Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Illia]

I'd love to show off my Am project, but, they've got a very non-Ameraucana trait on them right now, so I'm waiting first for F2's to show off. Waiting for the girls to lay. . . . . Any day now. .



Update on the feather-shanked BuffxWheatens, maybe they are indeed not pure Ameraucana. . . Starting to feather out like pure Wheatens.

I know it sounds weird or irresponsible but I honestly really do hope the Blue Wheaten Marans boy did somehow jump into the scene, and I'm looking at Olive Eggers here. . . .

 

[Goose and Fig]

Illia I hope you have olive eggers too! I want to see somebody have success in the buffs.

Speaking of marans- I had a bunch of blue copper chicks that I ordered last year. Ended up with enough girls that I gave one to a friend that had been longing for dark eggs. She lays green eggs! Single comb and all. All her sisters lay dark- go figure!

 

[chickee]

Did someone say green eggs? One of my girls just started laying. I'll say she is a great producer. She has laid an egg every other day since she started laying

The buffs need LOTS of improvement in the egg color department

 

[Illia]

Oh my, not even my Buff hen is that green of a layer! That's like an F1 OE or something.


Still, beautiful girl!

My Buff is thankfully molting. She looked horrible and now looks even worse, but, a month later or two she should be in top condition.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote:
Oh she's so cute! I would LOVE to see a buff girl here- even if she laid white eggs! But the green layer I was talking about was a marans- hth did that happen?

 

[BarnGoddess01]

If one is looking to improve their B/B/S Ameraucana stock a bit at a time, should the priority be on egg colour (currently green rather than blue) or bird quality/size? (I've found a source for hatching eggs from some VERY nice show quality B/B/S Ameraucanas that have tremendous size (and quality) but egg colour is still green. He admits that frustrates him as well.) My current birds are quite respectable but SMALL and green eggs.

Opinions .... ???

 

[Illia]

Two questions -


What is your flock lacking?


Why not go for both?

I know someone who has some very nice BBS birds, good body AND egg color, their only issue is the beard/muffs thing which with strict attention and culling can get rid of it in 1 generation.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
I believe my flock is lacking size and egg colour. Mine have FABULOUS muffs and beards, good shape, good colour, good leg and eye colour. My boys tend to carry their wings low like bantams. And they are perhaps a bit too high in the front. Sort of \\ but not a huge problem. To my eyes, my birds are sort of between bantams and large fowl. They are still young - only 23 weeks - so perhaps I'm jumping the gun?

The issue with not going for both is geography. I'm in Canada. I've found a source for some great birds in every way - but their egg colour is like mine - green. Importing eggs is possible but expensive and complicated - unless I pick them up - which is not out of the question. So I'm putting the questions out there and hoping that perhaps a debate will ensue!!

I guess the other question I should be asking - how will I achieve blue eggs if I follow this course?

 

[Tailfeathers]

Quote:
Your question can only really be answered by you but I will try to help. The reason I say that is because it is up to each breeder to determine their priorities. Do you plan to show? If not, then you mostly likely don't care about the APA Standards. Why do you have your birds? To sell some extra eggs? If so, then why worry about egg color?

I will assume that you desire to show or at least desire to get as close to the SOP as you can. Therefore, my advice would be to pick one or two SOP traits at most that you wish to improve upon. You may find, that by working on one or two traits at a time, the egg color will be improved along the way. Get those traits locked down tight and then you can move on to another trait or two.

Lastly, I would only add that meticulous record keeping is a must if you want to reduce your work to something other than chance and want to expedite your progress.

Hope that helps.

God Bless,

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Can I get some opinions on my bantam splash cockerel? He was a super late bloomer, and had me convinced he was a she until he was nearly 5 months old. He's almost 7 months old now....I mostly think I like him, but sometimes I look at him and there is something nagging me about him that I don't like, I don't know, maybe I'm just not used to looking at splash colored birds.... I know his legs are too long, but other than that, what do you all see????

This was him about 4-5 weeks ago...

And these are today...