Any one want to join me in waiting for eggs, posting and comparing notes?

[BroosterSpringsteen]

ROFL -- I youtubed chicken egg song and was treated to quite a performance! I will now recognize the egg song but I sincerely hope my girls are quieter -- my neighbors will probably not think it's as cute as I do.

My australorp is squatting, so she may be first. The five I have are all different....besides the australorp and ameraucana, I have a barred rock, a cochin, and silver laced wyandotte. I had a beautiful blue laced red wyandotte but she decided to be a roo instead.



Here they are from a few weeks ago...checking out the patio (and possibly the cat)...actually, they're hoping I'll come out the door with some treats! They know the sound of the sliding door and come running.

Aww, that's cute the way your girls come to the door for treats. Your flock is pretty. Last year I hatched 2 stunning Blue laced red Wyandottes, but they both turned out to be roos I sold them. I'm thinking of hatching some more though. I think that might be the prettiest breed of all.

 

[Melabella]

Not all of my eggs are this colorful. I picked out the prettiest ones for the photo. There's really nothing at all you can do about egg color in a particular chicken. The color on mine vary a little bit day to day. I try to breed for color, since that's my primary interest...having a colorful egg basket. But that can be tricky with EEs, since you don't really know what kind of egg genes an EE roo is carrying.

So, when picking eggs to incubate, do you pick the deepest color or colors you favor to hatch. How many roo's do you have with the girls that lay the beautiful colored eggs? I can only imagine understanding the genetics thing with chickens can get pretty involved. I was keeping up with another thread about breeding, andkeeping lines fresh, and I have got to tell you, some days my head would spin with all the information. Pretty intense stuff.

I would be happy to sell you some hatching eggs any time! It would be fun to watch someone else hatch my girls' eggs! I use a Brinsea. I highly recommend it. I also have a Hovabator, which I don't use as much. My EEs came from multiple places. Some are a mix of chickens I hatched myself, combining my Ameraucanas with other birds, and some were adopted from another farmer. I have no idea where she got them originally, but I imagine they're hatchery stock. She kept insisting they were Ameraucanas, and since she was giving up chickens, I didn't feel the need to get into the whole EE versus Ameraucana argument. I love having EEs. I find them to be far more entertaining than raising a flock of straight pure Ameraucanas. But the way pretty much EVERY hatchery and feed store mislabels the chicks really bugs me a lot.

I'll keep you updated on my hatch. These chicks are for selling, but I may keep 2 or 3 of them. I'm really curious to see the mix between Kenny Rogers and my Blue Ameraucanas.

Yes, I have now learned all that goes into the Ameraucana vs. EE debate. I have a friend who insists her girls are pure Ameraucana, but know that I know the difference, I clearly can see they are EE's. I would love to have a few pure Ameraucana, and if I do go ahead with a second flock, I want at least one. Then I would love some EE's as well. I love the coloring of the EE's, all so varied and different.

I was looking at the Brinsea. I used the Ecoglow when the girls arrived. I loved it. I couldn't risk a heat lamp in the barn with the horses which is where they were. I also loved that there was no light at night. Once the sun went down, they were all tucked under the ecoglow like a blanket. Reminded me of the good ol days when I could put the kids to bed at 7:45pm, and go downstairs and kick up my feet and have a glass of wine with DH, or read a good book. Now it's worrying about three teenage boys, well the oldest in in his 20's, but worrying about them out on the weekends. Two have their license! Ugg.....

MB

 

[Melabella]

ROFL -- I youtubed chicken egg song and was treated to quite a performance! I will now recognize the egg song but I sincerely hope my girls are quieter -- my neighbors will probably not think it's as cute as I do.

My australorp is squatting, so she may be first. The five I have are all different....besides the australorp and ameraucana, I have a barred rock, a cochin, and silver laced wyandotte. I had a beautiful blue laced red wyandotte but she decided to be a roo instead.



Here they are from a few weeks ago...checking out the patio (and possibly the cat)...actually, they're hoping I'll come out the door with some treats! They know the sound of the sliding door and come running.

Oh yes, Brooster just reminded me that I wanted to ask you, did you keep the BLRW roo, or did you re home him? I had a hatchery order where one of my Wyandotte turned out to be a roo as well. To be honest, from these two Columbian Wyandottes, I am not a fan so far. Duke who was originally Maisy, is a huge pain in the ars, and the decision is still out on whether he gets to stay or not, and the pullet CW Daisy, is flighty and quite unfriendly. I handled them all when they were little, extensively, and some are still very stand offish. I do think it is Dukes doing, he keeps them moving along away from me pretty regularly

 

[nakstk]

I know what you mean Kelly. I had no idea that it would be so relaxing to just sit out there and ... be... I love it. So glad that others out there understand Even my Mom has gotten into it. She hated chicken when she was a child and did not like the idea of chickens at all. Now .... what a difference. She loves just sitting out there and watching them, feeding them treats and petting them as well. Who Knew? I find them way more relaxing then when I had fish... OK... I have to try this... I have made an account with Youtube... lets see if if works... This should be video of my Matilda laying one of her many blue eggs. ......

Great video CatSol! But I notice the woods shavings in your best box look a lot like cedar, which can cause respiratory issues in chickens. Love seeing all the egg counts and all the beautiful egg photos. My girls are still taking their own sweet time getting back to laying. Out of 7 chickens I am only getting 3 eggs a day and that not even consistently. I still an 0 and 1 eggs days. They are at 32 eggs so far for the month of February.

 

[debbie_nibbles]

MB Would you look at these pics of my girls. The seller said they were 2 different breeds of Americauna and I would like to know what you or anyone else thinks Thank You!


This ones the darker one with a bark beard

The lighter one

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

So, when picking eggs to incubate, do you pick the deepest color or colors you favor to hatch. How many roo's do you have with the girls that lay the beautiful colored eggs? I can only imagine understanding the genetics thing with chickens can get pretty involved. I was keeping up with another thread about breeding, andkeeping lines fresh, and I have got to tell you, some days my head would spin with all the information. Pretty intense stuff.
Yes, I have now learned all that goes into the Ameraucana vs. EE debate. I have a friend who insists her girls are pure Ameraucana, but know that I know the difference, I clearly can see they are EE's. I would love to have a few pure Ameraucana, and if I do go ahead with a second flock, I want at least one. Then I would love some EE's as well. I love the coloring of the EE's, all so varied and different.

I was looking at the Brinsea. I used the Ecoglow when the girls arrived. I loved it. I couldn't risk a heat lamp in the barn with the horses which is where they were. I also loved that there was no light at night. Once the sun went down, they were all tucked under the ecoglow like a blanket. Reminded me of the good ol days when I could put the kids to bed at 7:45pm, and go downstairs and kick up my feet and have a glass of wine with DH, or read a good book. Now it's worrying about three teenage boys, well the oldest in in his 20's, but worrying about them out on the weekends. Two have their license! Ugg.....

MB

I try to pick eggs from the hens who consistently lay the most colorful. It always a grand experiment with EEs, Ameraucanas, and egg color. I'm always thinking..I wonder what'll happen if I combine this with that? Of course, the thing is, it'll be several months before you know the answer and the new chick lays an egg. Right now I only have Kenny Rogers. I had a pretty good egg color experiment flock going last year. I had 2 different Ameraucana roos, a BCM roo, a Splash Marans roo, and a Polish Roo. I had great plans for hatching some really interesting EEs and OEs. But the Raccoon Massacre of 2012 (as it's known around here) ended my plans. I'm planning to hatch some more Ameraucanas or Araucanas this summer. I'd like to have an Ameraucana roo to breed over my EEs to keep the blue egg gene strong in the chicks. And now I have 3 different types of Marans chicks, mostly roos, to hatch some OEs later this year when they reach maturity.

I envy your Ecoglow! Those are so cool. You definitely can't risk a fire with the horses. I have a heat lamp out in the mini-coop right now, and it worries me to death.

Yes, I too remember those days of tucking the kids into bed and relaxing. My son is 15. He has his permit, but no license. What that means is that on the weekends, he's here in the house, but he stays up later than me. So my only quiet time is in the morning before he gets up. He occasionally goes out, but only if I drive him into town, and we live kind of far out. I'm actually looking forward to him getting his license. Although...he's a lot like I was in high school, responsible and nerdy. So he might be keeping me company on the weekends for little while longer.

And I'm not totally sure I want the quiet time. My BF is a musician, and on the road every weekend. My daughter spends every other weekend at her dad's. So if my son isn't here, it's just me, and I haven't had any alone time in 15 years. I'm not sure what that's like? My BF says I can go on the road with him on the weekends, but most likely I will pour myself a glass of wine, and bring one of the chickens into the house to watch movies with me.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

MB Would you look at these pics of my girls. The seller said they were 2 different breeds of Americauna and I would like to know what you or anyone else thinks Thank You!


This ones the darker one with a bark beard

The lighter one

Debbie, those are EEs. The leakage around the neck is a clear sign, as is the different colored beard. There are only a few standard Ameraucana colors. They're pretty girls though!

 

[Melabella]

Debbie, those are EEs. The leakage around the neck is a clear sign, as is the different colored beard. There are only a few standard Ameraucana colors. They're pretty girls though!

debbie,, I am sorry if I came across as being able to tell anything! I am a total newbie, and am so glad that Brooster chimed in as I was hoping she would! I agree, they are beautiful! I love the look of the EE's and Ameruacanas, especially the roos, with their beards... so pretty!

MB

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Debbie, I really hope I'm not the bearer of bad news!

The thing that bugs me about EEs being sold as Ameraucanas, is that EEs are wonderful chickens. I think the fact that they're constantly mislabeled as Ameraucanas has given them a bad name amongst chicken breeders. But really EEs are beautiful birds with their own unique style of coloring. They have fluffy beards and wonderful temperments. And no other breed of chicken lays as colorful eggs. If hatcheries correctly labeled them, I think they'd be more widely loved and embraced. I don't really get it honestly. I feel like the hatcheries purposely seek to mislead people.

Ok, my most sincere apologies for the rant. I'll come down off my soapbox now.

 

[Melabella]

I liked when I saw Meyer Hatchery changed to actually calling them Easter Eggers, and they also sell a Wheaten Ameraucana. So at least one of the hatchery's is addressing the mix up!

http://www.meyerhatchery.com/produc...ickens&grd_prodone_filter=PRODUCT_ID = 'AMAS'#


http://www.meyerhatchery.com/produc...ickens&grd_prodone_filter=PRODUCT_ID = 'WAMS'#