Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds
- Thread starter hcammack
- Start date
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Can't you edit the entry yourself? I've never had occasion to edit a Wikipedia entry, but I thought that was the whole idea.
Can't you edit the entry yourself? I've never had occasion to edit a Wikipedia entry, but I thought that was the whole idea.
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there's a buff hen sitting on a nest...
there's a buff hen sitting on a nest...
I just collected 2 beautiful blue eggs from my Blue Wheaten girls!
I'm putting them in the incubator tonight before I go to bed.
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there's a buff hen sitting on a nest...
Look at it again.
Blue in the neck, the back, AND tail.
Ooooooooo, when I clicked on the pic and blew it up I could see it....yeah, that IS bad. You should put on a pic of what a REAL buff Ameraucana looks like!!
there's a buff hen sitting on a nest...
Look at it again.
Ooooooooo, when I clicked on the pic and blew it up I could see it....yeah, that IS bad. You should put on a pic of what a REAL buff Ameraucana looks like!!
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Hi BNF, I won't purport that I can state what is "the best practice" but I can tell you what works for me and why.
If I were you I would create at least two lines from the two roosters. Ideally they would not be directly related but if that's all you have then go with that. From there put each of your hens under each rooster. You must make sure the hens are cleaned out first, that the roosters are in separate pens, and then wait at least three weeks - check for infertility - and then swap the hens under the other roosters. If your hens are from different lines than each other, additional lines can be created there as well.
If you keep both roos in with all the hens, you have no way of knowing who is throwing what in the short term. You may be able to still achieve the same results by flock mating but you will have to continue to raise a lot of chicks each year, cull down to a half dozen or so of the best each year, and then repeat the process for many subsequent years.
By line breeding as I have described above, you can very quickly not only determine what you have to work on but by keeping meticulous, detailed records, you will be able to identify who is doing what.
I would strongly recommend toe punching your chicks according to your breeding pens. To do this, take pen & paper and make a Breeding Plan. It can be as simple as this:
Pen #1 Pen #2
Rooster #1 Rooster #2
All 5 hens All 5 hens
Then as you collect your eggs each day from your pens, write the number of the pen on the eggs. Keep the above for your records. Toe punch the chicks as they hatch according to the number on the egg (or the pen they came from in other words). You will need to find a way to keep the eggs separated in the incubator should you hatch from both pens at the same time.
Now if you really want to go to town, you could create 10 different lines by making a pen for each of your 5 hens with each of your males. That would help you identify any problems even that much faster. This is assuming you don't know whether they are full blood sisters or not. This would be a lot more work the first year but you could easily get right back to 2 different lines the next year. For example let's say that you number each of your hens 1-5 and put them under your #1 rooster. Then you wind up getting some really green eggs from pullets that are toe-punched 3 & 4. Well, if numbers 1, 2, & 5 aren't throwing green eggs then you know it must be coming from your #3 & #4 hens. See what I mean? So then you can just cull all your #3 & #4 lines and you're back to three lines with 1, 2, & 5. Then you repeat the process with your #2 rooster.
I hope that helps. If I've totally confused you (you wouldn't be the first as I often don't make myself very well understood!
), you're welcome to call me if you'd like. Just send me an email and I'll send you my phone number.
(P.S. As a side note, if you (or others) don't get the Poultry Press, I highly encourage you to do so. Not only is thee a $5 coupon for Purina feeds in each issue - which in itself pays for the PP and more) but the last several issues have contaiined excerpts from Kenny Troiano's book about breeding purebred poultry. Either the December or January issue I think went into the pro's and con's of the various breeding methods. His articles are for OEG's but the principles of breeding are still the same. )
God Bless,
Hi BNF, I won't purport that I can state what is "the best practice" but I can tell you what works for me and why.
If I were you I would create at least two lines from the two roosters. Ideally they would not be directly related but if that's all you have then go with that. From there put each of your hens under each rooster. You must make sure the hens are cleaned out first, that the roosters are in separate pens, and then wait at least three weeks - check for infertility - and then swap the hens under the other roosters. If your hens are from different lines than each other, additional lines can be created there as well.
If you keep both roos in with all the hens, you have no way of knowing who is throwing what in the short term. You may be able to still achieve the same results by flock mating but you will have to continue to raise a lot of chicks each year, cull down to a half dozen or so of the best each year, and then repeat the process for many subsequent years.
By line breeding as I have described above, you can very quickly not only determine what you have to work on but by keeping meticulous, detailed records, you will be able to identify who is doing what.
I would strongly recommend toe punching your chicks according to your breeding pens. To do this, take pen & paper and make a Breeding Plan. It can be as simple as this:
Pen #1 Pen #2
Rooster #1 Rooster #2
All 5 hens All 5 hens
Then as you collect your eggs each day from your pens, write the number of the pen on the eggs. Keep the above for your records. Toe punch the chicks as they hatch according to the number on the egg (or the pen they came from in other words). You will need to find a way to keep the eggs separated in the incubator should you hatch from both pens at the same time.
Now if you really want to go to town, you could create 10 different lines by making a pen for each of your 5 hens with each of your males. That would help you identify any problems even that much faster. This is assuming you don't know whether they are full blood sisters or not. This would be a lot more work the first year but you could easily get right back to 2 different lines the next year. For example let's say that you number each of your hens 1-5 and put them under your #1 rooster. Then you wind up getting some really green eggs from pullets that are toe-punched 3 & 4. Well, if numbers 1, 2, & 5 aren't throwing green eggs then you know it must be coming from your #3 & #4 hens. See what I mean? So then you can just cull all your #3 & #4 lines and you're back to three lines with 1, 2, & 5. Then you repeat the process with your #2 rooster.
I hope that helps. If I've totally confused you (you wouldn't be the first as I often don't make myself very well understood!
(P.S. As a side note, if you (or others) don't get the Poultry Press, I highly encourage you to do so. Not only is thee a $5 coupon for Purina feeds in each issue - which in itself pays for the PP and more) but the last several issues have contaiined excerpts from Kenny Troiano's book about breeding purebred poultry. Either the December or January issue I think went into the pro's and con's of the various breeding methods. His articles are for OEG's but the principles of breeding are still the same. )
God Bless,
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If you are small time like me and use a Genesis 1588, I have personally found that large suet cages available at Lowe's and garden supply stores are perfect for this. I can fit three and actually add another separation by placing eggs around the three inside one incubator. One cage holds 9 ameraucana eggs comfortably.
edited for spelling
If you are small time like me and use a Genesis 1588, I have personally found that large suet cages available at Lowe's and garden supply stores are perfect for this. I can fit three and actually add another separation by placing eggs around the three inside one incubator. One cage holds 9 ameraucana eggs comfortably.
edited for spelling
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This probably isn't the best image; but you get the idea.
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