Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Goose and Fig]

Nah- don't stress about it too much. You have a nice big group to start with. Way easier that getting a couple here and there. I wish it would have been that way for me with my wheatens!

 

[DMRippy]

Got my APA SOP today!

 

[Christie Rhae]

Got my APA SOP today!

 

[TAMMACLEAN]

There are quite a few ameraucana people in Maine- you sure you have EEs? Can't tell from those pics other than its a little roo.

They were unfortunately Ebay eggs.

 

[AinaWGSD]

I wouldn't stress about it too much. Other than the one cockerel, none of the others look like EE to me. Given that he is so different from all the rest, I would suspect an honest mistake or a fence-jumping roo was involved. The rest all appear to have the correct combs and leg color (there were two that looked like maybe they might have green-ish legs, but it could have just been the lighting as none of them were clearly green/willow). When you start out, you should always buy the best birds you can afford but everyone has to start somewhere and it makes sense to work with what you've got. At worst, you cull down the cockerels and any pullets with serious faults and see what you get. If you get a bunch of chicks with poor combs or yellow skin then you can always choose to cull the whole flock next year and start over again with different stock.

 

[rbaker0345]

I just caught the part about the green legs. Is that how you tell the difference between EEs and Ameracaunas? Besides the other obvious traits, that is.

 

[Kibi78704]

Got my APA SOP today!

Congratulations! Now all you have to do is memorize it.

 

[Kibi78704]

I wouldn't stress about it too much. Other than the one cockerel, none of the others look like EE to me. Given that he is so different from all the rest, I would suspect an honest mistake or a fence-jumping roo was involved. The rest all appear to have the correct combs and leg color (there were two that looked like maybe they might have green-ish legs, but it could have just been the lighting as none of them were clearly green/willow). When you start out, you should always buy the best birds you can afford but everyone has to start somewhere and it makes sense to work with what you've got. At worst, you cull down the cockerels and any pullets with serious faults and see what you get. If you get a bunch of chicks with poor combs or yellow skin then you can always choose to cull the whole flock next year and start over again with different stock.

From the first, I've suspected a fence jumper, but I never could figure out what breed his daddy could have been given the breeds Whitmore posts. Until recently, he's always been the biggest, or second largest. I looked closely at him today, and I think his legs are actually white, not yellow. Anyway, much as I love him, he's going into the stew pot soon.
I researched where to get my base flock for a very long time - Whitmore looked the best to me for what I could afford. To my newbie eye, they look pretty good in general, Boychik excluded - except the majority of them seem to carry their tails low, straight, but low. Their sickles haven't come in, so it's a bit hard to be sure.
My SOP should be here any day now. That'll help me identify serious flaws because I'm just not seeing them yet - maybe because there are just so many in the flock.

BTW - Thanks, everyone, for your advice! I'm really glad to have found this thread.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I wonder if he's an olive egger. They have wonderful wellies. I have used them several times to make OEs .

 

[Lrkel]

What do you guys make of this? The chick on the bottom has down that looks white to me. The top one is for comparison. The other chicks are a yellow shade just a bit lighter than the top one. My last batch of W/BW chicks were all yellow a bit lighter than the top chick.