Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[MrsBachbach]

Thank-you. The two pullets in the center of the group are out of MrsBachbach's eggs. The hen in the front is one of mine that is Paul Smith x Pips&Peeps breeding. The 2 roosters are Smith/Pips&Peeps x Cree.

Thank-you. Good luck with getting your BW rooster.

Yes, you have been hit harder than us this year! But it is good for the drought at least! My chickens are SO muddy from all the rain!

Thanks, that is my special girl from your eggs. She sure is a beauty!! Need to get her in with my best BW rooster, the full brother to the hen in the picture out free ranging. Then that hen will go in with one of your super handsome wheaten boys! Can't wait to hatch some chicks!!

I'm getting excited too! I may have to get some of the eggs from that breeding from you! You have a good selection of males to chose from.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I have a general question about Ameraucanas. From what I learned years ago before they were so popular, shanks were supposed to be slate, but now I am seeing photos of both chicks and adults with willow, yellow, and washed out slate on Ameraucanas as well as slate. What is "allowable", in other words where would you draw the line on selecting the birds to keep rather than cull? I only have one bird with true slate shanks and she is an Easter Egger, and one with willow shanks and she is a buff Ameraucana that laid clear blue eggs (she's about five years old and pretty much retired now). I will be getting some hatching eggs from nice birds this year but want to know which should be penned with Ams and which should go off to the EE pen.

Junebug is right, willow is because of yellow skin. I know the wheaten/bluewheaten variety do not hatch out with slate legs. You have to wait several months to see the final color of slate they will have. That is why you are seeing orange looking legs on the photo gallery page. I can't speak for silvers, as I haven't raised them or any of the other colors except BBS. I know in blacks you can have either a black shank or a dark slate shank. Chicks leg color goes through several different changes, so I wouldn't be too quick to cull chicks on their leg color. Check the soles of their feet at hatch for skin color...could see white, pink and sometimes you see a bit of gray down there in the BBS variety, but you don't want to see yellow soles. I've also read the feed can sometimes turn them a little yellow because of a certain ingredient, so, that's why I would check them right out of the incubator, don't wait a week
You just have to wait on the wheaten/bluewheaten variety As far as that male wheaten in the picture, I think you are seeing some pink or red on the backside of the shank I've seen that many times in mature males, even in the black and blue varieties. There seem to be less scaling in the back of the leg so the blood/flesh tones are more obvious I think

 

[samouw]

Hi

The wheaten pullet, also shown below, doesn't have willow legs, but the shadow on her back leg may make it look that way on your monitor. If you look at her front leg, it is slate. That pullet is only 8 weeks old in that picture.

Wheatens and blue wheatens have the lightest colors shanks when they are young and they darken as they grow older. Depending on the age at the time the picture was taking, it can range anywhere from the a lighter slate, almost pinkish cast when very young, to the full slate. In my five years of raising wheatens and blue wheatens, I've yet to see one with the really dark shanks of, say, the whites.

 

[WalnutHill]

Quote:
Thank you, that is very helpful to know about the sole color. I send off a lot of chicks at day old to week old as Easter Eggers and I will add sole color to my decision tree. So far I have been grading by shank color and will remove that check.

I looked back at baby pics of the pullet I illustrated with the dark shanks. Would those be classed as slate, or would they be considered black? Her feet were dark when she hatched.

 

[greenleaf]

My question is what makes an Ameraucana an Ameraucana?

http://AmeraucanaAlliance.org/faq.html#Seven
"...even if a bird meets an Ameraucana standard breed description, but doesn’t meet a variety description or breed true at least 50% of the time it is considered an Easter Egg chicken."
http://AmeraucanaAlliance.org/faq.html#One
So, it is an Ameraucana when it meets the standard breed description AND meets a variety description or breeds true at least 50% of the time, whether the variety is recognized or not.

 

[Red Banks]

I got a surprise this morning. My pullets have been laying. I went out to pick up the eggs and I found this tiny little egg. The Self Blue that layed it seemed very proud of herself.

 

[WalnutHill]

Quote:
Thank you very much!

 

[chickee]

I'm getting excited too! I may have to get some of the eggs from that breeding from you! You have a good selection of males to chose from.

I would be happy to send you eggs.

So far the chicks from my test hatch are looking good. I need to get the person who has them send updated pictures. Out of the 3 she ended up with two cockerels and one pullet.

 

[MrsBachbach]

Thank you, that is very helpful to know about the sole color. I send off a lot of chicks at day old to week old as Easter Eggers and I will add sole color to my decision tree. So far I have been grading by shank color and will remove that check.

I looked back at baby pics of the pullet I illustrated with the dark shanks. Would those be classed as slate, or would they be considered black? Her feet were dark when she hatched.

It looks like a dark slate to me.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I would be happy to send you eggs.

So far the chicks from my test hatch are looking good. I need to get the person who has them send updated pictures. Out of the 3 she ended up with two cockerels and one pullet.

It will be still some time before I start hatching, so no hurry at this time