Araucana thread anyone?

[willchickeneat]

Here’s my girl from Ann! She barely laid, her egg shape was horrible. She is 4 years, not laying.

True Araucanas are hard to come by in CA. There's a lady about N 1 hr away from me who hatched out 3/9 chicks from Ann this year, so if she does have a mating pair after they grow out, hopefully I can get some eggs from her next year. Pondered about ordering eggs from her early in the year, but I was busy hatching other chicks and didn't have time to make space.

There's a guy on Craigslist south 1 hr from me as well who claims to have birds from Ann as well, but he doesn't pen them for breeding. They are a mix free-range flock so I was skeptical of getting eggs from him. I tried texting him a few times but his responses were iffy. Gut feeling said avoid so ended not getting eggs from him.

My opinion: A serious organized good breeder would have pens up during their hatch season so they know who is what and what is from who to avoid excess inbreeding. Not everyone practices good data collection, but it is always helpful if the people you get eggs from are willing to share.

 

[Trish1974]

My opinion: A serious organized good breeder would have pens up during their hatch season so they know who is what and what is from who to avoid excess inbreeding.

Absolutely, 100% agree with this!!! Mixing colors is another pet peeve of mine, and another good reason to keep separate pens.

Curious, are your duckwings from Lanae Cash? I know she is in CA and raises beautiful duckwing Araucanas.

I've hatched eggs from my offspring from Edd's bird. Didn't have broodies so did artificial incu but the hatch rate was not very good. Ones that hatched out, 1/4 died. Low vigor, although the ones that hatch all had DT.

Another side effect of Edd's birds (low vigor). A few years back there was a lady in Ohio that wanted to start breeding Araucanas, and purchased quite a few birds from Edd's stock to start. She had major fertility problems due to short backs, and birth defects in some that did hatch. She threw in the towel a year or so ago.

 

[Trish1974]

Ten of the twelve eggs that made it to lockdown hatched yesterday! That's the best hatch rate I've had in an incubator yet. I'm trying to mimic broody hatching as much as possible, and did not use my automatic egg turner this time. I did it by hand every 12 hours. I also turned off the bator for an hour a day (most days) as I've noticed my broody hens get off the nest for an hour, hour and a half daily. My next goal is getting an accurate temperature under the hens, but my spot check thermometer won't register for some reason. My next step is to tape it to a fake egg and then put it under the broody. I don't think its making enough contact otherwise to register.

 

[Trish1974]

@willchickeneat does this 5 week old cockerel look BBR or golden duckwing to you? He has genetics for both in his background. His father is recessive white and I'm test breeding him to see what color he really is. Mother to both this chick and his recessive white father is BBR.

 

[glendor787]

Ten of the twelve eggs that made it to lockdown hatched yesterday! That's the best hatch rate I've had in an incubator yet. I'm trying to mimic broody hatching as much as possible, and did not use my automatic egg turner this time. I did it by hand every 12 hours. I also turned off the bator for an hour a day (most days) as I've noticed my broody hens get off the nest for an hour, hour and a half daily. My next goal is getting an accurate temperature under the hens, but my spot check thermometer won't register for some reason. My next step is to tape it to a fake egg and then put it under the broody. I don't think its making enough contact otherwise to register.

That’s smart! Are those your own eggs or you got them from someone else?

 

[Trish1974]

They are from my own stock. This is my second year breeding. I have black and mottled, blue/splash, BBR, golden duckwing and white.

I bought out long time breeder/exhibitor Nancy Utterback's large fowl stock last spring. She decided to downsize and keep only bantams.

 

[glendor787]

What color are the hens on the front of the picture? They both sisters but one is sort of silver, the other one cooper tones!

 

[willchickeneat]

Absolutely, 100% agree with this!!! Mixing colors is another pet peeve of mine, and another good reason to keep separate pens.

Curious, are your duckwings from Lanae Cash? I know she is in CA and raises beautiful duckwing Araucanas.

Another side effect of Edd's birds (low vigor). A few years back there was a lady in Ohio that wanted to start breeding Araucanas, and purchased quite a few birds from Edd's stock to start. She had major fertility problems due to short backs, and birth defects in some that did hatch. She threw in the towel a year or so ago.

I haven't had any fertility issue with my roo or hens from Edd. I've incu test hatched a few of them and you'll see good veins by day 7. Healthy embryo growth to day 21 is the challenge. He mounts other hens as well, but I have too many growouts rightnow for me to hatch to see what I can get.

Some people are just not lucky with getting healthy birds/luck with hatching. Lady from a few years back needs to understand how inbreeding may affect genetics. When starting out, having all birds to breed from the same gene pool may not be too good of an idea. That, or keep detailed notes so that as you further down the path the lineage will be less related. With Araucanas, I'm pretty sure most people's birds are related one way or another up the road. The gene pool for Araucana is not that big.

 

[willchickeneat]

What color are the hens on the front of the picture? They both sisters but one is sort of silver, the other one cooper tones!

Looks like hatching from Edds because I have a few like that. In general, just know that Edd's birds are non-standard Araucanas. They do not match Standard of Perfection (SOP) for the Araucana breed. He has his own philosophy for the Araucana breed. I actually hatched a few of his black line as well, but ended not keeping any of the chicks because the eye color on them were terrible.

I've noticed that the Araucana circle is not as black and white as the Ameraucana circle. In the Ameraucana circle, anything that deviates from SOP is considered an Easter Egger. Looks like Araucana enthusiasts appreiaciates the breed a little more, even if they are non-standard. Just know that from a breeders point of view, SOP is like a guide. Most people would agree that is what you should strive for. Egg color, etc. follows after SOP.

At best, the brown one looks closest as a BBR hen (not the wheaton BBR).

 

[willchickeneat]

@willchickeneat does this 5 week old cockerel look BBR or golden duckwing to you? He has genetics for both in his background. His father is recessive white and I'm test breeding him to see what color he really is. Mother to both this chick and his recessive white father is BBR.

Will know better in a few more weeks. Feather pattern is starting to show .