araucana chick question - Jody help!!!

[klf73]

How can you tell if an araucana chick will be tufted or not? I had never looked it up and wasn't sure if someone could tell me? Is there even a way to tell or is it a wait and see thing?
Thanks!
Krista

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Are you talking about a true, rumpless araucana, or an americana? I have never owned a true araucana, but my tufted americanas had "cubby-ish" looking cheeks as chicks.

 

[houndit]

We need to know if they are true aracaunas or not. If they are ameracaunas/aracaunas a. k. a. easter eggers, They probaly are not. These are what you get from any old hatchery. None of mine had tufts allthough a couple had muffs. If it is a true aracauna which are preety rare it would have to have tufts. True aracaunas are purebred and they all have to have tufts. True ameracaunas all have to have muffs and beards. Hatchery type birds are pretty much just mutts that lay colored eggs. True ameracaunas only lay greenish blue eggs. Easter eggers that lay pink eggs are a good sign of having a brown egg laying chicken in there genetics.

 

[klf73]

yes, they are true araucana, that is why I asked about the tufts and not muffs (ameraucana, and I have those too

) . I just started hatching my first chicks from Jody (hinkjc) and my first is rumpless, but wasn't sure if it is going to be tufted.
Thanks
Krista

 

[klf73]

oh, and they are not all tufted, it is a lethal gene. They would need the tufts for show, but if you breed tufted to tufted there is high chick mortality

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Quote:
Yes, I meant muffs, my apologies!!
My mom and I have been looking for true Araucanas. they seem hard to find. The pics I have seen online (I am only going by pics I have seen) show the chicks with tufts and some without tufts right from hatching. PLEASE don't take me at my word for that as I have never hatched a true araucana! Actually, I haven't hatched anything yet...lol

 

[hinkjc]

KLF - you will see the tufts if they have them at hatch. You have to wait until they are good and fluffy dry tho. On white chicks it is much harder to see because the tufts are white too. You can see the tufts on my blue chicks on my web site if that helps to show you where to look. It is basically coming out the ear on a little lobe. It is easy to see on blue and black chicks when the tufts are white as they stand out really nice. When they're the same color as the fluff, they become a challenge to find.

Jody

 

[klf73]

here are the araucana-
left is tufted, partial tail? all others are rumpless non-tufted

front left looks like a light splash with brown dot, front right looks reddish w/blue collar, right rear it tufted and splash chipmunk marking, left rear is bright yellow

here is the one that I helped, not sure what is wrong with it, but don't think it will make it

guess there was a reason it didn't hatch itself

Krista

 

[hinkjc]

Great pics. The double tufted one is such a cutie. I can never tell if they are partial tailed that young. Appears rumpless, but you won't know for sure until the feathers start growing in. They look like they will all be white. The reddish tone one, will probably be red pyle (white with red in the wing bars) or it could just be a very yellowish white color. The silvery ones get bright white when they feather in. I don't know about the dot on the ones head..that's kinda funny. I've never seen that before but imagine it will feather in completely white.

Jody