Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[scflock]

I I am a very happy chicken Mama today. I was just given back one of my early fall hatchlings because my friend had too many roos and I needed a black one. This is the second generation of the chicks that I got from Paul Smith two years ago. My pictures aren't great as he is in a temp coop until he settles down and I figure where I am going to put him as I currently have only three pens and there is a rooster in each one with three in the general laying flock. I think he is gorgeous, but I'm the Mom. Please give me your thoughts.

Beautiful. Nice shape and sheen. I like the more medium size comb on the Smith birds

 

[dstokely]

My blue group. The roo is the best I had out of 3 and I think his tail may be set too high, but I don't show but I do want good quality birds. These are also PSmith birds.

 

[scflock]

My blue group. The roo is the best I had out of 3 and I think his tail may be set too high, but I don't show but I do want good quality birds. These are also PSmith birds.

That second blue is gorgeous I only have one with lacing that good. I set my pens up to purposely throw a lot of blues, with one parent being black. Do you know what pairing gave you that girl?

 

[bruceha2000]

This is why: (Courtesy of bruceha)

"I lived in SC (hah, take THAT scflock!) for the first (51) years, then I moved away from the overpopulation

There were ~.5M in Los Angeles county when my grandparents moved there (3 from Spain), 5M when I was born, 7.4M people when I left in 1979. There are over 10M now. Better "you" than "me"

"

I think there was 17 million in the LA metro area when I left, needed more space and a slower pace. But California will always be my home state.

It's a gorgeous day in New Mexico as well today! Probably need to live here another 400 years to be considered a New Mexican though.

Given you used the "greater LA area" numbers and 17M (interpolating) was around 2005 (a whacking 18.5 in 2014) I'm guessing you have been in NM for about 10 years and are about my age

Vermont is the same as NM with regard to "native". The numbers vary but anywhere from 4 generations (BOTH SIDES) and higher born in Vermont. My kids aren't woodchucks because I wasn't born here. But even if I went back to the 1700s (I do have dead people in Putney from back then) they wouldn't be woodchucks. My wife was born here, her father goes back probably at least 4 generations but her mother was born in Staten Island to Swiss Immigrants.

That's good you are happy with them but bottom line, that's not what you were led to believe you were buying. What can we do to eliminate the confusion? Is there anything AA or ABC can do at the hatchery level? It's like the hatcheries are embarrassed to call them what they are EEs and try to capture the allure of a rare breed when they as common as a leghorn. Most of the hatcheries produce beautiful EEs with great variety. They don't need to hide behind smoke and mirrors. They call OEs OEs, let's work on getting them to call EEs EEs.

Yep, I was floored when Ideal answered my inquiry "are they TRUE Ameraucana" back in 2012. The answer was "Yes, because there is no EE breed"

I already knew better, heck you can tell just by looking at the pictures, they weren't even the right color for SOP.

Get a grip you big commercial hatcheries! I LIKE my surviving EE and got 3 more from Meyer last spring. Heck, Meyer could sell any "off" Blue Ameraucanas as EEs (which for some reason they include in the "rare breed" group. Maybe because they don't have a "tinted egg layer" section.

 

[dstokely]

That second blue is gorgeous

I only have one with lacing that good. I set my pens up to purposely throw a lot of blues, with one parent being black. Do you know what pairing gave you that girl?

No, they came from Paul. I think she is much prettier than the other one. I have not seen their babies after they were a couple days old, so I do not know what they look like either. This year, I plan to be a little more attentive to see what pairing gives me what. I know I am going to use my new black roo, but I am unsure as to the pairing. I have two black hens, three splash hens and two blue. I am thinking that I will take at least one of the black hens to go with my lavender hen and roo so I can start working on a larger lavender population. I have only one lav hen and lave roo.

 

[dstokely]

Here's a couple of today's pics of my black rooster. I think Susan was right, he's growing into quite a beautiful bird

His tail isn't quite as ruffled as it appears. There's a pretty stiff breeze blowing across him from behind in the second picture

I hope mine is as pretty when he grows up.

 

[FridayYet]

Given you used the "greater LA area" numbers and 17M (interpolating) was around 2005 (a whacking 18.5 in 2014) I'm guessing you have been in NM for about 10 years and are about my age

Vermont is the same as NM with regard to "native". The numbers vary but anywhere from 4 generations (BOTH SIDES) and higher born in Vermont. My kids aren't woodchucks because I wasn't born here. But even if I went back to the 1700s (I do have dead people in Putney from back then) they wouldn't be woodchucks. My wife was born here, her father goes back probably at least 4 generations but her mother was born in Staten Island to Swiss Immigrants.

Actually I've only been in NM for a little over a year. Should have said 18.5 million - must have had the older number stuck in my head. .

 

[FowlStuff]

May I ask what you use as a disinfectant for the eggs and the time to dry before setting in the incubator? Thank you in advance!

Yes. I use Tek-Trol diluted with water in a spray bottle, just before putting the eggs in the setters.

 

[Percheron chick]

Numbers help. Is there a game plan for the general backyard chicken keeping public not associated with the breed groups? FB, Twitter...? BYC could be a valuable voice.

 

[goldie1234]

My BBS girls are around 26 weeks. They just started squatting. How long do you think it will be?
I have a rooster from the same group.
I would like to put him with the hens and hatch a few. At what point will he be able to fertilize?