Araucana thread anyone?

[Stacykins]

Remember when I showed the eggs in the incubator? Well I forgot I had one in there that was due to hatch really close to your visit (I was more concerned about the 'stash' eggs, hah), one of the few I got when most of the girls were on strike. A hen did have chicks, a pair of olive eggers that hatched with your second set of chicks (they had fuzzy legs so they were easy to tell apart from yours), she was just out in the tall grass with them out of sight. Well, one of the two olive eggers disappeared, so I tried her when that solo incubator egg hatched. She accepted it! So this chick is a bit younger than your younger set of chicks. I just thought it would be black, so it is neat that it is mottled!

A black copper marans was broody while you were here, she was the big girl I grabbed out of the nest box (much to her displeasure, hah). She just took in those three brand new chicks, since I tucked them under her the night after they hatched. So no more broody hens, for that I am kinda glad, I like getting eggs!

 

[Stacykins]

All,

I need some help. I have eggs that just hatched. They are beautiful. However, I have one problem. My chick that hatched from the egg marked as white Araucana has both feet curled. One is really bad; the other isn't quite as bad. I am afraid if I try to save it that it will cause some bad genetics/problems down the road.

1. Will it cause issues?
2. If so, what is the best method of culling?

Thanks for the help.
Crystal

Curled toes, while it can be genetic, can also be caused by incubation. I forget what causes it, like too dry or too hot. IF it is environmental, then you have nothing to worry about. You can straiten them with some ingenuity, like making band aid booties to straiten the toes. I guess the only way to determine if it is genetic is to contact the breeder, see if any other chicks have hatched with curled toes? Or to breed them.

 

[laura877]

Stacy,
I guess I didn't see all your girls. I don't remember seeing the duckwing or the splash. Don't you have a araucana rooster right now?

 

[poularde]

Culling a chick is very hard for me. I have a harder time culling chicks than adults. There is many methods. This has worked the best for me. I hope you do not need to cull.

 

[Stacykins]

My mature rooster is a splash, I also have a blue cockerel. Both are double tufted and rumpless. The only males I have are Araucana, since I don't have multiple breeding pens. I do plan on building a tractor type setup so I can actually separate specific groups of hens and a rooster so I can make sure of who is the father.

One I let them out to free range for the day, they're usually off doing their own thing! They can't be convinced very easily to come in out of the long grass and whatnot!

 

[caj1985]

How long should I keep the toes immobile and straight to see if it will work? I would really like to save this one since it is the only one that hatched this color.

Thanks for the CO2 link. I will try it if nothing else works. Right now I am doubtful of success because the chick just generally doesn't seem to be thriving. All of the others are running around madly. This one just wants to sleep or softly peep.

Would it being the last to hatch have some bearing on the curled toes?

By the way, at what age can you tell the sex on Araucanas? The others I have are BBR and once the permanent feather color comes in it is fairly easy to judge. I'm not sure on BBS if there is an easy way to distinguish.

 

[smoothmule]

Wanted to share some updated photos of Snickers, one of my chocolate Araucana project chicks. She's got one large tuft and totally rumpless, not bad for an F-1 chick

 

[smoothmule]

Here is another chick, hatched recently. Possible birchen/mottled chocolate??



and the above chick, taken a few minutes ago, on my desk

 

[laura877]

I finally got a few decent pics of the chicks from Stacy. Its hard to know each one individual as there are 7 black. One is mottled so you can tell that one at first site. And there is another that could have a small amount of mottling on its face. But other then that, I can't really tell them apart yet.



This one just won't leave me alone.


This one of course is the mottled one. It has little tiny tufts on both sides.
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I think this one is double tufted too but only with one large tuft and one small one.
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This one has bigger tufts on both sides but one side is a little smaller. There might be a little mottling under hits beak

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This is probably the best tufts they look like someone put a curling iron to them and flipped them up.

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.
I have a couple this color. I don't know what they will grow up to be.

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A bunch of the blacks and the 3 wild looking ones.
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[laura877]

I spend abt an hour every night and sometimes in the morning with the chicks. So far this year with all the chicks that I have raised, I have been observing gender postureing. If startled, you see the posturing much better...males stick their heads up and hens hunker down. Based on this, all the chicks that I got from Stacy, I don't see roo posturing in any of them. Is that a trait only to Araucanas or is it possible that I got 12 hens?

ps. I have two wild ones that have the spots on the feathers, 2 that have barring, and one just looks like a gray or gray/brown wild pattern. It might even turn out to be blue.