Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[dstokely]

Hackle feathers


Comb


Saddle feathers




I guess I am resigned to having three black hens. Certainly could be worse. Yes, it was cool enough this morning to wear my flannel shirt here in the mountains.

 

[MrsBachbach]

One of the many ways I beat the heat is with straw bedding. On those really hot days I use it as a type of evaporative or "swamp" cooler. I wet the straw down in the morning. Throughout the day as the heat builds the water evaporates, cooling the coop. On really hot days we might have to re-wet it in the afternoon.
Before anyone expresses concerns of mold or damp conditions, I only do this if it is a hot dry day. Humid days will not allow for evaporation. By night fall the straw is completely dry. I have been able to drop temps as much as 15 degrees. I have actually gone into the coops to cool down when working around the barn. And when the free range flock chooses to hang out in the coop on a 115 degree scorcher, you know it's working well!!

I just bought that white roof coating elastic stuff last year and painted my tin roofs with it. The stuff claims to bring temps down by as much as 20 degrees. I imagine people use it for their patios, trailers etc., but I put it on my tin chicken roofs and side walls that caught the afternoon sun. It says it lasts up to seven years. Before applying it, you couldn't touch the tin without burning your hand. Now it is cool to the touch. I think it has really helped where I house my roosters. That tin was creating extra heat.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Hackle feathers Comb Saddle feathers I guess I am resigned to having three black hens. Certainly could be worse. Yes, it was cool enough this morning to wear my flannel shirt here in the mountains.

:/ Boy, Idk Dstokely. Those combs can fool you. I have one here with no rows of peas, yet showing saddle feathers. Since you really have to look at individual feathers when looking for pointy ones, it's hard to see by looking at a picture. What has me stumped is the overall tail area. Girls are usually more well tucked than that one. Feathers look long for a girl and curvy like lesser sickles are. Maybe you have one of them hermaphodites. I would wait and see on that one.

 

[heatherscooby77]

I have a question as to the sex of this Black Ameraucana. I am hoping that I might have a cockerel to go with my other two hens. They are 18 wks old. My other cockerels are much more developed than this.


The one in question is in the back. The front one is one of the hens. The blue in the front, is a cockerel. Look at the difference in tail length, and overall body shape. The legs are much thicker then the black in the back. The black is a pullet. IMO, I have a 50/50 chance................

 

[cjpines]

Such handsome birds. I lost mine from Mareks and want to get more next spring, so I will be reading all of your comments and looking at all your beautiful girls and boys.

 

[dstokely]

The one in front is a black Ameraucana as well. The lighting just makes it look a little different, but it has the same green shine as the others. You may be on to something. I will examine it either this evening or tomorrow morning and check his hackles and saddles. Comb too.

 

[Folly's place]

dstokely, I also think it may be a cockrel. Hope to hear if it crows or lays an egg! Mary

 

[dstokely]

dstokely, I also think it may be a cockrel. Hope to hear if it crows or lays an egg! Mary

Which one? The front one or the back one? I will be examining the front one today. I am still hoping. When I did my tails/no tails test at one week, there was a black one in the mix of six that I thought might be cockerels. The other five have proven to be cockerels, but still looking for my black one.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Which one?  The front one or the back  one?  I will be examining the front one today.  I am still  hoping.  When I did my tails/no tails test at one week, there was  a black one in the mix of six that I thought might be cockerels.  The other five have proven to be cockerels, but still looking for my black one.

Tails or no tails? Which is which and at what day do you do it? From my memory, tails usually are not apparant right away. It takes about four or five days doesn't it?

 

[dstokely]

Tails or no tails? Which is which and at what day do you do it? From my memory, tails usually are not apparant right away. It takes about four or five days doesn't it?

My test was done when they were a wk old. I had 9 with tails(females) and 6 with no tails. I have this documented in a post back in April, and once I get them all identified, I will repost with current pictures. My test at that time showed three blue, one black, one lavender and one yellow. My juvenile birds show three blue cockerels, one lavender cockerel, and a blue wheaten cockerel. All that is missing is the black one. The black one that I examined today has a lot of what I will call feather shafts coming in with just a wisp of a feather showing. More on the saddle and some on the hackle. So, I am still holding out hope.

I read about this method on the Easter Egger Sexting Tip Forum, I believe, so I thought I would test it. Even with the five documented, I think that is still good results....or I am very lucky, or intuitive one. Maybe in about a month, I can confirm. It would be more convincing if I had put bands on them. I tried with small colored rubber bands, but I would not make them really tight as I did not want their little legs to fall off like puppy dog tails....the rubber bands fell off so there went my factual experiment.