Yep! He has his girls (how many?) so he has something to crow about! After all, they like him! So how are those those little first generation of scflockers coming along? How many did u say u set?
You know that other life I was talking about? Here's how it works:
FB isn't real. Don't lose sleep over the Internet
The whole reason the frogs built a new house was because of the evil witch who put too much energy into being mad at things posted online. Life is too short.
If it's a production layer you're looking for, it's best to go with the Leghorn or one of the hybrid production layers (Isa Brown, Sex Link, et al). The Breda is also another breed you may find yourself disappointed in as they are not a production layer.
As far as hardiness in the Ameraucana breed, I have to emphatically disagree with you. I have a 10 yr old and an almost 7 yr old White AMs which were both hatched and raised here. My AMs are much easier to keep than my English Orps or my Marans, and like my NNs I pretty much just provide feed and fresh water for them. I have a Black cock that is so friendly he will come in the house if anyone forgets to close the back door and make himself at home. Several of my AM hens will jump up on one's lap and fall asleep and they do enjoy being petted. I believe the breeding lines make a big difference on friendliness and health.
Hello - production layer is not specifically what I was looking for but I certainly would still like SOME eggs -- the Ameraucana completely quit laying after her 2nd year. I have two gentle Silkies and have had too many LF egg-layer and dual purpose breeds that terrorized the Silkies so I was done with bully production birds. I love Legs and had 3 of them but had to rehome all of them plus the bully Cuckoo Marans. Lost all my beautiful production layers because DH wanted to keep his Silkies which BTW really aren't bad layers when they're not broody. That's why we went with Ameraucanas in different varieties from different breeders because of the pretty blue eggs and because the Amers are such sweet timid birds around other chickens, especially our Silkies. However, out of 3 Amers, 2 died, and our 1 survivor quit laying eggs her 2nd year. Our friends had a similar result with 1 Amer and 1 EE out of 3 EEs not laying their 2nd year. Since they and we got our birds from different sources we couldn't blame our low production on a bad line or a specific variety and figured it was just the blue-egg genetics that were iffy - Ameraucanas, Araucanas, Cream Legbars, EEs, Favaucanas, Isbars, Olive Eggers, etc. We got tired of coming up with excuses for the flukey luck we had with poor hardiness and iffy eggs. A Farmers' Mkt seller said that most of her EEs headed for the freezer their 2nd year because of low or no production and she couldn't afford to feed deadbeat layers - however, she really liked her gentle NNs.
Because we have a couple Silkies we had to have 5-lb-&-under LF with good temperaments to add to our flock so egg production took a 2nd seat behind our priority for a gentle breeds flock. Our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana is a dud at laying (only 3 eggs her 2nd year) but she is so incredibly submissive to all the birds in the flock that we don't have the heart to re-home her where she would most likely get picked on so we kept her. A Buff Leg was so mean to the Silkies and the Amer by chasing them, pulling out their crests/muffs/feathered toes so she was re-homed. With only 3 gentle birds left (2 Silkies, 1 Amer) I went on a search for another gentle or timid bird (Brahma, Breda, Cochin, Dominique, Faverolles, Houdan, Polish, Naked Neck, Sultan, Sussex, etc) but most of the gentle giants were just too heavy to have around 2-lb Silkies or around a very timid submissive Ameraucana.
I had a lighter-weight Dom before and almost decided on one again when more breeders were posting good comments about the Breda that appealed to me. I was skeptical so I took several months of concerted effort to learn all I could about the Breda. The most important was that like the Doms, Bredas were outgoing unafraid curious human-friendly, flock-friendly non-combative birds. I figured after all the fiascos I had with dual-purpose and egg-layer LFs it couldn't hurt to try a light-weight 4-lb non-combative Breda to add to the flock. She is a year old, she's laying 4 to 5 medium bright white eggs per week, and she is by far the friendliest, most energetic, outgoing, peaceable flockmate, we ever had. And best yet! -- Even the timid Ameraucana doesn't mind being around her! One of the gentle Silkies is her constant companion as they forage together. Our visitors get a kick out of her jumping up on the bench next to them and allow petting and chit-chat without needing a treat as a bribe to sit with them. This is an amazingly outgoing unafraid breed. Hey, the Blue Breda was a complete and pleasant surprise to us!
Blue Breda pullet 12-mo-old
During treats time our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana would never stand this close in a group of the mean bully LFs we had before.
Here is both the timid Ameraucana and Blue Breda vying for the same tidbit at the same time. This was such a breakthrough for us to see the Amer finally not afraid to be in a group of flockmates.
So nice to see the timid Ameraucana comfortable to be around the gentle Breda.
The Breda is a good flockmate toodling around with her favorite Black Silkie companion.
Our first Breda egg which she is now laying nearly 2-oz eggs at 4-5 eggs/wk
Breda, Silkie, and Silkie fart egg LOL
No, we are not disappointed in our choice of a Breda around our timid Ameraucana. The Breda is definitely not a disappointment in the production area either. No, she's not an egg-laying machine like a Leghorn, but getting 1 or 2 eggs less a week than a Leghorn is not a bad price to pay for having a better-natured breed in our flock of gentles. We hit jackpot for our goal of gentles!
Quote:
You must have just had bad stock. I've had nice Ams as well as half Am EEs that lay blue or aqua eggs and have great production, 5-6 eggs a week even through Michigan winter. In fact, my EEs are laying better than my production reds right now, and the eggs are very easy to distinguish. Isn't there a Breda forum you could brag up about your girls? I came here to read about SOP Ams.
You must have just had bad stock. I've had nice Ams as well as half Am EEs that lay blue or aqua eggs and have great production, 5-6 eggs a week even through Michigan winter. In fact, my EEs are laying better than my production reds right now, and the eggs are very easy to distinguish. Isn't there a Breda forum you could brag up about your girls? I came here to read about SOP Ams.
Not to mention, Sylvester, your sample size is WAY too small to come to a sweeping conclusion that ALL blue egg layers are poor producers. I've got a EE laying 3-4 eggs a week as a 3 year old. Statistically speaking, it would appear that your experience was an outlier.
I suppose it's kinda like a respect thing. Obviously everyone on here has a passion and love for Ameraucanas. This thread was created for that sole reason, posting pics..& talking about our birds...because we love them! Its kinda like if you raised, let's say Quarter horses & I raised Appaloosas..and then you started slamming the Appaloosas..cause maby you had a bad experience. Well, I could give you a 100 reasons why I would rather be on the back of an App.than the back of a quarter horse. I happen to love all horses! Yes, I prefer Appaloosas over QHs. But QH are an amazing horse. That's just an example! I would never run down someone else's animal.
Don't come on this thread and mention any breeder's names in a negative light.when you start running down this gentle & beautiful breed it hurts people's feelings, but when you start slamming breeders you know nothing about that's just RUDE! These are people who have poured their life work into improving this wonderful breed. These serious breeders are nice, kind, & gentle people. Always willing to answer questions. Always with class!
Why did I put my 2 cents in? Because I can! And because I really dont like what you did.
Oh, & other than 1 other story I hear Ameraucanas are excellent layers! And Paul Smith (thats the name you were throwing around)is one of the best breeders in the world of Ameraucanas.
Sorry dude, but I had to call a spade a spade.
Sylvester, I'm sorry you've had such a rough time with your birds, but you keep re-posting this same information over and over. We get it - you don't like Ameraucanas for production birds, and now you've found something "sweet friendlier calmer outgoing". So why keep posting? Why are you still even in the Ameraucana group if you're not looking to buy anymore, you're not trying to breed them or show them, in fact, at this point, you really only want to put them down.
If I've been repetitive I've only been answering the posts that asked me questions or I had questions. I keep hoping someone will come up with an explanation or something I may not have thought of as a fix. I have no intention of "putting down" any bird unless it is vet recommended. I really do love my only Ameraucana but how can some people have hardy birds, have good layers, or at least decent layers and we here in the SoCal SGV don't have any luck with them. I know Am's hate the heat and seem to have fun on cooler or rainy days because mine pants like crazy in humid weather which unfortunately we had for several weeks. Now that it's been cooler and even raining she's been out and about but her comb shows no sign of deepening. Is that a sign she'll never lay again? She layed through winter before so I'm stumped. I've also been posting what breeds seem to be a good match in the flock for the Amer since not all LF are good flock matches with our timid Am as we found out having her with some other assertive LF breeds. I hoped my experience would help others who may have had or have a similar dilemma and that's what posting is all about - sharing - I thought. This thread is entitled "Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds" -- so I'm discussing
. Sorry you were ruffled as it's never predictable what emotions are evoked from people who read someone else's posts. I was hoping to get some encouragement or get a handle on some constructive feedback that I might have missed somewhere along the way.
