Araucana thread anyone?

[Sonoran Silkies]

lol that is adorable! If I saw that I'd be shocked but excited with glee to see an actual true Araucana on a card. Cute little cockerel.

Well, that was certainly my reaction. Now I have to decide if I want to send it to someone or to frame it. If you have a Sprouts, I'd suggest checking to see if they carry it. I was in Dallas at my parents', and haven't been by the local Sprouts to see if they carry it here, but I would expect they might.

Sprouts is a small chain of natural grocers. Vaguely along the line of Trader Joe's or Whole Foods.

 

[Illia]

I don't think there's a Trader Joe's for ooh 5 hours from here so I doubt I'll find anything vaguely similar

a little research and the nearest trader joes is 3 hours from here. searched sprouts - only available in a few select states.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I don't think there's a Trader Joe's for ooh 5 hours from here so I doubt I'll find anything vaguely similar

a little research and the nearest trader joes is 3 hours from here. searched sprouts - only available in a few select states.

http://sprouts.com/stores Nope; doesn't look like it.

 

[gootziecat]

To my surprise, an early chick from Carmel's eggs today. Another is pipping. Only 9 eggs made it to lockdown, plus had temperature problems with the incubator. I so hope more hatch.
Thank you, Carmel.

 

[smoothmule]

Illia,

What color do you think Topaz is? When I got her last summer, she was almost dun looking. She moulted and looked perfectly normal for blue but has already "faded" and changed to that rusty blue color again that looks taupe in the light. I know she's blue but what is making her blue act this way?

This is Topaz this morning



This is how she looked soon after moult recently


This is how she looked late last summer, she was very faded when I got her



These photo's are not affected by lighting, this is how she really looked in person. I find her very puzzling. I'm anxious to see how she does in the black pen.
Cathy

 

[Illia]

She looks like a normal blue carrying recessive wheaten or duckwing to me. As you said too, the dusky dun color from when you got her is from sun bleaching. After a good summer blues can look horridly dusty, drab, and dull in color more brown than blue often, but once nicely molted and new they're a beautiful shimmery blue. The gold on her neck just behind the earlobes is the leakage from whatever recessive color she's hiding. I've got a blue just liker her, except she's too young to show leakage yet, but there's no doubt my gal is carrying recessive duckwing anyway. Dad was a pure, mom was a half and half.

 

[syble]

Coberdor - check out the tufts on this little one! Rumpless too! YEAH! (Phone pic, sorry)

what a looker! would die to have one like that hatch out! i think I'm down to 5 for lock down, come on chickies.

 

[Illia]

Speaking of that, Coberdor the 36 eggs you sent me - 14 are fertile and good.

Less than 50% but that's fine with me, long as I actually get at least 10 chicks out of the hatch that would be awesome! I'm hoping for a full 14 or maybe 13 though. After many many hatches I've finally adjusted humidity and methods to where my hatch rates are usually 90-100%. Which is super! Because the first several months of incubating eggs, I'd have super fertility but absolutely terrible hatch rates.

 

[smoothmule]

She looks like a normal blue carrying recessive wheaten or duckwing to me. As you said too, the dusky dun color from when you got her is from sun bleaching. After a good summer blues can look horridly dusty, drab, and dull in color more brown than blue often, but once nicely molted and new they're a beautiful shimmery blue. The gold on her neck just behind the earlobes is the leakage from whatever recessive color she's hiding. I've got a blue just liker her, except she's too young to show leakage yet, but there's no doubt my gal is carrying recessive duckwing anyway. Dad was a pure, mom was a half and half.

What color rooster should I breed her to then? Obviously, I'll get leakage breeding her to a black rooster (or blue if I had one) so that might be a losing battle, especially if her blue is not a good blue color. Do all blue's fade this way? Is it all sun related or genetics as well?

Should she produce better to a patterned rooster? I have Joker is my only duckwing but since he's also blue, I would get a lot of splash and neither of these are tufted. Maybe Rudy? (not sure of his color, brown/red?) He definitely throws a lot of red on his chicks, also no tufts. She's a nice hen as far as size and type, I'd like to use her the best I can with what I have. I guess I can try her with the roosters that have tufts at least and see who she produces best with. I have an open pen right now, she can call it her own and I'll rotate the roosters with tufting. I also have that tufted/tailed hen that is splash duckwing now (traded the 2 blue hens I think are making the barred chicks to Rumbull for his 2 tufted/tailed splash pullets) she would likely benefit from the same cross so she and Topaz will have to get along. The other tufted splash hen has no red leakage so she's with Obsidian right now, black with a tiny bit of silver leakage, clean faced and tufted. I just need to get another larger feeder and waterer for that pen. Until then, Topaz can stay in the black hen pen a while.

Any suggestions from anyone are all welcome. We can even have a little contest to see what she produces with each rooster this summer, that might be fun. I might have to have some prizes................

 

[Illia]

It's all sun related, no worries there. All blues go downhill when exposed to plenty summer sun, they revive after a molt.

It's up to you on what you want to pair her with. Pairing with a solid black or blue male will give you 50/50 good solids and birds with leakage. Pairing her with any duckwing type will give you 50/50 duckwing types or solids with leakage. Pairing her with a brown-red/birchen type will give you 50% leaky solids, 25% pure duckwings/wheatens and 25% pure solids.

Personally, with me and how I'm currently doing things, color matters little in this generation/breeding. I'm at the moment aiming for good round and lengthy backs, and longer saddles. So that means I want plenty of my boy "cookies'n'cream" in there however his comb isn't the prettiest sight and his color isn't either, so I'm also working on the other end with my blue/gold boy "marango" to improve comb type and work more towards a showable duckwing color, but he's got plenty flaws like a shorter back, too short of saddle feathers, and not as well filled of a carcass/frame. So, I'm going to cross Marango with some girls that have better, more full bodies and Cookies with girls that have more duckwing coloration. Then, the offspring will each be a sort of half-and-half of both worlds, bred together, they'll give me a little fraction of all of what I want. Good color, good body and feathers. And then of course, I'll later choose as they lay, the better blue eggs. But I'm not too concerned there. None of my hens have poor color, and only one of my roosters I'd see passing on slightly greenish eggs, but, doubtful. Who knows. But anyway, color right at this moment isn't too much of a matter. Type is. Although I do want at least one duckwing allele floating around each of the offspring.

Here's Cookies' rump. Check out those long overflowing saddle feathers!

Bird as a whole. I really am in love with this guy despite his weird color, but there's a couple things, color aside, that could use work.



He's nice a broad too. . . . But not very deep, it seems. When feeling him, he's very full and meaty but he's not exactly "deep" or round and prominent in the breast. Terrible comb I know, but much better than some of those floppy big'uns out there.



Marango again. So for contrast there's his lacking saddle feathers which should drape down much farther, however he has a very nice perfect comb. And is duckwing. (among other things) And honestly though, this photo, his gait, makes his back look nice. Normally it is shorter and more downward sloping. He tends to raise it when he feels proud in the evening, but most of the day his normal stance is showing off a rather lacking rear.





Oh and if that's not too much photo for the day, here's my favorite hen body-wise. She's a splash cuckoo, from the same breeding of Ramey's as my boy Cookies. She looks very square here but normally has a more round rear-end. She's nice full and deep though.