araucana breeding....who with who....?

[spish]

i'm busy planning for next years breeding groups and as it will be my first year breeding araucanas, im looking for a little advice.

i have 6 rumpless hens (2 with tufts 2 without)
2 'tarwe' coloured (sorry dont know the english name for the colour..i think perhaps wheaton?)
1 blue
3 black


and 7 with tails (one with tufts)
4 black
2 tarwe
1 blue

i have three roosters,

1 black with gold neck (rumpless)
1 blue/red/grey (with tail)
1 that im not sure of the colour yet, i pick him up tonight and have to chose out of 6 (blue, white or black)



so im guessing i can make 3 groups. but which hens to which roo's? which will make nice coloured offspring? ive heard i shouldnt put the rumpless roo with the rumpless hens as i'll get deformed chickens? what causes this?

 

[cashdl]

I do not use tailed birds in my breeding program. I have been keeping an eye out for any birds with short backs and have not had any in 5 years, so I pretty much don't worry about it.

If they were my birds here is what I would do.


Use the black rumpless roo with gold neck and breed him to the Tarwe colored hens. You could also use the blue red grey roo with them but you will get 100% tailed birds when bred to the tailed hens and you want to move away from tails. If any of the black hens are tufted put a couple of them in this pen also.

I would get either the black roo if he is solid color or the blue roo if he is solid color and breed them to the rest of your hens which will give you blue black and splash offspring.

Cull hard for rumpless. Keep everything tufted and a pullet. Only keep the very best roo chicks and go on from there.

I would love to see pictures.


Lanae

 

[spish]

i shall get some pics up today

many thanks

 

[spish]

heres a few of them...will go and catch the others shortly for pics

 

[cashdl]

Beautiful, I love them all. The tufts on the black hen are wonderful. I especially like the hen in the 4th picture. Her body shape is lovely. The hen in picture 9 is simple adorable. I love her coloring. You have a great start, so now it is going to depend on what your breeding goals are. Do you want tufted. Tufted and muffed. Rumpless. Or Tailed. Knowing that, you can start to set up your breeding pens.


Lanae