Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[samouw]

for sure! I think once a breeder has quality animals, even as pets it's hard to go out and get the hinze 57 variety! Cause if nothing else u have to look at them every day! lol!

Oh my gosh, this is so true!

 

[CGilbert]

I asked Paul Smith the same question about egg color and he said they get bluer the more regular they get in laying. In my experience is this is very true. Mine started out at D12 and went to B1/B2.

Is there anywhere I can find this color chart for eggs (b1/b2, D12, etc)? Thank you!

 

[scflock]

Well, shes still pretty! but I'm sure your disappointed! go figure!! so r u gonna breed her?? would her offspring throw blue? Instead of culling her? Maby breed her and see what her babies throw....? I could be very wrong and the breeders on here would know 4 sure....maby she could be your experiment!
Hey 2 roosters in your fire? were u burning them or like slow smoking them!? seriously! lol! what will I ever do if the lights go out? I can see my family begging 4 food and me saying lets go hunt pheasants, and honey my hens need something to eat!! lol! They are my pets! lol!

I will keep her, but won't hatch her eggs. When I get better pullets in the future, I will probably sell her with full disclosure and replace her with a blue egg layer. It's looking like by the summer I will start learning about test mating

Is there anywhere I can find this color chart for eggs (b1/b2, D12, etc)? Thank you!

http://www.ameraucana.org/clubmerchandise.html
You can buy it from the ABC

 

[scflock]

Well, shes still pretty! but I'm sure your disappointed! go figure!! so r u gonna breed her?? would her offspring throw blue? Instead of culling her? Maby breed her and see what her babies throw....? I could be very wrong and the breeders on here would know 4 sure....maby she could be your experiment!

If I bred her to my rooster, she may produce blue egg layers, but the percentages of white layers would go way up. What Ravyn was saying is that each parent has 2 egg genes. I'm just going to use W for white and B for blue as an example to dumb it down for myself

Say each parent has 1 W gene and 1 B gene. The offspring will be 50% WB, 25% BB , and 25%WW. The WW offspring would be my pullet laying the white eggs. If I bred her to a rooster with 1 W and 1B, 75% of the offspring would lay white eggs. I don't want that. The goal is to try and get them all as close to BB as possible. That's why Ravyn said it will take test mating to a white egg layer to see which chickens are carrying the W gene

 

[scflock]

Hey 2 roosters in your fire? were u burning them or like slow smoking them!?

Oh yeah, one other thing. That is an Orion smoker, one of the best smokers I have ever owned. Ridiculously simple to use, it will smoke a 15 pound turkey in 2 hours, and has just as much flavor as a 6-8 hour smoker. For anyone that likes smoked meat, I highly recommend the Orion

http://0.r.msn.com/?ld=d3b8PVQQbAId...qmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_9ehi1gnuat_e

 

[greenleaf]

Is there anywhere I can find this color chart for eggs (b1/b2, D12, etc)? Thank you!

You can get 5 Ameraucana/Araucana egg color reference charts for $5, including postage in the US & Canada, thru the Ameraucana Alliance.
http://AmeraucanaAlliance.org/ClubMerchandise.html

 

[mirandaleecon]

Hello again! I contacted Paul Smith and it looks like he will be able to send me some chicks in Jan. I think I'm going to start with 25 blue and black. Does that sound like a good starter flock? Anticipating 50% roosters, so that would leave me with about 10-15 laying hens.

Do you guys have any good resources for what traits to breed for? I know there is the standard of perfection but I'm more of a visual person and can't really picture what it is describing.

And how do you breed for those traits? Do you just cull any that aren't up to standard? Do you sell them? Separate them?

And my last question; do any of you keep black Ameraucanas in a hot climate? I'm worried that the black will make it difficult for them to deal with the extreme heat/humidity here in the summer.

Sorry for all the questions, google doesn't seem to be experienced in breeding Ameraucans :/

 

[junebuggena]

http://ameraucana.org/default.html

The gallery section has examples of each color variety. You can get an idea of what the body shape and tail position should be. And they have a forum section.

 

[scflock]

Hello again! I contacted Paul Smith and it looks like he will be able to send me some chicks in Jan. I think I'm going to start with 25 blue and black. Does that sound like a good starter flock? Anticipating 50% roosters, so that would leave me with about 10-15 laying hens.

Do you guys have any good resources for what traits to breed for? I know there is the standard of perfection but I'm more of a visual person and can't really picture what it is describing.

And how do you breed for those traits? Do you just cull any that aren't up to standard? Do you sell them? Separate them?

And my last question; do any of you keep black Ameraucanas in a hot climate? I'm worried that the black will make it difficult for them to deal with the extreme heat/humidity here in the summer.

Sorry for all the questions, google doesn't seem to be experienced in breeding Ameraucans :/

Others can help with the culling aspects, I'm new to this as well, but I keep black chickens in SC with high temps and humidity in the summer. The trick is to provide shade and clean water. All of mine are in pens, and my pens are 50% covered by metal roofs. That is a life saver in the summer.
You will be extremely pleased with Paul's birds. Out of 25, you should get some very nice roosters. Keep all of your hens, and the best 2 roosters you have. The rooster's genetics will be 50% of your offspring. I also learned to keep the roosters as long as you can. You don't really start to see which ones are going to be outstanding until 6-7 months

 

[mirandaleecon]

Others can help with the culling aspects, I'm new to this as well, but I keep black chickens in SC with high temps and humidity in the summer. The trick is to provide shade and clean water. All of mine are in pens, and my pens are 50% covered by metal roofs. That is a life saver in the summer.
You will be extremely pleased with Paul's birds. Out of 25, you should get some very nice roosters. Keep all of your hens, and the best 2 roosters you have. The rooster's genetics will be 50% of your offspring. I also learned to keep the roosters as long as you can. You don't really start to see which ones are going to be outstanding until 6-7 months

Thank you for the info! Ok, that makes me feel better about the weather. I know he is in Texas so I assume the heat isn't as big of an issue, but the humidity really makes a huge difference. Last summer we had plenty of 90 degree days and a lot of those days had heat indexes close to 110. Quite a few of my chickens would just stand in their water...Thinking about setting up a cool mist system or something...