Araucana thread anyone?

[Ray_n_Debi]

Beautiful!!

 

[smoothmule]

I have been breeding my barred araucana back to black/blue each generation. This Spring was the first time to do some test breeding of barred to barred. Some of the resulting chicks have some pretty impressive barring. The barred to black chicks typically have little to no barring on the primary wing feathers. I assume this is due to the fast growth of the primaries. As you can see in the photo, these chicks have barring in the primaries as well. Very Cool!

Barred araucana cockerelchick

Barred araucana cockerel chick

Rumbull,
Very impressive !

 

[smoothmule]

I haven't posted much lately but I recently got a pair of birds from smoothmule that I will be using to work on BBR araucanas and some other projects. The rooster might end up going with some hens to work on black araucanas too. In addition to those, we still have the bantam white pair we got at a show and the hen is a broody machine. Then they got some young birds at a show auction, all are tufted/rumpless. There is a blue, a black, and a cuckoo. The black has a single comb but I think it's a pullet. They are all supposed to be bantams but only the cuckoo looks smaller. Either way, we already enjoy them. I will try to get some pics soon. The pair I got from Cathy are great, the hen lays daily and the cockerel has a huge frame that is filling in nicely.

I'm so glad you're happy with them. Definitely post when you have chicks and if you're wanting to work on blacks, I will have black pullets available later this summer that are unrelated and out of black to black breeding

 

[beausonge]

I have been breeding my barred araucana back to black/blue each generation. This Spring was the first time to do some test breeding of barred to barred. Some of the resulting chicks have some pretty impressive barring. The barred to black chicks typically have little to no barring on the primary wing feathers. I assume this is due to the fast growth of the primaries. As you can see in the photo, these chicks have barring in the primaries as well. Very Cool! Barred araucana cockerelchick Barred araucana cockerel chick

Those are impressive. It must feel great when you see your plans come together!

 

[hennesseyt]

Beautiful Rumbull!!

 

[Brethren49619]

Just curious, Rumbull.

How long has it taken your project to get to this point? When did you start?
This kind of progress just doesn't happen overnight.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I'm not on here very often anymore. Well, I came on this morning and noticed an araucana thread, so Hello. Well, I'm discouraged because my projects haven't done as well as I was hoping. I have 3 projects going.....golden duckwing, black-breasted red and blue.
I have lost all hope of having a rumpless blue project because I was using a rumpless white with my blue roo, hoping to get some good babies, but none of them have been rumpless and I found her dead a few months ago, but I have a new roo, which is extremely light blue, I was thinking of using, instead of his dad.
All my other projects are also discouraging me because it looks like almost all my rumpless babies are roos and I already had the sire being rumpless and was hoping for some rumpless pullets. My plan this year was to raise lots of babies, replace the hens with new hens and breed them with my old roos (yes their sire), in the hope to pass on an extra dose of rumplessness, but I've lost a few babies and would have to incubate again....plus I don't have very good hatch rates with my araucana eggs, so it just has me feeling like I"m investing my time, investments and energy into a breed that really isn't pulling its weight.
I'm thinking about doing away with all my old flock, replacing them with the chicks I'm now raising, into one single generic araucana flock and kissing goodbye to selective breeding, altogether. That will free 2 stalls that I can use for meat production from my sex=link project.
I am 4 years into araucanas and thats 4 years of trying to hatch out babies that just don't hatch out and if they do, don't come out looking like they are supposed to.
I'm trying to run a no-nonsense farm, that runs at a profit and here I am conducting nonsense. Its just not working for me. I hate to admit it, but its not. I honestly think another breed would serve me better.

 

[poularde]

Araucanas are not for everyone. I adore mine. They may be frustrating , but nothing is more exciting than hatching a rumpless double tufted bird. This is my first year hatching from my own birds. Looks like I only hatched one tufted chick. I have eggs under broodies so I may get some more.

My chicks are all over the place. Some tailed some rumpless. I love getting the variety and look forward to next years breeding plans.

 

[smoothmule]

I'm not on here very often anymore. Well, I came on this morning and noticed an araucana thread, so Hello. Well, I'm discouraged because my projects haven't done as well as I was hoping. I have 3 projects going.....golden duckwing, black-breasted red and blue.
I have lost all hope of having a rumpless blue project because I was using a rumpless white with my blue roo, hoping to get some good babies, but none of them have been rumpless and I found her dead a few months ago, but I have a new roo, which is extremely light blue, I was thinking of using, instead of his dad.
All my other projects are also discouraging me because it looks like almost all my rumpless babies are roos and I already had the sire being rumpless and was hoping for some rumpless pullets. My plan this year was to raise lots of babies, replace the hens with new hens and breed them with my old roos (yes their sire), in the hope to pass on an extra dose of rumplessness, but I've lost a few babies and would have to incubate again....plus I don't have very good hatch rates with my araucana eggs, so it just has me feeling like I"m investing my time, investments and energy into a breed that really isn't pulling its weight.
I'm thinking about doing away with all my old flock, replacing them with the chicks I'm now raising, into one single generic araucana flock and kissing goodbye to selective breeding, altogether. That will free 2 stalls that I can use for meat production from my sex=link project.
I am 4 years into araucanas and thats 4 years of trying to hatch out babies that just don't hatch out and if they do, don't come out looking like they are supposed to.
I'm trying to run a no-nonsense farm, that runs at a profit and here I am conducting nonsense. Its just not working for me. I hate to admit it, but its not. I honestly think another breed would serve me better.

I'm so sorry to hear about the problems you're having. I don't think any of us see a real profit in this breed but it's certainly come a long way the past few years. Fertility and vigor has come along as well. Why don't you choose one color variety that you really like and just work on them? I found that to be far more rewarding and my flock went from mostly culls to some very good individuals in a short time. I consider white a color that needs to be breed totally apart from other colors. Black breasted red in Araucana's is on the wheaten base (not wild type) so if your BBR's are wild type, they won't bring as much to breeders working on them for show. Blue is not an accepted color yet, and could use some dedicated breeders and I can put you in touch with breeders that have what you need to get your flock moving forward, Duckwings as well. You have chicks now, sell them to help pay for a couple unrelated pullets?

What is your favorite? If you're wanting to sell for a decent price, you need to work on breeding towards the Standard of Perfection so that other breeders will want to buy from you. What do you consider your best? You really need no more than a trio or quad of pretty decent, unrelated birds to get going. There are breeders of many colors here, maybe we can help you to get a fresh start and help you along the way. You can PM me if you want. I'll do what I can to help

 

[Rumbull]

Just curious, Rumbull.

How long has it taken your project to get to this point? When did you start?
This kind of progress just doesn't happen overnight.

I have been working on barred for two years now. The chicks I am hatching now are fourth generation. They now have only 6% barred rock blood in them. It has taken a considerable amount of hatching and culling. I show some pics in this post
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/288425/araucana-thread-anyone/6420#post_9617143