Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[PapaChaz]

First three, lighting is not too good, too much shadow, but I see a darkening of some feathers that suggest male.
Your last set of pics, I only see one, the last one, that looks like it could be female. The lighter one's comb looks male although the pic is a bit blurry. The one with the tail to the camera, I think is male. Looks like some curving sickle feathers starting?

yeah I know my pics leave a lot to be desired, LOL cell phone camera+trying to take pics immediately following treat time= really bad pictures HA.

one question though, I thought the sickle feathers were the longest ones that were over the top not from the sides? I guess I need to go download that diagram and study it some more.

On top of thinking I have 4 or 5 of these that are going to wind up being roosters, I'm pretty sure one of the tractor supply white leghorn "pullets" is a rooster too. So I may be rehoming 4 roosters instead of just a couple........

 

[TattooedMama]

Hi and welcome to the thread. I haven't seen a chocolate, but have heard of them. They are a project color and I believe one breeder, pips n peeps, appears on this thread and lives on your side of the country.

Thank you!! I have contacted her and unfortunately she doesn't have any of her project Chocolates available right now. I do hope to be able to get some from her in the future though. The chocolates are stunning. My first birds were chocolate Orpingtons, such a deep, rich color. I liked the one so much I traded my lavenders for more chocolates. They weren't ever really that friendly though which was disappointing. I much prefer the Ameraucanas and am excited it they come in Chocolate as well =)

 

[MrsBachbach]

yeah I know my pics leave a lot to be desired, LOL cell phone camera+trying to take pics immediately following treat time= really bad pictures HA.

one question though, I thought the sickle feathers were the longest ones that were over the top not from the sides? I guess I need to go download that diagram and study it some more.

On top of thinking I have 4 or 5 of these that are going to wind up being roosters, I'm pretty sure one of the tractor supply white leghorn "pullets" is a rooster too. So I may be rehoming 4 roosters instead of just a couple........

They are. We may be seeing different things. I'm looking at the first pic of the second set of pictures. I see a feather that looks to be curving down from the middle, but it may be the angle I'm viewing at. It may be a side feather, but I've seen roosters with those side feathers. They get them before they get their curvy sickles. Aren't females a little straighter? The third picture in that set, I see dark feathers coming in on the wings. Another possible sign of a rooster. That's what I always look for in blue males because they are so late in growing in hackles, saddle and sickle feathers. If they have a small tight slow growing pea comb, can't tell very early with that either. I had one male black last year with a very female looking comb. Had me fooled for fourteen weeks.
I'm pretty sure your last pic is a girl.

 

[LeanneS]

I love the look of these birds! Does anyone have pictures of them as chicks

 

[jonsccm]

I love the look of these birds! Does anyone have pictures of them as chicks

Why yes! I have blue chicks.

 

[Larkspur88]

I have a question. I have a blue wheaten Aneraucana pair (full blooded from originally great bloodlines) I got the pair and the hen wasn't laying yet but now she's laying and they are TAN not blue. I've hatched about 7 chicks from them and will see if the pullets will lay blue but right now any I sell I'm going to have to advertise that they did hatch out tan eggs so we don't know if they will lay blue. Has anyone ever had this happen? Do you think they will most likely lay blue? Again this a FULL blooded pair. Not Easter Eggers. I've purchased from this fellow multiple times over the years and always had great beautiful birds who lay blue.

 

[LeanneS]

...

Why yes! I have blue chicks.
How adorable! Thanks!

 

[PapaChaz]

I love the look of these birds! Does anyone have pictures of them as chicks

 

[Sylvester017]

I have a question. I have a blue wheaten Aneraucana pair (full blooded from originally great bloodlines) I got the pair and the hen wasn't laying yet but now she's laying and they are TAN not blue. I've hatched about 7 chicks from them and will see if the pullets will lay blue but right now any I sell I'm going to have to advertise that they did hatch out tan eggs so we don't know if they will lay blue. Has anyone ever had this happen? Do you think they will most likely lay blue? Again this a FULL blooded pair. Not Easter Eggers. I've purchased from this fellow multiple times over the years and always had great beautiful birds who lay blue.

Honest breeders can make mistakes and think they are giving you the proper bird. My breeder shipped my pullet order to another State and shipped the other State's cockerel to me. It's possible with all the business of breeding the breeder could've made an error and cross-bred eggs unbeknownst to him/her.

In any event Amers have an SOP and qualified breeders would never use tan egg layers in their project pens. Your cross-breeds will have to qualify as EEs at this point. With a history of tan eggs in their background it would not be justified/ethical to sell as pure-bred SOP Amers.

 

[rainbowchick]

I have a question. I have a blue wheaten Aneraucana pair (full blooded from originally great bloodlines) I got the pair and the hen wasn't laying yet but now she's laying and they are TAN not blue. I've hatched about 7 chicks from them and will see if the pullets will lay blue but right now any I sell I'm going to have to advertise that they did hatch out tan eggs so we don't know if they will lay blue. Has anyone ever had this happen? Do you think they will most likely lay blue? Again this a FULL blooded pair. Not Easter Eggers. I've purchased from this fellow multiple times over the years and always had great beautiful birds who lay blue.

Honest breeders can make mistakes and think they are giving you the proper bird.  My breeder shipped my pullet order to another State and shipped the other State's cockerel to me.  It's possible with all the business of breeding the breeder could've made an error and cross-bred eggs unbeknownst to him/her.

In any event Amers have an SOP and qualified breeders would never use tan egg layers in their project pens.  Your cross-breeds will have to qualify as EEs at this point.  With a history of tan eggs in their background it would not be justified/ethical to sell as pure-bred SOP Amers.

I think I know who you got them from, as I've spoken with a gentleman who had one of his hens lay tan eggs (in the NC/SC area). And in this case, I don't believe it is the breeder's fault actually. I think it was just the perfect storm of genetics and hidden genes from who knows how many generations ago are popping up. People need to remember that Ameraucanas were bred from EEs, and thus have unpredictable genetic backgrounds. While chances of issues decrease over time, with recessive genes there's always a chance they are still lingering.
Either way, I wouldn't use a brown egg layer in a breeding program. You could do test hatches with the rooster to see if he has the blue egg gene, but that'd take a long time to raise up the chicks to POL.