Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[cutipatooti]

Did not realize they were so fragile. Had some from Cree farm a few years back but don't remember them being like this. Thanks for the info , I'm heading to the store right now for some of that cereal.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Got some wheaten ameraucana chicks. They were overnight shipped to me with barnevelders a sweedish flower hens. 6 out of the 19 chicks were the wheaten . They all looked ok when I got them. I noticed they were much smaller then the barnevelders but had more wing feathering. They all hatched in the same incubator within 24 hours of each other. One seemed very small and lethargic by that evening. I held it and offered it some water from a cup which it took and seemed to do better. I was expecting the runt to die but they seemed to do better after that. Them I noticed several of them looked like they had split wing. Then I noticed pasty butt on them. They eat and drink but seem weak and lethargic. One died last night. I expect more will die also. I got them from a breeder not a hatchery. I'm really curious about their wings. Is it split wing or weak wing. Does it take a long time for the axile feathers to grow. Why are just the ameraucana chicks not doing well while the rest are doing great.
Here is a pic of the wing of the chick who died
Here is a pick of all of them
Here is a pic of 2 of the better looking ones but the wing of the one in front still does not look right

Here is a pic of one with bad looking wing
Here it is up close
Here is one of the others that looks normal when the wing is closed
What do you all think could be going on with my sad bunch of chickens. Any info would help. Also anyone know what sex they might be?

The one with the bad wing does not look too good in the pic. Stress can be a killer in young chicks. Definitely get some electrolytes in them asap. The wings look fine to me, just sparse feathering at this point. My little Ameraucana was tiny at first now at 9 weeks she has plumped up much faster than any other breed to date! You got some good advice above, good luck, hope they perk up quick.

 

[kara1015]

Some of my cute babies!

 

[chickee]

Some of my cute babies!

SO cute! I LOVE the splash coloring!

 

[MrsBachbach]

I will be really disappointed if he had brown genes added somewhere. I asked him several times if they all laid the blue eggs.  When I went to pick them up, he randomly picked them out of the group when I told him what I wanted.  I was sooooo excited for blue eggs.  Thanks for the input.

Wendy

I think blue is in the eye of the beholder. There is an egg color chart for the Ameraucana breeders club and it covers a wide spectrum of blue and green, in my eyes. I've yet to see a true blue egg, like the blue I see on the submit button at the bottom of this page. Imo, the eggs are blue/green. I've seen turquoise and I think it is lovely. I've seen eggs so pale I had to put it next to a white egg just to convince myself it wasn't white. I do know this. The hens eggs will lose color as the months go on. They lay their best color at the start of the laying year and it usually fades the closer they get to molt. When they start back up, they have a deeper color.

 

[fasschicks]

Thanks, Mrs. Bachbsch! That is very helpful. The 2 lighter ones have the lightest tint of blue. I figure all of these girls will go into a molt this fall. I will definitely check out the chart. I think I had something in my head and they didn't match. But that is okay. I appreciate every egg that all my girls lay.

 

[CashandTracy]

Got some wheaten ameraucana chicks. They were overnight shipped to me with barnevelders a sweedish flower hens. 6 out of the 19 chicks were the wheaten . They all looked ok when I got them. I noticed they were much smaller then the barnevelders but had more wing feathering. They all hatched in the same incubator within 24 hours of each other. One seemed very small and lethargic by that evening. I held it and offered it some water from a cup which it took and seemed to do better. I was expecting the runt to die but they seemed to do better after that. Them I noticed several of them looked like they had split wing. Then I noticed pasty butt on them. They eat and drink but seem weak and lethargic. One died last night. I expect more will die also. I got them from a breeder not a hatchery. I'm really curious about their wings. Is it split wing or weak wing. Does it take a long time for the axile feathers to grow. Why are just the ameraucana chicks not doing well while the rest are doing great.
Here is a pic of the wing of the chick who died
Here is a pick of all of them
Here is a pic of 2 of the better looking ones but the wing of the one in front still does not look right

Here is a pic of one with bad looking wing
Here it is up close
Here is one of the others that looks normal when the wing is closed
What do you all think could be going on with my sad bunch of chickens. Any info would help. Also anyone know what sex they might be?

Give them a drop or two of raw honey. Works great! It gives them a shot of energy and some all natural antibiotics. I have done it with every single chick this year, home hatched and shipped alike. I truly believe it has saved chicks that would have otherwise died. I also give honey if a chick is a little lethargic and droopy.

Good luck with your babies!

PS my Ameraucana chick's wings looked just like that, they eventually evened out.

 

[cutipatooti]

Thanks cashandtracy! I love raw honey. It was too late for the real droopy one but the rest are doing so much better. I'm so glad the wings look ok as they were my sons choice to use for 4-h and showing.

 

[jonsccm]

My 12 week old splash!

 

[heatherscooby77]

Thanks cashandtracy! I love raw honey. It was too late for the real droopy one but the rest are doing so much better. I'm so glad the wings look ok as they were my sons choice to use for 4-h and showing.

Chicks do better being hatched as day olds. Your chicks look like they could be around 5 days old. When you ship chicks that have had food and water, and they are that young, they don't ship well. If they were day olds, mailed out right away, they would not have feathers like those.

With that being said, they look like they could of been on a really high protein diet. Some people give there chicks game bird starter, they get pasty but really bad. They tend to be lethargic, and when they do move it looks really weird. They have there head really close to there body, and there head is tilted back a little bit. They usually die from anorexia. When the primaries are dragging like that, I usually count that as a weak chick. I will mark it, and usually not keep it. I also want to watch it grow and take notes. If the feathers "fix" themselves, I might keep it..............IDK, you can't keep them all! So you got to figure out what you cull method is going to be.