Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[HaplessRunner]

This is my black AM roo












And a black AM pullet nearing POL.









Thoughts on these two birds are appreciated.

 

[familypendragon]

Hatched these little cuties from BBS eggs. I think I have a blue and a black??

Chick 1

Chick 2 - not sure what is up with the leg/feet coloring?

 

[HaplessRunner]

Hatched these little cuties from BBS eggs. I think I have a blue and a black??

Chick 1



Chick 2 - not sure what is up with the leg/feet coloring?

Very nice looking chicks - all three of them! Sorry, I could not resist.

 

[familypendragon]

Very nice looking chicks - all three of them!  Sorry, I could not resist.  

LOL! You are too kind!

 

[jajeanpierre]

This is my black AM roo





And a black AM pullet nearing POL.





Thoughts on these two birds are appreciated.

I'm really new to chickens and am trying to be able to take the SOP and apply it to a living, breathing bird. It's not easy, especially when I see so few Ameraucanas.

The SOP states the eyes should be "expressive, relatively large" and "reddish bay." [Why is there no reference to White Ameraucana's eye color in the SOP????]

I've a background in showing dogs, mostly Shelties and Collies. Both are breeds that value head and eye in the show ring, sometimes to the exclusion of all else. I also have bred Thoroughbred horses on a very small scale. I notice that many of the breed standards for dogs have descriptions and references to horses. A description of "reddish bay" can only be in reference to a horse color, so as I try to interpret the standard, I am looking for an eye color that would be the same color as a reddish bay horse.

To me, the pullet has an exquisitely colored eye. It is the color eye I want to breed for. My background in Shelties and Collies makes me view dark eyes as better than a lighter eye, but that is my own personal bias and I'm not sure the SOP values a dark reddish bay eye over a light one.

I don't think the cockerel's eye is correctly colored. To me, it is a yellow eye. My few Ameraucanas tend towards this color eye. If it were a horse's color, it would be more along the lines of a rich palomino color not bay.

As mentioned, I have bred Thoroughbreds. A red bay in Thoroughbreds is fairly uncommon, but here's a picture of a filly that tends towards a reddish bay. I always try to go back to the roots of a standard to get a better understanding of what the standard is trying to describe. If I were to imagine the color of the pullet's eye against the coat of this Thoroughbred, it would blend in. The cockerel's eye would not.

I would really appreciate the experienced breeders/exhibitors giving their input. We are all trying to learn. I want to thank everyone for their pictures and their comments.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Chick 2 - not sure what is up with the leg/feet coloring?

I had some chicks that had pink toes. The pigment all filled in as they grew.

 

[Merrell89]

What's acceptable in cockerels but a DQ in a cock bird?  The wry tail?  Why is it okay in young birds?

To tell the truth, I have wondered that myself. A good amount of cockerels do carry their tail slightly to one side. This isn't necessarily wry tail unless the problem perpetuates as the bird matures. Another post earlier had a good explanation for it though. That could well be the case

 

[jajeanpierre]

To tell the truth, I have wondered that myself. A good amount of cockerels do carry their tail slightly to one side. This isn't necessarily wry tail unless the problem perpetuates as the bird matures. Another post earlier had a good explanation for it though. That could well be the case

Yes, someone explained it that sometimes the feathers just don't grow in evenly and a tail might be a bit off kilter but straighten out as everything finished growing. Just when someone posted that, the tail of the blue cockerel that I am planning on keeping did exactly that so I was very relieved to see the answer.

I want to show some of my birds (if they seem to be of good enough quality) but I am not sure that I want to house them the way I should if I wanted to be serious about them winning. I've done a lot of winning at dog shows, and no longer care if I win (so she tells herself!!!). I just want to use shows to gauge my breeding stock. (Ha!--MY breeding stock--that's too funny, they aren't even breeding age and they were bought from another breeder! Nothing "my" or "breeding" about my Ameraucanas!)

Is it possible to present free-range birds that are not embarrassing to everyone? I'm worried about the color bleaching now that the weather is cooling off and they are venturing out in the open more, not just hanging out under the trees. I think I would like to put sunscreen on the blue cockerel. Does anyone know anything about doing something like that?

 

[chickadoodles]

You could always put shade cloth over the run

 

[jajeanpierre]

You could always put shade cloth over the run

Thanks. They're not in a run, they are free ranging. I'm not sure I want to pen them simply so they can present better at a show. It's an issue I deal with all the time with my racehorses. I would love them to be outside on turn out but fit racehorses get hurt on turn out. My racehorses are a business, my chickens are not. It matters a great deal to me financially if a horse is injured on turn out. It really doesn't matter if the feather quality is poor because my chicken is outside in the sun. I am thinking of putting him in one of my parrot flights, but then he is separated from his flock and I suspect I'll get into all kinds of hierarchy issues if I do that when I finally do let him loose. As I keep saying, I'm really new to chickens and don't have any judgement of how it is all going to unfold as they mature. How I keep my chickens is evolving. I've read a lot, but book learning is not the same as doing, that's for sure!