Araucana thread anyone?

[chickengr]

Oh bummer. I'm surprised you were able to even find any in Greece. JW how hard they are to come by where you live at? Did you find a local breeder or did you have eggs/chicks imported to Greece? Also wonder, what does Greece have to offer that you live there, lol.

I live in California, and even though we have 1,100 of coastline plus tons of valleys and mountains, they are still hard to come by. We are a pretty big aggie state as well, still pretty hard to come by.

there are araucanas in greece but double tufted are rare.

as for greece, without the sold out souls government this country would have a lot to offer. unfortunately I don't see any good politicians in any country at the moment. not an expert, just my 2 cents.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Cost of adult Araucanas are not too bad. Depending on whether the birds are tuff or not, they range between $100 - $150/each. You pay for quality. Some folks sells em cheap. That's when you should ask them lots of questions to see how legit they are. Yes, that is higher than the usual feedstore breeds, but we are talking about Araucanas here. Game birds sell for even higher.

It's the shipping costs for adult birds. It's ridiculous. Many times, the shipping cost for shipped birds will cost more than the selling price of Araucana adults.

Oh, okay. At that range then they're on the low end. This was the only place I saw that posted prices without you contacting them, so I wasn't entirely sure if 100 was low end or not. And yeah, the shipping prices suck. yet another reason I really prefer not to do birds older than chicks

 

[willchickeneat]

Candling eggs have always been enjoyable. I don't have a fancy egg candlier, just a normal candler. Always interesting to see the process of the veins growing out, the air sacs, then the whole egg change with the air sack getting bigger with time. Even more interesting is candling dark chocolate eggs and blue eggs. Sometimes you can't see the veins growing. I usually draw the air sack circle either day 1 or by day 3 as a reference point. If the egg is fertile, the air sack with get bigger the following week and by week 2, veins won't be visible no more, but more of a solid black shadow covering the whole egg. Any eggs that you can shine through on week 2 is a toss. It isn't fertile or at some point it stopped growing. Better to not chance it exploding and contaminating all your other eggs. Something I've always noticed is that any eggs that porous or spotting/mottling looking when candled under the lights rarely hatch or hatch rate just sucks. Probably not true for all, but for me that's how it's been. Can't really tell how porous an egg is until you candle them under a light. Porous looking eggs tends to have a cool outside appearance and may feel bumpy at the tips, etc, so a bummer that they don't hatch well.

I do gotta say, for the Araucana breed last few hatch seasons, on hatch day there was always a few eggs that developed well, but never hatched. After day 23 (give a few extra days for late bloomers), when I've cracked the egg, you can see a full chick grown, etc. So sad that the Araucana genes can be lethal. So sad that no Araucana eggs for hatching atm. No one has any available due to lack of daylight . The hatch fever is strong!!

Here are two images lights on and then off, one for blue egg (Erminette Ameraucana) and chocolate egg (Black Copper Marans). See the initial circle and then when the lights go off, the circle has expanded? Enjoy .

 

[willchickeneat]

Happy New Years Eve. Or in some part of the world, may already be New Year 2022. Have a safe and good one.

 

[chickengr]

happy new year!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Got my order put in. Have 14 st run araucana coming late april-may if all goes well

 

[willchickeneat]

Got my order put in. Have 14 st run araucana coming late april-may if all goes well

Keep us posted when that time comes!

I'll be honest, between myself and other local folks that have acquired Araucanas, there will be lots of disappointment when it comes to Araucanas. May or may not have tuffs, be rumpless or be an accepted standard variety. There's even the chance that the Araucana you get may not lay blue eggs - may be green. Very few people are willing to ship Araucana chicks or have the NPIP certification depending on the state/country that they live in. And the fertile egg orders, you'll average only 23 - 30% hatch rate if it is good.

 

[willchickeneat]

BTW, my bcm and Ameraucana chicks hatched this past week. 4/8 of the bcm eggs made it safely. Two were duds and one, the chick developed all the way, started piping, and then just never made it.

For my Ams, 3 hatched. One is black in color and two of them are yellowish in color. Will see in a few weeks what color they really are.

And then I also had 9 easter egger eggs and only 4/9 made it. Mind you, all these were not shipped eggs. I drove out 1-2 hours to pick up the eggs myself. I've always found that fertility no matter the breed tends to decrease in the colder months, even if they are penned with a rooster. Spring is usually best fertility.

There are a few poultry shows in Caifornia that are coming up. Always wanted to go to one to see who brings Araucanas to show, but schedule is so busy with school, family, work, etc.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Keep us posted when that time comes!

I'll be honest, between myself and other local folks that have acquired Araucanas, there will be lots of disappointment when it comes to Araucanas. May or may not have tuffs, be rumpless or be an accepted standard variety. There's even the chance that the Araucana you get may not lay blue eggs - may be green. Very few people are willing to ship Araucana chicks or have the NPIP certification depending on the state/country that they live in. And the fertile egg orders, you'll average only 23 - 30% hatch rate if it is good.

The hatch rate is why I was desperate to avoid eggs, though I nearly nearly bought some just because I could not find any chicks. I've decided that because of that same hatch rate, I will only sell live birds, not eggs because I don't think that people here will pay attention to the warning that the hatch rate will likely be very low. I dont have enough patience for someone to get mad at me because they insisted they know what they're doing and then only hatch 1 or 2.

The (I don't know what to call them, they're too big for a breeder, too small imo for a hatchery) claimed that they will lay a true blue egg, not a pink or green egg, but I do know that's a risk.

They also put a disclaimer that they cull tailed chicks and that chicks may or may not have tufts.

Their araucana flock is mixed colors, so my chicks likely won't match the standard in that way. I won't complain though. I won't show anyways and I like my birds being different looking from each other.

Just curious, what age do you start noticing males vs females? I've had experience with Peas before, but it still seems to vary breed to breed

 

[willchickeneat]

The hatch rate is why I was desperate to avoid eggs, though I nearly nearly bought some just because I could not find any chicks. I've decided that because of that same hatch rate, I will only sell live birds, not eggs because I don't think that people here will pay attention to the warning that the hatch rate will likely be very low. I dont have enough patience for someone to get mad at me because they insisted they know what they're doing and then only hatch 1 or 2.

The (I don't know what to call them, they're too big for a breeder, too small imo for a hatchery) claimed that they will lay a true blue egg, not a pink or green egg, but I do know that's a risk.

They also put a disclaimer that they cull tailed chicks and that chicks may or may not have tufts.

Their araucana flock is mixed colors, so my chicks likely won't match the standard in that way. I won't complain though. I won't show anyways and I like my birds being different looking from each other.

Just curious, what age do you start noticing males vs females? I've had experience with Peas before, but it still seems to vary breed to breed

Once they start feathering out, it'll be easier to tell around 1-2 months. If they are from a non-standard flock, you'll see chipmunk looking chicks. If possible, tag the darker ones from the lighter ones (gold and silver duckwing or black breasted red (BBR, etc) so that when they grow out, you can learn that the lighter ones turned out this way, darker ones turned out this way. The males tend to have the silver/gold hackle with little black in the neck area and the comb should be more distinct. As always, the males always are more friendly, come to you for treats, etc. Very social. See how some are darker than others? More orangee or lighter in color. Tag em and learn so next time you hatch, you'll know what to expect when they grow out.