Araucana thread anyone?

[rehric00]

How can you tell if you have a "true americauna" or aracuana? or whatever.. I ordered mine, and they said Aracauna (aka Easter egger)... whats the difference and how do I know if mine are "true" or not?

 

[cashdl]

You cannot get true Araucana from a hatchery. That is the easy answer. The araucana carries a lethal gene that if a chick inherits two copies of it, ( one from each parent) it dies before it hatches. This lethal gene does not make it profitable for hatcheries to sell araucana. Also the fact that they call them Araucana/Easter Egger is another clue that they do not have the real thing. The Araucana and the Easter Egg chicken are two completely different chickens.

You can only get Araucana from a breeder. If you are still in doubt. Please feel free to peruse my website www.cashsblueeggs.com Hopefully it will answer some questions for you. I do not have chicks available for sale, nor do I sell day old chicks.

Lanae

 

[Rumbull]

How can you tell if you have a "true americauna" or aracuana? or whatever.. I ordered mine, and they said Aracauna (aka Easter egger)... whats the difference and how do I know if mine are "true" or not?

If you ordered them from a hatchery, you will be getting Easter eggers. In order to get true araucana, or true ameraucana for that matter, you will need to get them from a breeder. The number of breeders is growing so they are probably easier to find today than they were years back. These forums help with that. Where do you live? There may be someone on here that is close.

 

[Brada Puhi]

Breeding only the ones with tufts will not ensure tufts. The lethal gene will certainly ensure there will be more die in the shell because they are homozygous for tufting, there will be less hatch but it's generally the tufted that die. I get as many tufted chicks breeding tufted to clean faced, that doesn't change, but I get a larger number chicks that hatch and the clean faced chicks have just as much to offer to a breeding program as the tufted.... and can produce tufted chicks bred to a tufted mate.

Breeders who breed strictly tufted to tufted are trying to lower the number of non tufted chicks in a hatch and all they are doing are limiting the total number hatched and the ones that die in the shell are tufted (other than the usual losses which can include clean faced and tufted anyway). They still hatch clean faced and that is not going to be changed because all tufted individuals are heterozygous for the tufting gene so even though they are tufted themselves, they have one gene for tufting and one for clean faced.

Aloha,

I was just saying to make sure to use a tufted araucana in the crossbreed because whatever Alibra uses will not have the tufted gene and Alibra wanted tufts in her hybrid. Still only half of the offspring may have tufts.

But in breeding araucanas, Smoothmule is right that you will get the same amount of tufted offspring whether you breed tufted to tufted or to nontufted. Tufted to tufted will just result in 1/4 less hatches. You should only breed tufted to tufted if you plan on culling the nontufted anyways. But like Smoothmule was saying, youʻre also losing all the possibilities that the extra 1/4 could offer. Some people have choke eggs, so theyʻd rather go for the higher percentage of tufted rather than hatched.

So, the hatcheries could also breed tufted to nontufted and still get a 100% hatch theoretically. Whatʻs interesting to me is that they never include real pictures of their flocks. Always drawings.

kden, puhi

 

[alibra]

thanks everyone

 

[smoothmule]

Aloha,

I was just saying to make sure to use a tufted araucana in the crossbreed because whatever Alibra uses will not have the tufted gene and Alibra wanted tufts in her hybrid. Still only half of the offspring may have tufts.

But in breeding araucanas, Smoothmule is right that you will get the same amount of tufted offspring whether you breed tufted to tufted or to nontufted. Tufted to tufted will just result in 1/4 less hatches. You should only breed tufted to tufted if you plan on culling the nontufted anyways. But like Smoothmule was saying, youʻre also losing all the possibilities that the extra 1/4 could offer. Some people have choke eggs, so theyʻd rather go for the higher percentage of tufted rather than hatched.

So, the hatcheries could also breed tufted to nontufted and still get a 100% hatch theoretically. Whatʻs interesting to me is that they never include real pictures of their flocks. Always drawings.

kden, puhi

Hatcheries don't have Araucana's. They have easter eggers, a mixed breed. They advertise them as Araucana's in one place, Ameraucana's in another part of the ad and Easter Eggers as though they were all the same. Ridiculous.

What are choke eggs?

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha,


Hatcheries COULD sell real araucanas. It would break the trend but it would be possible.

Choke means plenty.

So people with choke chickens would have choke eggs and they wouldnʻt really care too much if some didnʻt hatch.

Personally I would breed tufted to nontufted because I donʻt have choke birds.

But I will soon. haha.

I just wish I had some of smoothmuleʻs beauties!

aloha, Puhi

 

[Ray_n_Debi]

Love this baby!!
3 days old

Wish I could show you the dark brown color at 5 weeks

 

[Ray_n_Debi]

Bud Jr's chick 3 days





5 weeks

 

[Ray_n_Debi]