Araucana thread anyone?

[otakalhasas]

Well, bless her cotton pickin heart. Did I mention her name? It's The Duchess of Blue, we call her Duchess for short. Actually one of my DD calls her Quarter because she says she looks like she's missing some "chicken" being rumpless.

So on to the saga of the day. Yesterday was the egg on the coop floor, broken and eaten. TODAY she sat in one of the nesting boxes for TWO HOURS...only to later hop out and not deposit an egg. Man! What is that all about I wondered!? So she was out of the nesting box for about 15 minutes pecking around with the rest of the girls, then she lets out a quick little "BOK!", and plop the egg hits the ground! So I quick went over and grabbed it, it didn't break thank goodness, and she just goes on her merry way as if nothing happened! This is cracking me up!! (No pun intended.). So, at the very least...she knows to go in a nesting box at least AND this has been two eggs in two days!

Here's a picture of her egg next to my Andalusian and my Chocolate Orpington (both of their eggs are the size of large store eggs).

Whoa, you might have to get her a miniature version of those things they put on parade horses to catch droppings! Hey, so far as she's concerned, it looks like an egg is a dropping!!!!!

 

[chickengr]

Well, bless her cotton pickin heart. Did I mention her name? It's The Duchess of Blue, we call her Duchess for short. Actually one of my DD calls her Quarter because she says she looks like she's missing some "chicken" being rumpless.

So on to the saga of the day. Yesterday was the egg on the coop floor, broken and eaten. TODAY she sat in one of the nesting boxes for TWO HOURS...only to later hop out and not deposit an egg. Man! What is that all about I wondered!? So she was out of the nesting box for about 15 minutes pecking around with the rest of the girls, then she lets out a quick little "BOK!", and plop the egg hits the ground! So I quick went over and grabbed it, it didn't break thank goodness, and she just goes on her merry way as if nothing happened! This is cracking me up!! (No pun intended.). So, at the very least...she knows to go in a nesting box at least AND this has been two eggs in two days!

Here's a picture of her egg next to my Andalusian and my Chocolate Orpington (both of their eggs are the size of large store eggs).

 

[cashdl]

I have mostly blue and black hens. I have the hen in my profile pic too.

He is what is called a crow wing bird. Note the lack of color at the bottom of his wings. Some would call that birchen, but birchen is actually the silver color of this allele. Brown Red is the red color of this allele. I don't think there is a name for the gold color which he is. I would refer to him as a black gold. There are 5 alleles of color in chickens. Black (E), Birchen (ER), Wheaten (EWH) Duckwing (E+) and Brown (EB) Those are the common names to give you a reference point. I have listed them in order of dominance, which means if you breed a Birchen to a Wheaten, Duckwing or Brown, the chicks will look Birchen in the first generation. I tell you that to explain my following reasoning. I would put him with your black and blue hens but not your brown duckwing hens. The Black (E) allele is an incompletely dominant one in that it takes additional black enhancers to make a completely black bird and so any chicks roosters that hatch from your blue and black hens will most likely have gold in the neck and saddle.

Hope that helps,

Lanae

 

[chickencoop5]

Thank you Lanae! Would I be better off using my older rooster since he has less leakage? I prefer the younger roosters tighter comb but that's the only advantage I see.

 

[junebuggena]

Thank you Lanae! Would I be better off using my older rooster since he has less leakage? I prefer the younger roosters tighter comb but that's the only advantage I see.

Your younger rooster is closer to breed standard. That older boy has a lot more faults than just color to work on. He's not rumpless, he doesn't have the right skin color, and he's got a lot more gold. Birchen is supposed to be silver, and red leakage is a pain to breed out. It's better to have too much silver and work on correcting the pattern than it is to try to get rid of red/gold leakage.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Looks rumpless to me...

 

[cashdl]

Thank you Lanae! Would I be better off using my older rooster since he has less leakage? I prefer the younger roosters tighter comb but that's the only advantage I see.

I like the younger rooster better. His skin color is better. The older rooster has white skin which is not an araucana trait. I would use the younger rooster and remember that the hens will be black or blue most likely. Its the cockerels you need to keep a close eye on. Look for the cockerels with more black than their dad, but also keep an eye on leg color, ( should be dark willow to black with yellow on the bottoms of the feet), keep an eye on comb and wattle size, beak and head shape. Also the body length. Your older cockerel has a better body type, so try to work towards that.

Lanae

 

[chickencoop5]

Thank you for the replies. Can you add a picture to give me an example of a good body type? Also, a close up of a good head shape, wattles and comb?

I dont suppose anybody has a good black rooster they want to sell

 

[luckysaysgo]

:yiipchick

my araucana eggs aren't even close to that dark/ saturated in color..is that level of saturation normal? I've only seen my own eggs so I don't know.

 

[luckysaysgo]

my araucana eggs aren't even close to that dark/ saturated in color..is that level of saturation normal? I've only seen my own eggs so I don't know.

Well, bless her cotton pickin heart. Did I mention her name? It's The Duchess of Blue, we call her Duchess for short. Actually one of my DD calls her Quarter because she says she looks like she's missing some "chicken" being rumpless.

So on to the saga of the day. Yesterday was the egg on the coop floor, broken and eaten. TODAY she sat in one of the nesting boxes for TWO HOURS...only to later hop out and not deposit an egg. Man! What is that all about I wondered!? So she was out of the nesting box for about 15 minutes pecking around with the rest of the girls, then she lets out a quick little "BOK!", and plop the egg hits the ground! So I quick went over and grabbed it, it didn't break thank goodness, and she just goes on her merry way as if nothing happened! This is cracking me up!! (No pun intended.). So, at the very least...she knows to go in a nesting box at least AND this has been two eggs in two days!

Here's a picture of her egg next to my Andalusian and my Chocolate Orpington (both of their eggs are the size of large store eggs).

see above question about saturation, please...