Araucana thread anyone?

[Rumbull]

Do Auracana occasionally get a super short back? I mean look like not only did they lose the tail bones but the next vertebrae too. I have an Olive Egger pullet who is rumpless and is so short that she can't seem to poop clear of her abdomen. I have to wash her off about every other day. Here is a comparison:

I mean Kiwi's wing tips touch behind her butt! In fact I sometimes have to wash poop off her wingtips! I know she isn't full grown (not yet laying) but that seems extremely short.

Yes, they can have very short backs. I had bought a pullet that came with a free cockerel that had a very short back. I mean very very short back. It did no seem that all of his parts could fit into the amount of space that he had in his body cavity. His wings extended several inches past his rump. Baby got no back! He seemed to get along fine. I did not use him because he looked terrible but seemed healthy enough.
Because she is an olive egger, and not breeding to SOP, I don't suppose it would hurt to see how she turns out. If she can't properly poo, I don't know that I would want to spend the time cleaning her twice a week.

 

[alex8565]

Are you breeding tuftless to tuftless? Is that why you say you are putting tuft less eggs under your broody?

yeah I'm fairly certain they will be tuftless last 6 I've hatched from them were. I lost my tufted too and can't afford a new one right now.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Here is the chick, any ideas as to what color it might turn out to be?

 

[smoothmule]

Not sure, looks red/brown (gold birchen)

 

[smoothmule]

I have a friend who does pottery, not just pottery but "art" and it's real wood fired pottery. She's making these 2 mugs for me by request but I know she would make more. They are $45 each, anyone interested can PM me.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/1017558_394480900663599_2117355124_n.jpg

 

[Penny Hen]

Yes, they can have very short backs. I had bought a pullet that came with a free cockerel that had a very short back. I mean very very short back. It did no seem that all of his parts could fit into the amount of space that he had in his body cavity. His wings extended several inches past his rump. Baby got no back! He seemed to get along fine. I did not use him because he looked terrible but seemed healthy enough.
Because she is an olive egger, and not breeding to SOP, I don't suppose it would hurt to see how she turns out. If she can't properly poo, I don't know that I would want to spend the time cleaning her twice a week.

She died today. She had an impacted gut I gave her an enema and flush out a lot of poo that was compacted grass bits. Now she was eating this grass off the overgrown limestone driveway plus the pellets I'm feeding say they are complete and no need to add grit. The other chickens seem to be doing fine. After the enema she was moaning and then she fell asleep/passed out and a minute later quit breathing. Her crop was swollen with liquid.

I hate loosing her but I know that there are always losses in farming. I have raised sheep for 15 years. I still have 3 other pullets with tails and they seem to be doing fine. I will get some yogurt and see if they will eat it and try some vinegar in the water just to make sure no one else develops constipation.

 

[pmessner]

Hi all... I went to a chicken tailgate thing today and picked up an araucana chick... she is very sweet. I'm thrilled with her... but oh dear, I have a real newbie dumb question. I'm trying to wrap my brain around this lethal tuft gene... what exactly is the lethal gene for... are they talking about this



and is this the same gene that produces the "muff" look below or are the tuft gene and the muff gene two different things. Sorry... I'm confused.

 

[Rumbull]

Hi all... I went to a chicken tailgate thing today and picked up an araucana chick... she is very sweet. I'm thrilled with her... but oh dear, I have a real newbie dumb question. I'm trying to wrap my brain around this lethal tuft gene... what exactly is the lethal gene for... are they talking about this



and is this the same gene that produces the "muff" look below or are the tuft gene and the muff gene two different things. Sorry... I'm confused.

It is a small picture so I could be wrong, but that comb leads me to believe that you have a boy there.
First, the tuft gene is completely different than the muff gene.
The only time the tuft gene is lethal is when a chick gets two copies, one from the mother and one form the father. It is not much to be worried about. Once a chick is hatched, they are perfectly healthy and the tuft gene does not effect their health.
Many people will breed tufted birds to non-tufted birds so not to have chicks with two copies of the gene. Since the parents can only have one copy of the gene, their chicks will be 50% tufted and 50% non-tufted or clean faced.
If you breed tufted to tufted, statistically, you will get 25% of the chicks that die in the shell at aprox. 18 days into the incubation, 50% will have tufts and 25% will be clean face.
Welcome to wonderful world of araucana. There is a lot of good information on this thread so spend some time looking through the older posts. You are going to love it!

 

[smoothmule]

Hi all... I went to a chicken tailgate thing today and picked up an araucana chick... she is very sweet. I'm thrilled with her... but oh dear, I have a real newbie dumb question. I'm trying to wrap my brain around this lethal tuft gene... what exactly is the lethal gene for... are they talking about this



and is this the same gene that produces the "muff" look below or are the tuft gene and the muff gene two different things. Sorry... I'm confused.

Totally different breeds you have there. Rumbull explained the lethal tuft gene pretty well. I think he's right, the white one looks cockerel to me too

 

[pmessner]

Quote:

Sorry... neither of these two birds pictured are the little girl... I just got these off the internet as examples of what I am trying to understand... what do they mean by a"tuft". I will grab a picture of her tomorrow... she is NOT rumpless and has muff feathers/no tuft. Kind of confusing at first... She is a personable little thing so I don't care if she is a mix... just trying to understand the breed a little bit.