with their Dad and it will be a good learning lesson for them while they come over this next week to show that they can do it right. This is the first time I’ve gone anywhere over two years and now you know why. Oh well, it’ll all turn out ok.

It was a good show. Unfortunately, I was the only one there with any LF Welsummers, LF Ameraucanas, and any Buckeyes. Not much fun when there's no competition.

Now it's time to start building my Breeding Plan for next year and get some birds in the pens this weekend!

God Bless,

 

[SteveH]

Thank you to the person who PMed me with concern for my flock . As for those who posted here on this thread :

I just got back from my vet , a poultry hobbyist himself , that there is very little to be concerned about ; my cockeral shows no signs of CRD and appears to have a sinus infection often caused by inhaling dust or fine bedding material and common after stress from predator attacks . He said if it got worse I would likely see froth or bubbles coming from his beak and eyes ; but if I wanted to speed recovery start him on tetracycline . I then explained the shavings sticking to his beak at the show , the fight , and the frothy snot in what's left of his muffs and beard , and that I had already started the tetracycline and he that he had showed dramatic improvement . He said that those facts confirm his diagnosous , but that if my others suffered any losses to get them necropsied just to be on the safe side .

While I know many do not isolate new birds or those returning from shows , I believe I will in the future . I thank Him for taking care of my mistake this time .

 

[emvickrey]

I have a question.

Are the bantam sized concidered Ameracauna's or EE's. I know to be called an Ameracauna it has to be up to standard but I was just wondering if the bantams, that have all the qualifications as the standard ones would be concidered Ameracauna's.

My grandson got himself one of the bantam ones and I don't have a pic of him now or I would post it but I wanted to ask the question before I bothered with the trouble to post a pic on here.

 

[Illia]

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There are bantam Ameraucanas, yes, and they also have the same need to meet all requirements to be called an Ameraucana. After all, hatcheries like MPC/Meyer offers bantam Easter Eggers under false claim.