Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Goose and Fig]

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Awwww baby wheaties!!!!!

Nah- those feathers are not indicative of gender. Have to wait 3- 4 weeks for those solid dark feathers to come in. Especially on the back of the neck in boys- pull them back to make sure they aren't just ginger. If they are black or blue then you have a boy. Splash wheaten roos can take a while to recognize.

 

[Roosterfry]

Baby wheatens are cute little ones. It's funny how they go from solid yellow to being as colorful as they are as adults

 

[bantiehen]

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Here's Skye again

Still looking pretty rough around the edges sorry about the light lol

Would it be alright if I posted my Ameraucana x Cochin cross pullet??

 

[Ivywoods]

I have a question for experienced breeders. I am trying to pick out one of my best roosters for a friend who wants him to breed to her lavender pullets. Unfortunately, the one I feel is best also has a large comb that flops over to the side a little. Since she is going to be breeding him to her lavenders, I am wondering how big of an issue the comb is. Since feather quality, type and size is something desirable to add to her lavenders, perhaps the comb is a secondary consideration.

My other two black roosters do not have the floppy comb. Theirs is more of a normal pea comb, however, they do not have quite the size of the other one, and their tail angle appears a little too high to me.

I tried taking pictures today so I could show what I mean, but the pics were so bad it really didn't show what I wanted them to show. (Gee... I don't know why they won't hold still to have their picture taken!)

Anyway.... theoretically... which do you think you would choose to breed to lavender pullets? The large, best type rooster with the goofy comb or the smaller, not so typey roo with a more normal comb?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[Tailfeathers]

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That is good advice and I would add one thing that may be obvious but is often overlooked. Anytime one brings in a bird or birds into their flock from an outside source, unless they have worked closely with that source and have an intimate knowledge of what they're bringing in, they are in all probability bringing in a host of "unknowns" that may actually set their breed back several years.

This is another reason why I advocate for maintaining a closed flock and keeping meticulous records.

God Bless,

 

[SD_Paulo]

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Tell you what, this littel guys were primarily two different shades of yellow. Half were a soft yellow and the other half were more of a burnt yellow color. Also, some had little dots on their heads others didnt have dots. These are just my first W/BW chicks so I guess I am intrigued by their chick down covering. I have even when as far as nail polishing the lighter one for kicks and to see if there was some pattern that developes.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Btw, I forgot to mention, there is a Standard for weight in the SOP. it's 5.5/6.5 pounds for cockerel/cock and 4.5/5.5 pounds for pullet/hen.

I can't imagine the Lavs would be accepted any differently.

God Bless,

 

[DMRippy]

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I think this is a decent example of a nice, tight comb in a lavender juvenile male. His eye color is too light, but he was not old enough in this picture to judge that yet. I just know from my lines that his eye color will be too light by looking right now. There is not a smooth transition at the back going to the tail feathers, giving him a "cotton ball" appearance in front of the tail, which is undesireable. A huge problem in lavs is sloppy tails with skinny, twisted tailfeathers. This specimen has wide flat tailfeathers, which is a plus. Look also and you'll see he does not have a lot of tiny horizontal dark gray to black stripes on his feathers known as "ticking" or "fretting". You want to use birds with the least amount of that. His wing set could be higher, too.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/53919_dsc_0840.jpg


Here is a bad tail. This is hard as heck to breed out. All that dark gray in the middle of his wing feather is fretting, also hard to breed out. From a distance it makes the bird look dirty. What do your females look like? Female quality is important.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/53919_dscn1594b.jpg

That was very helpful, Thank you! Based on this information and looking at picture I took today it is clear to me that I need to keep for sure the Med roo.

They all have that ticking, about the same. He has the best tail and overall best look to me.

Jumbo roo just look like he has twisted tail feathers more... but I would keep him too just for size.

The little roo looks off on the tail and body so I don't think I will worry with him.

Ok.... what color are the eyes supposed to be? Got to do some research.....

The girls.... those are all the pics of the girls I have sorry. I know I have two really good black pullets and I have a Lav pullet that is a sister to the roos. I am going to look over all the Black girls in that pen and pick the biggest and best one I can. I also have a nice black roo and might put him with the Lav pullet to make more lav splits.

Sorry the pic is so bad. The flash was too much and it was just too dark in the shop for a good pic.

The ticking... how do I breed that out? let me guess... breed to blacks..... What causes it? Is there anything I can look for in the Lav Splits to help reduce or eliminate it.

 

[DMRippy]

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Thank you that is helpful too.

 

[Christie Rhae]

Shaffer wrote:

DMRIPPY,
Look at their combs, feathering, tail carriage, coloring and size to decide which two to keep since you always want to keep two roosters incase of the unexpectancies. You will understand that very well if you only keep one and their is an accident and now you have no rooster. Try and buy a good rooster when you need to replace the only one you had that is no longer around. Good luck this season and hatch all your eggs you can since the ratio is generally 1:10 for replacement stock.

I keep thinking about this simple but great advice.
I have a question. What do breeders do with all the chicks from lots of hatches while they are growing big enough to know if they need to be culled? So far I have chicks from hatches that were close together housed together waiting until they are full size and can be either culled or put into the appropriate pen with full grown birds. So I have 4 different pens with chicks at various stages of growing up. I don't consider that I have really hatched a lot of birds yet. I can see my property becoming littered with little grow up pens. lol
Is there another way? Is there another method for keeping chicks till they grow large enough to decided if they are keepers or culls except for separate cages?
I am in the process of building breeding pens but what am I gonna do with all the chicks?? Build the same but for growing up chicks? I might wait till this one is done before I tell my husband I need another...hee hee​