Araucana thread anyone?

[caj1985]

Thanks for the effort, pbandj.

 

[cashdl]

The new Araucana Club of America website is up and running. We have many new features in this website. We have an integrated forum, classified section, link to a facebook page, and many many more upgrades. For Araucana Club Members - we have a links page with about a dozen or more older Araucana Articles, the ability to post birds for sale in the free classified section, Members only forum, and the ability to participate in the first ever Online Araucana Show we will be having this summer.

Come check out the new website.

http://www.araucana.net/

 

[Stacykins]

Which picture do you think shows Araucana egg color better? The picture taken under a camera flash (the first one) or the picture taken with no flash, but natural light through a window? How does everyone go about accurately capturing the color of a blue egg?

 

[Brada Puhi]

#2

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I don't think I posted this pic here. She is tuftless

 

[mendocinosunris]

The new Araucana Club of America website is up and running. We have many new features in this website. We have an integrated forum, classified section, link to a facebook page, and many many more upgrades. For Araucana Club Members - we have a links page with about a dozen or more older Araucana Articles, the ability to post birds for sale in the free classified section, Members only forum, and the ability to participate in the first ever Online Araucana Show we will be having this summer.

Come check out the new website.

http://www.araucana.net/

the new website looks great. Thanks for all your hard work!

 

[smoothmule]

Update on my Chocolate Araucana project
At this time, I have 3 split for chocolate cockerels, the original 2 non-Araucana hens (chocolate), 1 chocolate cockerel that is clean faced/rumpless, 1 smallish chocolate hen that is rumpless and tufted, 2 young pullets starting to lay that are tufted (tiny but visible) and rumpless, a newly hatched chocolate chick and one pullet that is dun for sure but may also be chocolate, I have to breed her to chocolate to know for certain.

I have to say, I am loving this project. There are minor things to fix and when I say minor, I mean another breeding season and I'll be seeing some correct chicks that meet the SOP for the black Araucana only they will be chocolate.

Things to fix include getting the leg color back to yellow from white (easy and this last chick hatched has yellow skin/feet), improving the tufts (no more easy or hard than the average Araucana), improving the head, tightening the feathering (too fluffy) and adding some leg (and I have just the cockerel to do that.

Things that are looking good are that they are mostly rumpless already, tufts (even though tiny), nice "type" (they are "looking" very Araucana). Yellow skin is coming along. I would Love to make them with clean yellow legs but if yellow covered with chocolate (same as black Araucana with yellow skin and black legs) but if it's possible, I'll work on yellow legs on the side too and see if I can make a line of all yellow legs. I know it's possible and I even have a couple of black hens with all yellow legs....incorrect for blacks but they produce black legged with my cock "usually". It was difficult in the Serama's to make blacks with clean yellow legs so I know I can do it with time. Chocolate will dilute all parts of the bird that are black, including the beak and legs.

Here are some recent photo's of my chocolates.















These nice chocolates would not possible without a very good flock of blacks and I continue to work on them to perfect them and I never feel I have perfect Araucana's but I enjoy seeing them improved with each breeding season. Last year I had issues getting the skin yellow enough to suit me, too many pale yellow feet. I think I have that going in the right direction now so on to other things to perfect. The Black Araucana standard allows for either black or green leg color. I have both and I don't have a preference and see I both as attractive on black. I hope more of you will consider joining the ACA and working to bring your birds up to the standard. Any one of the many breeders at the ACA would be more than happy to help you learn to breed to correct faults and to bring out the colors in your flock that are standard.

More Araucana's need to be bred and shown and to show, they must be one of the accepted colors or at least be an accepted color in other APA breeds in order to show AOV. I'm still learning and will continue to learn. This is an exceptional breed in many ways, there are still a lot of people who have never seen one in person or know what a "true" Araucana looks like.

 

[BooPeeps]

Smoothmule, thanks for sharing your progress on your chocolate araucana project. What a challenge and how very interesting! Kudos to you.

 

[Stacykins]

I don't think I posted this pic here. She is tuftless

Blue is definitely one of my favorite chicken colors. She is lovely! Especially the lacing on her feathers!

Update on my Chocolate Araucana project
At this time, I have 3 split for chocolate cockerels, the original 2 non-Araucana hens (chocolate), 1 chocolate cockerel that is clean faced/rumpless, 1 smallish chocolate hen that is rumpless and tufted, 2 young pullets starting to lay that are tufted (tiny but visible) and rumpless, a newly hatched chocolate chick and one pullet that is dun for sure but may also be chocolate, I have to breed her to chocolate to know for certain.

I have to say, I am loving this project. There are minor things to fix and when I say minor, I mean another breeding season and I'll be seeing some correct chicks that meet the SOP for the black Araucana only they will be chocolate.

Things to fix include getting the leg color back to yellow from white (easy and this last chick hatched has yellow skin/feet), improving the tufts (no more easy or hard than the average Araucana), improving the head, tightening the feathering (too fluffy) and adding some leg (and I have just the cockerel to do that.

Things that are looking good are that they are mostly rumpless already, tufts (even though tiny), nice "type" (they are "looking" very Araucana). Yellow skin is coming along. I would Love to make them with clean yellow legs but if yellow covered with chocolate (same as black Araucana with yellow skin and black legs) but if it's possible, I'll work on yellow legs on the side too and see if I can make a line of all yellow legs. I know it's possible and I even have a couple of black hens with all yellow legs....incorrect for blacks but they produce black legged with my cock "usually". It was difficult in the Serama's to make blacks with clean yellow legs so I know I can do it with time. Chocolate will dilute all parts of the bird that are black, including the beak and legs.

Here are some recent photo's of my chocolates.















These nice chocolates would not possible without a very good flock of blacks and I continue to work on them to perfect them and I never feel I have perfect Araucana's but I enjoy seeing them improved with each breeding season. Last year I had issues getting the skin yellow enough to suit me, too many pale yellow feet. I think I have that going in the right direction now so on to other things to perfect. The Black Araucana standard allows for either black or green leg color. I have both and I don't have a preference and see I both as attractive on black. I hope more of you will consider joining the ACA and working to bring your birds up to the standard. Any one of the many breeders at the ACA would be more than happy to help you learn to breed to correct faults and to bring out the colors in your flock that are standard.

More Araucana's need to be bred and shown and to show, they must be one of the accepted colors or at least be an accepted color in other APA breeds in order to show AOV. I'm still learning and will continue to learn. This is an exceptional breed in many ways, there are still a lot of people who have never seen one in person or know what a "true" Araucana looks like.

Your chocolates are definitely awesome. I never paid much attention to the color, but in the sunlight, WOW! What an awesome project of yours! They look like they are coming along wonderfully!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Blue is definitely one of my favorite chicken colors. She is lovely! Especially the lacing on her feathers!


Your chocolates are definitely awesome. I never paid much attention to the color, but in the sunlight, WOW! What an awesome project of yours! They look like they are coming along wonderfully!

Thanks! Blue is one of my favorite colors too