Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[heatherscooby77]

I think the issue is they are not up to standard weights. Around my area, there are birds that are not making the weight. I think they are wondering if you pick size or overall better fitting the standard. If size is really an issue pick the bigger rooster to get your size, and then keep the bigger chickens. Hopefully ones that are large and have some type. Then get a bird that is grown from someone else the next year, that is from "bigger" birds.??????????????? I don't know, it depends who, what, when, where etc........... you have access too??????????

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I am curious why so many people are trying to breed very large Ameracaunas. The Ameracauna Breeders Club website gives the weights for standard large fowls (copied below). In my opinion, if you breed larger than the standard, you are just creating a bird that will eat you out of house and home, but not produce or look any better, and, of course, not be bred to the SOP. If one wants really large birds, a different breed might be a better choice.

STANDARD WEIGHTS for LARGE FOWL

Cock………………6½ lbs. Hen……………….5½ lbs.​

Cockerel………….5½ lbs. Pullet……………..4½ lbs.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Here's the link to explain all your questions:

http://www.ameraucana.org/faq.html

thanks

 

[KingR0o5t3r]

Just thought I might spice up this thread

Also, does anyone know what they might turn out like? as far as variety?

 

[Phage]

What are they meant to be?

 

[KingR0o5t3r]

ameracauna hens... thats all i know haha

 

[pips&peeps]

they are easter eggers and will probably resemble the silver variety

 

[KingR0o5t3r]

Okay thanks

 

[johnderosa1]

Hi Royce,

Thanks so much for your post and for the PM you sent to me. Much appreciated. Just to clarify a few of my comments... after reading hundreds of pages of posts in both the Ameraucana and BCM strings over the past several months here on BYC, I have come to appreciate just how difficult it is to create a decent line of birds. However, when I started out 1 1/2 years ago I really was clueless... I truly believed that you could simply order some eggs, hatch them out and get your flock. I am sure that there are many others out there that started out like me. Since then I've learned that things are obviously a bit more complicated than that.

As for my comment that "I want to be confident that if I sell hatching eggs or chicks to someone down the line they will get exactly what they were expecting and not have to deal with all the difficulties that I have to work through". I didn't mean to infer that I expected to hatch out 100% show quality birds but instead that reasonable expectations would be that hatching eggs or chicks provide birds close to standard that produce eggs with an acceptable color. My experience has been that this is not easy to attain. I know that there are many excellent breeders out there but there are also far too many people out there who either purposely or inadvertently mislead buyers by selling substandard stock or worse. It's really hard to know which is which when you first start out. To make matters worse it is really hard to get the attention of the best know breeders. I am sure they are inundated with requests and just can't respond to everyone who contacts them. I think my biggest disappointment at this stage is that even with a lot of research and reaching out to many sources I am not sure I even have a starter flock yet. If it wasn't for two well established breeders from here and the ABC, I am sure I would still be exactly where I was 1 1/2 years ago. My goal is to build a representative flock of birds with excellent egg color that breed true so that someday I can help others get a decent start right from the beginning.

Since my first post, I have received some excellent advice from people on this thread (thanks everyone) and feel hopeful I will reach my modest goals sometime in the not too distant future.

Kindest regards,

John

 

[johnderosa1]

Hi, I hope I am not overdoing it with so many posts/questions.... after waiting almost 7 mos for my latest batch of pullets to start laying I've begun to get some eggs. So far I am pretty disappointed. The best egg color I've had so far is a B6 but most are in the C's and the latest one is almost olive - couldn't even find it on the chart. All the eggs I hatched these pullets from were from nice eggs. My first question is : can the egg color change shades after the first few eggs? I wouldn't think so but I believe I read a quote somewhere on the ABC forum from Paul Smith where the color of the eggs a batch of new pullets he was describing started out on the green side but stabilized to a blue after they were laying for a little while... Also, what would a reasonable goal be for egg color in a line of birds? In looking at the chart, A7 seems to be an "ideal" color but I have never seen anything close to that. Is this attainable? If not, what is realistic?

Thanks,

John

 

[lonnyandrinda]

I also appreciate your willingness to put your journey out there- I'm where you were 1 1/2 years ago LOL. Except I was extremely lucky last summer in purchasing my stock and got a very good Meridith line BBS pair. But as I look around in my area trying to add to that pair I am shocked and dismayed at the selection- and will probably only keep offspring from my original pair for a while. I know EXACTLY what you are talking about.

And so by extension, thank you to all those with MUCH more experience than us newbies for sharing your advice and expertise!!!!