Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[WendyF]

What other breeds are you getting?

LOL, I can't decide on which breed I want because I am new to chickens & have read so many lovely things about so many lovely chickens! With this order, along with my Blue Ameraucana, I will be receiving a Dominique, an Easter Egger, a Black Orpington, a Buff Orpington, a Golden Buff (Red Star), a Black Australorp, and a Black Jersey Giant. It doesn't look like they will be here today, though . My Post office says they already received their Priority shipments for the day & my chicks weren't in them. USPS tracking is terribly lacking; it just says a shipping label was created yesterday morning at 7:49 am. Meyer assures me they sent them, USPS is just not good at updating their tracking site. So my poor babies will be spending 2 days in USPS' rough care

. I can't find the breeds I want locally, so I just have to deal with the not-so-fun sides of shipping chicks. I also have 8 week old pullets: 3 Polish, a Columbian Wyandotte, & a White Cochin. Our 4 week olds are a Lavender Orpington, a Blue Orpington, and a Buff Brahma. LOL Chicken math has really done me wrong!!! I need help! I'm addicted, and the only reason I'm stopping is I don't want aggression issues due to overcrowding! I do have a coop large enough to comfortably house 17 large hens, and I have 2 runs with 100 square feet each, one on each side of the coop. I'm not going to be able to keep any that turn out to be roos due to our city ordinance. I will also rehome any trouble makers - I oversized my runs & gave them 2 to choose from to help avoid bullying, but if any insist on being jerks on a problem level, I have 2 homes who will take them already lined up. I also let them free range in my backyard a few hours a day on my working days & many hours on the weekends. I have worries about the Orpingtons & Polish as they tend to be bottom of the pecking order girls, but they are so far my 2 favorite breeds so they are going to be the determining factor on which others get to stay with us. My priorities with my flock choices are: docile, sweet birds who are affectionate to humans & easy to handle; decent layers of a colorful egg basket; able to coexist peacefully; large-bodied enough that our pomeranian will be too intimidated to try to mess with them, and cold hardy.

 

[jerryse]

It really should be that birds have to breed true 100% of the time except for specific dose related traits. Correct?

Correct . As close to 100% as possible . Some variation is normal .

 

[jerryse]

I have an absolutely lovely black AM roo with some leakage. The leakage didn't show up until he was about 6 months old and is in his mantle. He in no way resembles an actual EE but I'm hoping/planning to get him replaced asap. Meanwhile I'm still breeding him with my BBS girls. I won't sell offspring as possible SOP, just nice pets/egg layers.

My question is this, will his leakage show up in all the (black) offspring? This question is just so I can tell the people who buy the chicks (if they are wanting to use them for 4H) what to expect.

My camera is broken otherwise I'd just take a picture.

I appreciate any information. My only other black birds are 100% English Orps and they are young yet.

Leakage only shows on males . Females can be carriers . Leakage is hereditary but not all will have it . This depends on the hens you use . Genetics is a roll of the dice . Predictable in many cases but still a gamble .

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

[COLOR=333333]LOL, I can't decide on which breed I want because I am new to chickens & have read so many lovely things about so many lovely chickens! With this order, along with my Blue Ameraucana, I will be receiving a Dominique, an Easter Egger, a Black Orpington, a Buff Orpington, a Golden Buff (Red Star), a Black Australorp, and a Black Jersey Giant. It doesn't look like they will be here today, though . My Post office says they already received their Priority shipments for the day & my chicks weren't in them. USPS tracking is terribly lacking; it just says a shipping label was created yesterday morning at 7:49 am. Meyer assures me they sent them, USPS is just not good at updating their tracking site. So my poor babies will be spending 2 days in USPS' rough care [/COLOR]

[COLOR=333333]. I can't find the breeds I want locally, so I just have to deal with the not-so-fun sides of shipping chicks. I also have 8 week old pullets: 3 Polish, a Columbian Wyandotte, & a White Cochin. Our 4 week olds are a Lavender Orpington, a Blue Orpington, and a Buff Brahma. LOL Chicken math has really done me wrong!!! I need help! I'm addicted, and the only reason I'm stopping is I don't want aggression issues due to overcrowding! I do have a coop large enough to comfortably house 17 large hens, and I have 2 runs with 100 square feet each, one on each side of the coop. I'm not going to be able to keep any that turn out to be roos due to our city ordinance. I will also rehome any trouble makers - I oversized my runs & gave them 2 to choose from to help avoid bullying, but if any insist on being jerks on a problem level, I have 2 homes who will take them already lined up. I also let them free range in my backyard a few hours a day on my working days & many hours on the weekends. I have worries about the Orpingtons & Polish as they tend to be bottom of the pecking order girls, but they are so far my 2 favorite breeds so they are going to be the determining factor on which others get to stay with us. My priorities with my flock choices are: docile, sweet birds who are affectionate to humans & easy to handle; decent layers of a colorful egg basket; able to coexist peacefully; large-bodied enough that our pomeranian will be too intimidated to try to mess with them, and cold hardy. [/COLOR]

You will be able to tell your blue am apart from the others easily

 

[JackieandChicks]

It really should be that birds have to breed true 100% of the time except for specific dose related traits. Correct?

Now that makes more sense. I could not wrap my mind around how only half of the offspring have to follow the SOP to be an Amerucana, yet the other half of the offspring could look like anything. Thanks for making it clearer!

 

[chickee]

Today I took some pictures of the two pullets I hatched out and kept this year. Crazy thing is, I sold all the eggs and chicks I hatched and only kept these two for myself. Wishing I had kept more! These are out of two pure Cree line pullets I hatched out last year from another breeder. I had a feeling they would mesh well with my Pips&Peeps x Paul Smith line rooster.

 

[speckledhen]

It's a shame that the Crees are not breeding at this point in time but I know they are focusing on other livestock right now. Those pullets are so pretty; I've always loved that color variety.

 

[samouw]

Today I took some pictures of the two pullets I hatched out and kept this year. Crazy thing is, I sold all the eggs and chicks I hatched and only kept these two for myself. Wishing I had kept more! These are out of two pure Cree line pullets I hatched out last year from another breeder. I had a feeling they would mesh well with my Pips&Peeps x Paul Smith line rooster.

Very pretty girls! Congrats! I only have two pullets out of everything I hatched this year that I'm keeping, as well. Frustrating, but that's how it goes. I'm not sure about cockerels yet. Did you hatch out any cockerels that are keepers?

 

[chickee]

It's a shame that the Crees are not breeding at this point in time but I know they are focusing on other livestock right now. Those pullets are so pretty; I've always loved that color variety.

It is a shame they stopped breeding the W/BW color of Ameraucanas long ago. I was really lucky to find someone local who had a pure line of them.

Very pretty girls! Congrats! I only have two pullets out of everything I hatched this year that I'm keeping, as well. Frustrating, but that's how it goes. I'm not sure about cockerels yet. Did you hatch out any cockerels that are keepers?

I picked out two chicks to keep out of extra chicks in an order I did and got lucky with two pullets. lualshannon (she has posted pictures on here) who bought some of my chicks ended up with a gorgeous BW rooster that looks to be of good enough quality to show next year. Can't wait to see how he does!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Here are some pics of the AMs I have been showing. This isn't that show that they placed 1st, BV, and RB in. It was another show, hints the 2nds on some of the placing cards. Most wouldn't pose