Keep taking photo's to follow his development, very niceupdate photos on my two boy chicks (from Lanae), at nearly 7 weeks old:
still need to get some pictures of the silver girl! the BBR has been developing more slowly than the other two...
Many, many posts back, maybe even a year or two ago I posted about taking photo's. You would be surprised how much you'll learn from your own photo's. These little guys never stop moving and that makes it hard to really study them, It's easy to over look even things like leg color and so on but when they are still, as in a photo, you can really study them for color, type etc. I like to take photo's of them, close ups, when they are a couple of days old, really close up to see the comb. The down color can tell you a lot about what they will be when fully feathered. Some colors make it hard to tell between wild type, wheaten or split but down coloring can give you the information you need to make the best choices when breeding later.
Those first feathers on the patterned chicks can be really confusing and are rarely like the mature feathering they will have later on. Those pretty, jewel toned, mixed up colors that look like patchwork just do not look a thing like they will become later. When they grow out of that stage, it's gradual and it always amazes me to watch the changing of the colors and it may be a year or more before a cockerel really shows how truly beautiful he will become. Not only does he fill out, the color and pattern becomes even more beautiful.
Clean, clear photo's that show detail are best and if you can keep a record on even just a couple with photo's of each stage, you'll learn how to assess chicks much earlier so earlier culling can be done if you are not able to keep them all to 6 months to a year old before culling. Most of us "do" have limits to how many we can keep at a time and to improve the flock, learning to recognize faults, best points etc is key.
It doesn't take an expensive camera to get great shots. It does take patience and a good digital camera that can do close up's is needed because you'll take a ton of pics and just get a few worth keeping. You can create a new file in photo's on your documents and name the chick. Start with chick photo's, named and put the hatch date on that picture. Be sure to put the name and the date taken so you'll know how old the chick is with each photo and at the beginning you may want to even take a few every few days then weekly then every couple of weeks as you notice changes. By 6 months, you'll have a great portfolio that you can watch the chick from hatching to maturity and be able to compare that chick to another similar chick file. That's when you'll start thinking, Ah Ha! Wow.......
We never stop learning and seeing improvement due to our learning what to breed to what is soooo rewarding. My friend Lisa recently posted in our FB group that she had bought the book by Cathy Brunson, ARAUCANA's Rings on their ears from the Araucana Club website and as a result, I purchased one too. I can't wait to get it. It was written several years ago but the information is ageless and pertinent for raising this breed even today. It's only $15 (less than the cost of a dozen hatching eggs) and a very good investment that may help boost your knowledge and improve your flock too.
http://www.araucana.net/Araucana_store.htm
