Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[cgmaster]

I'm not a breeder so genetics and breeding what to who is not my thing.  It's interesting but I don't delve into it.

I found that to have a colorful egg basket with blue or green eggs I'd have to have at least 3 or 4 Amer hens to ensure some hens might be decent layers.  However, I'm not zoned for more than 5 hens so I can't afford even one deadbeat layer (which is what I have now--one deadbeat).  She's sweet and a kind flockmate and tame with us but a drag on our small feed bill.  I will give her this coming Spring to see if she picks up laying or not and then decide what to do then.  I have a rescue home for her but think she's too timid to be placed in a dual-purpose flock where she definitely will get bullied.  It's either get bullied or go to the freezer and I don't have the heart to do either.

for thenmost part I separate my chickens by breed and even color except that I have a buff silkie hen in with the nicer ameraucana roo, a silkie mix, a cornish and a cornish mix in with my other wheaten roo, and a silkie mix, a frizzle and two silkies in with my pure silkie roo. My trio of black ameraucanas are together, my trio of silver penciled rocks are together, and I have a trio of silkies together. The funniest thing is my best layers are my silkies! I even had one start laying last week she was hatched early spring of 2015 and has already laid five eggs!

 

[Sylvester017]

for thenmost part I separate my chickens by breed and even color except that I have a buff silkie hen in with the nicer ameraucana roo, a silkie mix, a cornish and a cornish mix in with my other wheaten roo, and a silkie mix, a frizzle and two silkies in with my pure silkie roo. My trio of black ameraucanas are together, my trio of silver penciled rocks are together, and I have a trio of silkies together. The funniest thing is my best layers are my silkies! I even had one start laying last week she was hatched early spring of 2015 and has already laid five eggs!

If I had known Silkies were such good layers and decent size eggs too, I might never have bothered with LF egg-layers added to our backyard flock. For all their broodiness our older Silkies out-produced our younger Ameraucana 2 years in a row! Even our Marans was a duddy layer. If eggs is all anyone wants our White Leghorn gave us 6-7 eggs/wk first year, 5-6 eggs/wk 2nd year, and 4-5 eggs/wk 3rd year. Other varieties of Leghorns are not as prolific. Our Buff Leghorn pullet not only layed smaller eggs, she only layed about 4 /wk and was prone to broodiness. Leghorns are assertive so I don't recommend them in a gentle flock.

But you're right about those Silkies. I never expected the little buggers to be so cute AND be good layers!

 

[cgmaster]

If I had known Silkies were such good layers and decent size eggs too, I might never have bothered with LF egg-layers added to our backyard flock.  For all their broodiness our older Silkies out-produced our younger Ameraucana 2 years in a row!  Even our Marans was a duddy layer.  If eggs is all anyone wants our White Leghorn gave us 6-7 eggs/wk first year, 5-6 eggs/wk 2nd year, and 4-5 eggs/wk 3rd year.  Other varieties of Leghorns are not as prolific.  Our Buff Leghorn pullet not only layed smaller eggs, she only layed about 4 /wk and was prone to broodiness.  Leghorns are assertive so I don't recommend them in a gentle flock.

But you're right about those Silkies.  I never expected the little buggers to be so cute AND be good layers!

plus our bantam silkies are not much smaller than the lf in Europe... I do love my ameraucanas though and I have the space to have my 20 plus chickens to have some duddy layers, they are first and foremost pets

 

[Saris]

This boy has barring on the red parts right?

The one in back is barred or penciled? Does pencilling show in a chick?

 

[junebuggena]

This boy has barring on the red parts right?



The one in back is barred or penciled? Does pencilling show in a chick?

None of your birds have barring, and none are Ameraucana. You have Easter Eggers.
This is what barring looks like. This boy is an Easter Egger/Barred Rock mix.

 

[Saris]

None of your birds have barring, and none are Ameraucana. You have Easter Eggers. This is what barring looks like. This boy is an Easter Egger/Barred Rock mix.

I know they are EE, I have chicks from them with a head dot and was curious if barring could be hidden.

 

[junebuggena]

I know they are EE, I have chicks from them with a head dot and was curious if barring could be hidden.

It's not a gene that hides easily. It's a dominant pattern gene. If it's present, even just a single copy, it will express. The only genes that I know of that cover barring completely are dominant or recessive white.

 

[Sylvester017]

I know they are EE, I have chicks from them with a head dot and was curious if barring could be hidden.

If a chick has a head-dot for barring it's not something that would stay "hidden." BTW pretty birds! Isn't it amazing how precariously Ameraucanas and EEs can grasp and sit on narrow perches and fences? My Amer (my avatar) can sit on top of a 2-foot tall thin rabbit fence wire and balance herself. Why she does it beats me but that's Ameraucanas for you. They are so amazingly different from other breeds of chickens. We made a list one day for fun about all the things that make them amazing and different from other chickens. They truly are a different bird. Just wish the blue-egg gene produced more reliable production layers.

 

[Miss Ameraucana]

If a chick has a head-dot for barring it's not something that would stay "hidden."  BTW pretty birds!  Isn't it amazing how precariously Ameraucanas and EEs can grasp and sit on narrow perches and fences?  My Amer (my avatar) can sit on top of a 2-foot tall thin rabbit fence wire and balance herself.  Why she does it beats me but that's Ameraucanas for you.  They are so amazingly different from other breeds of chickens.  We made a list one day for fun about all the things that make them amazing and different from other chickens.  They truly are a different bird.  Just wish the blue-egg gene produced more reliable production layers.

If I could ask what have you noticed on the differences that make them amazing and so different?:

 

[Saris]

If a chick has a head-dot for barring it's not something that would stay "hidden."  BTW pretty birds!  Isn't it amazing how precariously Ameraucanas and EEs can grasp and sit on narrow perches and fences?  My Amer (my avatar) can sit on top of a 2-foot tall thin rabbit fence wire and balance herself.  Why she does it beats me but that's Ameraucanas for you.  They are so amazingly different from other breeds of chickens.  We made a list one day for fun about all the things that make them amazing and different from other chickens.  They truly are a different bird.  Just wish the blue-egg gene produced more reliable production layers.

It's not a gene that hides easily. It's a dominant pattern gene. If it's present, even just a single copy, it will express. The only genes that I know of that cover barring completely are dominant or recessive white.

So if it has a head dot it is definitely barred? Or can head dots show up without having the barring genes?