Araucana thread anyone?

[Jewls819]

The tuft is something I am still working on. I have one single tufted cock and quite a few DT hens. The rest are clean faced. I am hoping I can get at least one double tufted cock from all my hatching this year. I have the duck wing variety and (I get both silver and golden) but mainly golden. I love this color variety as it is easier to sex the chicks at a younger age. Once the chick starts to get even a single salmon colored feather near the chest I know.

 

[mich9510]

What's the easiest thing to work on? Tufts, color, or rumps?

 

[chickengr]

The tuft is something I am still working on. I have one single tufted cock and quite a few DT hens. The rest are clean faced. I am hoping I can get at least one double tufted cock from all my hatching this year. I have the duck wing variety and (I get both silver and golden) but mainly golden. I love this color variety as it is easier to sex the chicks at a younger age. Once the chick starts to get even a single salmon colored feather near the chest I know.

congrats, they are nice birds. I hope you get double tufted cock so you can breed him with your clear faced girls.

I have DT both cockerel and pullets and only 1 pullet is laying so when I start hatching I don't expect live chicks. there is a clear faced roo with them but as I added these 3 later he does not consider these 2 pullets his girls and never tries to mate them.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Yes. Tufted to untufted means that you'll get a better hatch rate, but only 25% at best will be showable birds. Tufted to tufted will give you a 75% hatch rate at best. But the odds are better for getting a showable bird.

Incorrect... while breeding tufted to clean faced gives larger number of live hatched chicks, it will give the same % of tufted chicks to hatch as breeding tufted to tufted...

Breeding tufted to tufted results in lower % of clean faced chicks and higher % of DIS...

Breeding tufted to clean faced results in higher % of clean faced chicks and lower % of DIS...

Breeding either way is purely personal choice of the breeder when the desired results is tufted chicks...

 

[Ravynscroft]

What's the easiest thing to work on? Tufts, color, or rumps?

Depends on what you start out with and have to work with...

Overall though, tufts are probably the easiest to add in while being extremely hard to perfect an even DT... but easiest is usually best left for last...

This is my opinion and how I see things from what I have learned about and from breeding...

In any breed, seriously working towards breeding to SOP, always focus on type first, then color, then the finer details...

So you would want to work on rumplessness first... then shape, size, carriage, and weight... then work on color... and lastly work on tufts...

Now I feel the most emphasis should be placed on your cockbird rather than your pullets... I see it over and over, most are concerned with getting pullets, better pullets, perfect pullets... while this is not wrong, I feel the more important keystone for improvement lies in the cockbird... and this is why...

Your cockbird supplies fully 50% of all the DNA contributed to the chicks you hatch... so a lower quality cockbird can slow you down much more than lower quality pullets will... so be picky about your males... many say cockbirds are a dime a dozen, throwaways, or unwanted extras... but in the reality of the concept of breeding for a better bird, those cockbirds are essential... a great or good cockbird can move you forward whether you have great, good or not-so-good pullets... the pullets hatched from him can be bred back to him for more improvement... while settling for a not-so-good cockbird and good pullets can give pullets of lesser quality than the ones you already have... but work with what you have and as long as you continue to see improvement, cull out undesirables and move forward, you are doing fine...

Also, an added note for when working on color... growing out cockbirds will show you what and how much leakage of unwanted color you may have... pullets can hide leakage, like looking solid black except have gold or silver underneath, and carry it and pass it on to their offspring... if a cockbird has leakage, he shows it and you can see it... so be prepared for not only culling cockerels, but culling pullets or hens as needed to move forward...

Just my 2 cents but hope it helps...

 

[chickengr]

Depends on what you start out with and have to work with...

Overall though, tufts are probably the easiest to add in while being extremely hard to perfect an even DT... but easiest is usually best left for last...

This is my opinion and how I see things from what I have learned about and from breeding...

In any breed, seriously working towards breeding to SOP, always focus on type first, then color, then the finer details...

So you would want to work on rumplessness first... then shape, size, carriage, and weight... then work on color... and lastly work on tufts...

Now I feel the most emphasis should be placed on your cockbird rather than your pullets... I see it over and over, most are concerned with getting pullets, better pullets, perfect pullets... while this is not wrong, I feel the more important keystone for improvement lies in the cockbird... and this is why...

Your cockbird supplies fully 50% of all the DNA contributed to the chicks you hatch... so a lower quality cockbird can slow you down much more than lower quality pullets will... so be picky about your males... many say cockbirds are a dime a dozen, throwaways, or unwanted extras... but in the reality of the concept of breeding for a better bird, those cockbirds are essential... a great or good cockbird can move you forward whether you have great, good or not-so-good pullets... the pullets hatched from him can be bred back to him for more improvement... while settling for a not-so-good cockbird and good pullets can give pullets of lesser quality than the ones you already have... but work with what you have and as long as you continue to see improvement, cull out undesirables and move forward, you are doing fine...

Also, an added note for when working on color... growing out cockbirds will show you what and how much leakage of unwanted color you may have... pullets can hide leakage, like looking solid black except have gold or silver underneath, and carry it and pass it on to their offspring... if a cockbird has leakage, he shows it and you can see it... so be prepared for not only culling cockerels, but culling pullets or hens as needed to move forward...

Just my 2 cents but hope it helps...

I have a pullet with semi tail that comes from a rumpless flock. any suggestion how to breed rumpless from these birds?

a young cockerel is black breasted red and a rumpless pullet is blue wheaten. what colours can I get from them? unfortunately both are DT, so very few chicks are expected.

 

[Ravynscroft]

I have a pullet with semi tail that comes from a rumpless flock. any suggestion how to breed rumpless from these birds?

a young cockerel is black breasted red and a rumpless pullet is blue wheaten. what colours can I get from them? unfortunately both are DT, so very few chicks are expected.

Do you have a rumpless cockerel, or are they all tailed?

Either put a rumpless cockerel over your partial tailed, hatch and cull hard... or if you only hve tailed cockerels, still hatch as many of hers as you can and cull hard... pick out a cockerel from the mating with the smallest/thinnest partial tail and put him back over his mother... repeat...

Hopefully, that should show positive results for you...

 

[n8ivetxn]

To breed tails out of your flock, just remove the chicks that develop tails..... some of your chicks should be rumpless, keep those for future breeding....

I can't remember the formulas for chick rates, but I think you would get something like 50% (or is it 25%?) hatch rate, and all the chicks would be tufted.....All of my pullets are clean faced, I have a double tufted cockerel, but he isn't an approved color - which is too bad really, his tufts are unreal! I tried to take pics today, but they didn't come out well...and, he's shy too! I have a BBR cockerel coming in the mail tomorrow (thanks Ann!) from Ann Charles, he is gorgeous, but his tufts are a little uneven.

As for the possible color of your chicks.... I have 4 pullets from Ann, 2 of them are e+ wild type and 2 are BBR Wheaten based. I'll be breeding them with the BBR cockerel coming in the morning.... If your cockerel is BBR and the pullet is Bl Wh, I think you would have chicks that look mostly like BBR. If they have chipmunk stripes (agouti markings), that is your sign..... somebody with more experience than me might tell you more....

 

[chickengr]

Do you have a rumpless cockerel, or are they all tailed?

Either put a rumpless cockerel over your partial tailed, hatch and cull hard... or if you only hve tailed cockerels, still hatch as many of hers as you can and cull hard... pick out a cockerel from the mating with the smallest/thinnest partial tail and put him back over his mother... repeat...

Hopefully, that should show positive results for you...

good news is that only a pullet has tail. so she is not cull

I love her and want to keep her. she is splash wheaten.

 

[n8ivetxn]