Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[chickenlady099]

all my bantam roosters are great they are so cuddly

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

My LF boys aren't overly nice or anything, but they don't try to start stuff with me. They are not aggressive. Now I have had two bantam roosters, who were just the meanest things ever! I would stick my arm into the cage to crab the feed and water and they would grab onto my sleeve and pull on it and attack my arm. Then one got injured and ever since then has been the sweetest guy.

 

[Reyvaughn]

Hapless, I am so sorry you lost your birds. It's a shame some people are more interested in making a few bucks rather than disclosing any possible illnesses. If you need more Ameraucana eggs, please don't hesitate to ask!


I have had 3 Ameraucana roosters over the last 3yrs. Dorian, my single bearded blue wheaten that started the project was a doll in my opinion. He wasn't an outgoing and cuddly boy, but he never tried to jump me or my kids. He didn't mind up messing with the girls. I purchased a wheaten rooster hatched by Wayne Meredith and he was a nasty SOB. He'd try attacking you before you got to the cage door. He cooled off once he went in with Dorian since Dorian was alpha. When I sold the flock, he nailed the guy loading them while putting the girls in the cage. He stopped once Dorian was put back in with him. This son of the Wayne Meredith rooster I currently have has been a good boy. I was leery of him when he was younger because he did seem like he was going to be be more like his father in the attitude department. He's just over a year now and he doesn't bother us. He did get his butt thumped once when he was younger, but not since.

Now, one of my bantam black Cochins I culled this year (after 2yrs of fighting with him), the buff columbian/mille fluer bantam Cochin I had for 3yrs that was easily the nastiest rooster I ever had and two chocolate bantam Orps I currently have... I swear, bantams have Napoleon complexes. I do have 2 really nice black bantam Cochin roosters I absolutely love and are so friendly.

 

[Blue Hill Farm]

Hi everyone,
Thought I'd say hey, seeing as I often lurk on this thread to see what's going on with Ameraucana chickens.
I am working on a few different varieties/projects, but my blues and splashes are priority, as well as my favorite. (Although I admit I am becoming very interested in Mo/Mo and mottled Ams. Must resist...yeah, right. lol They are such beautiful birds. anyway, I love to chat chicken and all things Ameraucana, so figured I'd join in the conversation already.


I've had a few aggressive Am cockerels, but have never bred from any of them as I was told it's an inheritable trait. I consider temperament right up there in importance with type and vigor. But this year I'm going to break my self imposed rule and breed a splash cockerel who has begun to show aggression to me (but not the hens. I won't tolerate an *** to the ladies ever!) I plan to track his offspring and see if the trait really is inheritable. Should be interesting!

Oh, and one thing I've noticed that does tend to make cockerels more prone to meanness is making pets out of them, especially hand feeding. Now I save that for the girls and rarely have mean boys. The exception of course is the splash boy. Though he did have a long, hard winter in the bach pad as the lowest male on the totem pole, so he likely has some pent up angst. haha

 

[speckledhen]

Hi everyone,
Thought I'd say hey, seeing as I often lurk on this thread to see what's going on with Ameraucana chickens.
I am working on a few different varieties/projects, but my blues and splashes are priority, as well as my favorite. (Although I admit I am becoming very interested in Mo/Mo and mottled Ams. Must resist...yeah, right. lol They are such beautiful birds. anyway, I love to chat chicken and all things Ameraucana, so figured I'd join in the conversation already.


I've had a few aggressive Am cockerels, but have never bred from any of them as I was told it's an inheritable trait. I consider temperament right up there in importance with type and vigor. But this year I'm going to break my self imposed rule and breed a splash cockerel who has begun to show aggression to me (but not the hens. I won't tolerate an *** to the ladies ever!) I plan to track his offspring and see if the trait really is inheritable. Should be interesting!

Oh, and one thing I've noticed that does tend to make cockerels more prone to meanness is making pets out of them, especially hand feeding. Now I save that for the girls and rarely have mean boys. The exception of course is the splash boy. Though he did have a long, hard winter in the bach pad as the lowest male on the totem pole, so he likely has some pent up angst. haha

You touched on one thing in your last sentence, the fact that a situation can bring up some aggression in a male, in addition to his genetic predisposition. I've had it happen in a 3 year old rooster who was formerly super friendly and easygoing, not prone to any sort of human aggression prior to the situation that brought it to the surface. Had to rehome him eventually-was going to cull him but a friend bought him some time by taking him to her place. So, it can happen that something other than genetics can start up aggression in a rooster.

 

[Blue Hill Farm]

Yea. It does make a certain kinda sense. Some are born mean (rare I think), while others are made mean by circumstance. (more common most likely). I've also seen this happen in older hens. They can get quite cranky with age! And bad weather....heh

 

[pips&peeps]

Ahhhhh...see here an easter egger is just any mixed bird that carries the blue egg gene but doesn't necessarily lay a blue egg...could be different shades of green (exception being the olive egger), pink, or blue. An Ameraucana is a pure Aamarucana as long as the line is pure regardless of color, though certain colors are only recognized as show colors. I could breed 2 pure blue Ameraucanas, get a splash and it's still a pure Ameraucana, it's just not a recognized color so therefore not show quality. Kind of like poodles....you breed a purebred black poodle with a purebred white poodle and you could get black, white, silver, or even a black/white mix( doesn't happen very often though) it's still a purebred poodle but the black/white mix isn't a recognized color. This is why I love BYC...you get a wide range of people from different places and honest answers when you ask and I always learn something new...lol Thank you.

No, it is still an easter egger.

Speckledhen they must breed true at least 50% of the time, which is what you get when you breed blue to blue. The splash color has only recently been recognized in 2-3 other kinds of poultry. One is silkies and another I can remember off the top of my head is OEG.

 

[pips&peeps]

another "factoid" to toss out there: Over 95% of flocks in the USA have mycoplasma.

 

[Blue Hill Farm]

Now that I see it's real easy to load pics (yay!) I have a question regarding a black cockerel I hatched in 2013.
During weekly inspections I noticed something odd about his right wing. At first I thought it was split wing, but all 10 primaries are accounted for, as well as the axial feather. Yet still the wing doesn't look quite right to me when folded up. Could this still be split wing? Are there many variations or is it always really obvious? I don't want to cull him yet in case I'm mistaken.

 

[CibolaChooks]

I dont believe human aggression is passed down to the offspring. I have a human aggressive cream legbar rooster and all of his sons are very nice. I have one Ameraucana rooster out of my four pure breed ams that is starting to show some thoughts of aggression. 3 out of 3 Ameraucana crosses have shown human aggression. I agree with others that has stated handling them is what makes a rooster aggressive. they like to be talked to but not handled