Araucana thread anyone?

[cmsdvm]

Here is one of my latest Araucana chicks. It's blue, I think anyway. I seem to have so many different types of blue. Maybe Illia or someone can comment.

Some of mine hatch out like any other blue, and these type are generally the usual, laced blue. Some hatch out blue barred looking but don't stay barred. And then there are these chicks, they hatch out a silver color. They are not blue like the blue chicks, they are silvery, dove grey. This one is feathering out a little and there is no lacing or barring, it's just a pure, soft grey.

Anyone have any ideas? I have to say that I know the laced blue is what is accepted in ABA but I think I like this blue better, I just wish I understood the genetics behind it better.

A lot of lacing comes in later, so don't despair. A lot of what we call "blue" in araucanas is not true andalusian blue where genetics are predictable. I often get blue from crossing black to white. These blues are not well-laced but, if I breed them into black and keep blues out of those, I get better lacing. Blues are a lot of work to get right. They are gorgeous but you just have to look at rosecomb or Polish blues with their spectacular lacing and clear color to know we're doing it wrong. When I breed my blue Polish, I look for even lacing on the chest of the male. He will put that on my female chicks. But, see, I have a bazillion good Polish to choose from, I can afford to be picky. With araucanas, we have so much else to balance out with tufts and taillessness. Adding blue lacing into it just makes you tear your hair out more. That's why I sold my best blue- a stunning blue pullet- to another fancier. I decided blue was too hard for me. I have one more FABULOUS blue boy- tufts to make you weep. I will breed him into my blacks this year because he is the best tufted male I have, then I will sell him to some other brave soul who wants to work with blues.

 

[cackleberrycoop]

I will breed him into my blacks this year because he is the best tufted male I have, then I will sell him to some other brave soul who wants to work with blues.

When you are finished with that boy, give me a holler!!!!! The blues are my obsession and if it takes me the next 30 years, I will eventually produce a knock out blue bird!!

 

[cmsdvm]

Excellent. I'll let you know when I have some chicks out of him.

 

[suzannaski]

What you are talking about it fairly rare. Yes, we can see hidden or internal tufts or, more commonly, tufts picked out and the bird thought to be clean-faced, but it is a myth perpetuated by backyard breeders of araucanas trying to sell eggs that clean-faced birds "carry the tufting gene." If you want tufts, better make sure at least one parent has them. Choose your clean-faced breeders carefully- this is where you have a chance to make good selections based on type and color. Tuft size in a breeder is not nearly as important as tuft placement. Tuft size is largely random, tuft placement is inherited. Do not breed from a bird with misplaced tufts (one high, one low) if there is any selection at all. Although not listed in the standard, I try to breed for high, even, upswept tufts (though I'm not above showing a bird with big, low tufts) these stay so much cleaner and are much more attractive, especially here in muddy Washington.

That is my mistake for thinking that a non-expressed gene may be expressed in future generations. My information on the 4-14 % reduced penetrance of a heterozygous tufted bird was based on info in the research article "Ear Tuftedness: A Lethal Condition in the Araucana Fowl" in the Journal of Heredity in 1981 by Somes.
If I misunderstood that occasionally a cleanfaced chick may actually have a non-expressed heterozygous genotype, I apologize.

 

[happyhensny]

I am looking for some Araucana hatching eggs if anyone has any available. Pm me if you do! Thanks!

 

[six_eclectic_chickens]

RIP Pearl.0

 

[happyhensny]

RIP Pearl.0

She was beautiful. Sorry.

 

[six_eclectic_chickens]

Thanks

she was a very nice pet.

 

[smoothmule]

Hatched a chick today out of an egg that Lucy laid. It's as yellow as could be, I can't wait to see what this one feathers out like. I'm going to bet on red pyle. Lucy is a buff red color, the roosters that are the possible dad are many, lol. They have been free ranging so out there was every rooster I have except the 2 black and the 2 white who are in the breeding pens...... that leaves a lot, a lot of possibilities,

and of course, the only white cockerel out there is one that I have been planning to butcher....his name is Skanky!

Skanky has an awful, incorrect comb. He's white with red all over his shoulders. He has a partial tail and he's clean faced. The only cockerel on the place with so much against him......other than the best, deepest yellow shanks on the place, bar none. Well, I've always said that every single individual has something to contribute.......

and they all get a chance so his chicks will live on after he's gone to the stock pot

Now watch all the "other than white or black" hens who are free ranging too, give me all white chicks,

I have more in the hatcher but not due for a couple more days. I haven't hatched anything out yet that really excited me and I've had a lot that were not fertile still so I either need to wait and just eat eggs or trim vents and stop wasting eggs.

I got the first egg out of India today, it was freezing though and I put it in the fridge. India is my awesome double tufted black hen. She is in with the cockerel I bought to work on my Chocolate Araucana project. I added a pullet that should begin to lay too, she's also double tufted but not as large or balanced tuft wise. The cockerel is doing his thing but I don't know how fertile he is yet. I'll set the next ones if I can get to them before they freeze. She's been with him a couple of weeks now so I'm hoping they will soon be by Cracker Jack, my new cockerel. This weeks weather forecast is going to be fairly mild so I'm getting really excited.


Also. I was moving some eggs from the incubator to the hatcher and had one of those ah ha moments. I have one of those thermometers, the ones with the atomic clock that has the temp, and the date, plus there is a wireless thing that you set outside to measure the temperature so the outside temp is shown next to the inside temp......you know where I'm going with this??

Well, it's nice to know the outside temp without going out there to look at a thermometer.....BUT it's even nicer to set at my desk and look at the thermometer on the wall right here and see the temperature inside my home made INCUBATOR!! Why that didn't occur to me I don't know but it did and even in another side of the house, I can monitor the temps inside the incubator with a glance. If it had a noisy alarm that would go off if the temp dropped below 98, that would be icing on the cake but just the peace of mind to look up and see that temp without even getting up is so cool.

 

[cmsdvm]

That is my mistake for thinking that a non-expressed gene may be expressed in future generations. My information on the 4-14 % reduced penetrance of a heterozygous tufted bird was based on info in the research article "Ear Tuftedness: A Lethal Condition in the Araucana Fowl" in the Journal of Heredity in 1981 by Somes.
If I misunderstood that occasionally a cleanfaced chick may actually have a non-expressed heterozygous genotype, I apologize.

Not impossible at all- just rare. My only point was that it is UNLIKELY that clean-faced birds carry the tufted gene- so be sure to have one tufted parent if you're looking for tufts. I breed tufted to tufted all the time, just because I don't like to have a lot of clean-face birds around that I can't show. I just expect a poorer hatch because of the 25% lethals.