Araucana thread anyone?

[Ravynscroft]

I'm glad to hear the three row comb isn't the best way to tell the gender. At what age are pointy saddle and hackle feathers obvious?

A lot of people swear by the early 3 rows, but it sure doesn't work for mine, lol... I believe the hackle and saddle feathers start coming in around 10 weeks, maybe 12... just part the feathers around where the tail base is and look for super shiny, pointy new feathers growing...

 

[ochochicas]

I have the worst internet service ever - it won't let me load pictures!

My little guy started to have hackle feathers around 10 weeks. He is 14 weeks now and definitely male. His comb started to get a bit bigger at 7 weeks. Still no crowing or any behavior that is rooster-like. I'll try to post pics tomorrow.

 

[andjesus4all]

You should start seeing a difference soon, they look alike in photo.

 

[Ray_n_Debi]

Hi! I'm hoping for some help determining the gender of one of my chicks. The chicks are about 6-7 weeks old. The chick in question has a smaller, less red comb than the male it is pictured with but has the three rows like males usually do. It is also the only chick that is partially tailed. It is on the right in the first pic and left in the bottom pic. Thank you for any opinions!

Better when I read the post first lol

 

[Brada Puhi]

Aloha Ray-n-Debi,

A few years ago, I was getting some "Araucanas" (Easter Eggers) and when i looked it up I saw pictures of your birds and I was like "WOW!". Immediately turned on to the true Araucanas.

Then I fell in love with Cathyʻs black ones!

Thanks guys, for leading the way.

Aloha, Puhi

 

[OnceInaBlueMoon]

Hello from Tennessee! I raise (true) Ameraucanas that I purchased from Paul Smith. I recently came across a pair of Golden Duckwing Araucana's. It is hard to find true Araucana's in my area so I went ahead and purchased them. I have read a lot about the Araucana's, but I am very new to them. This is my first pair. They are both rumpless. The male is single tufted and the female is clean faced. Would one of you Araucana experts give me some insight regarding what I could potentially expect in breeding them? Regarding tufts, I wondered what I should anticipate in breeding a single tuft to a clean faced. I know a double tuft is ideal. Also, I wondered if since they are both rumpless, if all offspring will be rumpless or if they can produce a tailed chick. Are tufts immediately visible on day one of a chick's life? Lastly, If anyone has any pictures of Golden Duckwing chicks and would be willing to upload pictures of theirs, I would be appreciative. It is surprisingly hard to find chick pictures. I would appreciate any insight. Sorry for the long post! Thank you for your time!

 

[Ravynscroft]

Hello from Tennessee! I raise (true) Ameraucanas that I purchased from Paul Smith. I recently came across a pair of Golden Duckwing Araucana's. It is hard to find true Araucana's in my area so I went ahead and purchased them. I have read a lot about the Araucana's, but I am very new to them. This is my first pair. They are both rumpless. The male is single tufted and the female is clean faced. Would one of you Araucana experts give me some insight regarding what I could potentially expect in breeding them? Regarding tufts, I wondered what I should anticipate in breeding a single tuft to a clean faced. I know a double tuft is ideal. Also, I wondered if since they are both rumpless, if all offspring will be rumpless or if they can produce a tailed chick. Are tufts immediately visible on day one of a chick's life? Lastly, If anyone has any pictures of Golden Duckwing chicks and would be willing to upload pictures of theirs, I would be appreciative. It is surprisingly hard to find chick pictures. I would appreciate any insight. Sorry for the long post! Thank you for your time!

You're in mid TN?? Me too!

I have Araucanas as well, just put first test batch of eggs in the bator, lol... I have tails and tufts issues to work out though...
You may or may not get tails popping up, it depends on your line and how much they've been worked with... but tails or partial tails are almost always a possibility... for breeding, you will get a higher hatch rate with tufted to clean faced... and I like the clean face as much as the tufts anyways...

Would love to see pics of your pair... this is a chick from my bantam Araucanas and it is a Black Breasted Red, but GDW chicks will look same except lighter color like the 2nd pic...

ETA: and yes, you can see the little tufts as soon as the chicks fluff up...

 

[OnceInaBlueMoon]

You're in mid TN?? Me too!

I have Araucanas as well, just put first test batch of eggs in the bator, lol... I have tails and tufts issues to work out though...
You may or may not get tails popping up, it depends on your line and how much they've been worked with... but tails or partial tails are almost always a possibility... for breeding, you will get a higher hatch rate with tufted to clean faced... and I like the clean face as much as the tufts anyways...

Would love to see pics of your pair... this is a chick from my bantam Araucanas and it is a Black Breasted Red, but GDW chicks will look same except lighter color like the 2nd pic...

ETA: and yes, you can see the little tufts as soon as the chicks fluff up...

Fun!!! A middle Tennessee chicken friend! I live right outside of Lawrenceburg, Tn. I raise Wheaten/Blue Wheaten/Splash Ameraucanas, Lavender (project color) Ameraucanas, Crested Cream Legbars, and I have a few White Ameraucanas and the Golden Duckwing pair. I am partial to blue egg layers. I will get a few pictures of my pair and will send them to you tomorrow!

 

[Ravynscroft]

Fun!!! A middle Tennessee chicken friend! I live right outside of Lawrenceburg, Tn. I raise Wheaten/Blue Wheaten/Splash Ameraucanas, Lavender (project color) Ameraucanas, Crested Cream Legbars, and I have a few White Ameraucanas and the Golden Duckwing pair. I am partial to blue egg layers. I will get a few pictures of my pair and will send them to you tomorrow!

Awesome! I'm outside the Columbia/Mt. Pleasant area... also have Lavender/Black Splits Ameraucanas, Cream Legbars and a few others, lol... would love to see the pics and talk some chicken!

 

[cheapchicken]

Quote:
I am still attempting to hatch some araucanas but have been doing research on the breed and genetics for a long time ...

Simplified, tufts are a dominant gene as is rumpless (although there is a recessive rumpless, it should not be present in araucanas). That being said there are a few possibilities for your outcomes:

Having the tuft gene will produce variations of tufts, so statistically half of the offspring from your pair will be some form of tufted (could be double tufted). We know this because your clean faced bird does not carry the gene and because the tufted gene in its homozygous (two copies of the gene) form is lethal we know your other bird only carries one copy of the gene.

Rumpless is not lethal in the homozygous state and since both your birds are rumpless they can either be homozygous or heterozygous (one copy of the gene). We are unable to tell which just by looking. This leaves a few possible outcomes:

A. 75% of the offspring are rumpless (both birds have one copy of the gene) 25% are tailed
B. 100% of the offspring are rumpless (either or both of the bird have two copies of the gene)

In both cases, the resulting offspring could get one OR two copies of the gene depending on what the genetics of the parents are (but with this breeding you will not be able to figure that out).

This is talking about the two traits separately. You can find a punnet square tool online to give you the percentages of the combined traits for the 4 possible phenotypes (looks) depending on guesses for the actual genetics since the rumpless genetic makeup is unknown at this point = tufted/rumpless, clean/rumpless, tufted/tailed, clean/tailed.