Araucana thread anyone?

[Araucana Nest]

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These are my girls eggs; white leghorn and two little blue Araucana eggs.
No filters, I promise

Thanks for posting your photos. This is one of mine.

 

[willchickeneat]

My rumpless st OE hen finally laid her first olive egg today. Excited for her. She is very calm and allowed me to take photos of her. Hopefully everyone is doing well and enjoying Christmas Eve/Day around the world. Happy Holidays to all.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I love how lopsided they look with one tuft

 

[chickengr]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

[Araucana Nest]

My rumpless st OE hen finally laid her first olive egg today. Excited for her. She is very calm and allowed me to take photos of her. Hopefully everyone is doing well and enjoying Christmas Eve/Day around the world. Happy Holidays to all.

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Congratulations and Merry Christmas.

 

[willchickeneat]

Getting decent Araucana eggs every week. Far left are all Araucana eggs. We've had rain and tons of moisture/valley fog lately in California. Occasionally, after a long strike I get a super blue eggs. However, in general, there are no ideal blue eggs - like robin blue. For those who think otherwise, sorry to disappoint you. I've owned Araucanas, Ameraucanas, EE, Cream Legbars... First few pullet eggs tend to be the bluiest. Then after going on strike when they start again, you may get some really unique blue colored eggs. After laying for a while, the blue ink does run low - like Marans. Blue eggs eventually will look almost white towards the end of the laying season -although if you crack the shells you'll still see the blue pigment on the inside.

 

[Araucana Nest]

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Getting decent Araucana eggs every week. Far left are all Araucana eggs. We've had rain and tons of moisture/valley fog lately in California. Occasionally, after a long strike I get a super blue eggs. However, in general, there are no ideal blue eggs - like robin blue. For those who think otherwise, sorry to disappoint you. I've owned Araucanas, Ameraucanas, EE, Cream Legbars... First few pullet eggs tend to be the bluiest. Then after going on strike when they start again, you may get some really unique blue colored eggs. After laying for a while, the blue ink does run low - like Marans. Blue eggs eventually will look almost white towards the end of the laying season -although if you crack the shells you'll still see the blue pigment on the inside.

Thank you so much for this information, confirming what I believed. I was told by a breeder they go from brighter to fainter during the season but I've also been told the exact opposite on this forum. Someone said they don't fade away like the bloom on brown eggs. It's been very confusing so I appreciate your experienced input. I also have Cream Legbar which share the same retrovirus and I've noticed - as you have noted - they go from the best blue at the beginning of the laying season (in Florida, January) to light blue toward the end, with some peak blues sporadically in between.

 

[willchickeneat]

Some of the eggs I got were gray- all of them from one particular breeder, in fact. They don't all lay a blue egg but the blue egg is prized above all the other colors. I'm pretty sure some people either put a filter on their photos or do something else to manipulate the color of the eggs. The blue coloration is the result of a retrovirus; the entire shell inside and out is blue. The blue i have seen in my Araucana and in my Cream Legbar is a light pastel blue....very pretty but nothing like a blue sky. That may exist; I just haven't seen it.

From what I have been told, be prepared to work with whatever you get. If I had known then what I know now I could have saved a lot of money just starting with what I already had instead of going to a top breeder for foundation stock.

If you didn't know, olive eggers will lay gray eggs when their toner runs low. If you were sent gray eggs, chances are at some point brown egg breed was crossed with blue layer = green/olive layer. Green/olive eggs still carry the blue gene, though the ideal is to have blue eggs. Late in the laying season, the green/olive eggs will be an occasional gray. One of my OE just laid a gray egg yesterday. If she lays another gray one, I'll post up a photo.

Cream Legbars stock in the US is starting to have green eggs as well. If you want blue layers, ask tons of questions when purchasing and ask info about parent stock.

Foresure, I feel that Ameraucana breeders are most consistent in keeping the blue gene - blue. Not talking about hatchery easter egger stuff.

 

[Araucana Nest]

If you didn't know, olive eggers will lay gray eggs when their toner runs low. If you were sent gray eggs, chances are at some point brown egg breed was crossed with blue layer = green/olive layer. Green/olive eggs still carry the blue gene, though the ideal is to have blue eggs. Late in the laying season, the green/olive eggs will be an occasional gray. One of my OE just laid a gray egg yesterday. If she lays another gray one, I'll post up a photo.

Cream Legbars stock in the US is starting to have green eggs as well. If you want blue layers, ask tons of questions when purchasing and ask info about parent stock.

Foresure, I feel that Ameraucana breeders are most consistent in keeping the blue gene - blue. Not talking about hatchery easter egger stuff.

Thank you. I'm learning and also running low on inspiration for the Araucana. Selling a few and going to work to my own standard: calm temperament, blue eggs and clean faces. I'll call them something else when I get there. Fortunately I have a cockerel that I love and who came from a blue egg which will keep my Araucana pullets that came from blue and gray eggs busy next year.

 

[Araucana Nest]

Can someone tell me what colors I might get from pairing a recessive white pullet with my guy

And also a cuckoo with a cuckoo? Thanks I’m genetics impaired still. Appreciate your help.