Araucana thread anyone?

[star2525]

That can be just an extended tail folicle too, not necessarily partial rumpless, you have to feel for the Parsons nose is what they call it.

Victoria

 

[cashdl]

No all of my birds are rumpless except my splash roo, and he is rumpless he just has a few tail feathers. Thanks Victoria. The one chick I have that has tail feathers only has 1 and it is bi-lateral tufted so Im not too worried about the feather.

Lanae

 

[agnes_day]

one thing i have noticed, not trying to step on toes here either, is that a lot of people talk about the breeds characteristics, and they really have no business saying anything..i have been shocked more than once, with the pure ignorance of what ive read here lately.

 

[exoticduckluvr]

here are pics of the 2 little rumpless roos I hatched from Daddy Roo & Blackie. They are just 3 months old now and started changing from solid black a couple of weeks ago I think they are cool looking. No tufts as I don't have any with tufts yet. Only let them hatch a couple of eggs since I had broodie hens and didn't want them to sit forever on ceramic eggs.
Red one

White Hackles

little 2 month old Hen from Tuffy or Blue with Daddy Roo. She is Ameracauna mix. Got tiny tufts at 3 weeks old just like Tuffy did. Blue is tailed and no tufts

she has some specs of red coming in her now

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Just curious, what is it you're shocked or in disagreement with?

 

[cashdl]

agnes-day,

If it is something I am saying that shows my ignorance of the breed please, (seriously) please let me know. I love the araucana and If I believe something that is incorrect, I would appreciate it if someone lets me know. Anyone that thinks they know everything is a fool and my husband didn't marry no fool. I am willing to learn and admit when I am wrong.

An open comment like that seems to point at too many things and too many people, so if you could let us know where we or me are in error ( you don't have to mention names especially if its me. LOL!) but I come here to learn, so would appreciate being corrected.

I would hate it if I was spouting off stuff and was incorrect.

Lanae

 

[star2525]

Hey Guys!

I have been trying several times today to figure out how you post pictures, I managed to get one picture uploaded, but couldn't get it to go into my message, I'm not real good with getting the pictures into a message I was lucky I guess when I got my Avatar and its been a long time since I did that.

I took some pictures of my Silver Duckwing female, she's clean faced and tailed but body coloring is right and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I have some pictures of AOV birds too I'd like to post, I have one similar to exoticducklvrs one with the silver in the hackles but mine also has an extreme amound of what looks like mahogany in the back, he's rumpless too.

Then I have one roo that is clean faced and tailed that I kept because of his coloring and I think he's a Columbian type project bird, I got 2 in my hatch and kept the one roo with the most amount of white thru his body. I've got pictures but am clueless as to what I'm doing wrong. And again I have to go to bed for work tomorrow but will be back online tomorrow night.

I'm glad this thread is going and I think everyone that has Araucanas is really enjoying finding each other with some of the same interests in the birds, they are awsome birds with great personalitys for sure.

Victoria

 

[wilds of pa]

I think you all are doing a great job on this post..keep it rolling..

 

[puredelite]

Although not new to chickens at all I am just getting started in the Araucana breed. Have pens full of started chicks from several different breeders that I got either from shipped eggs or chicks. Nice variety of colors, a whole lot of blacks and blues and several of the so-called "wild" color which is kinda brown laced. Will post some pics when time permits. All are clean-faced so now need to locate a tufted- face roo as that is the only way to breed the one's that are the true Araucana as outlined in the standard. Seems to always be a couple of tailed/ partial tailed chicks in each hatch too. They are an interesting breed though. Anyone within a reasonable driving distance from SW Virginia that has any tufted roosters available would sure like to hear from you!

 

[hinkjc]

I think I see where some of the frustration comes from in this breed. People tend to think Araucana are easy to breed. They cannot be compared to Ameraucana or Easter Eggers in today's world of breeding. Here's why..Araucana breeders were set up to fail as soon as the standard was written the way it was. Getting tufts and rumpless on a single bird is no small feat. Tufts are lethal, so chicks die in the shell or don't get them. Very frustrating when it's an important aspect of the breed. Setting up breeding pens to ensure live chicks and getting tufts on offspring is a way to work around that. Rumpless is not a fun trait to work with either. Breed them too long together and you end up with non-breedable birds, either due to fertility problems or spines that are so short they're useless (due to feces blockage or inability to breed). Not only does this breed not breed true, in most cases it can't due to genetics. So, establishing a standard of perfection that can only happen 25% of the time was really ignorant. jmho

In my years of working with this breed, I've learned that one of our first issues is there are not enough people working on them. The issues with getting the perfect birds keeps people from wanting to raise them, let alone breed them. The few that hang on to maintain flocks of this breed are the dedicated ones, who hope to preserve something special. I often revert back to the history of them and remember where they came from. This helps me make decision in my breeding pens. It is not only about the APA standard, but what the historical preservation means to this breed. There goes a lot more than a color variety. Just something to keep in mind.

Any person who wants to work with Araucana has to start somewhere. Hopefully they will do their research and buy from people who have araucana (as opposed to easter eggers or ameracuana) to get their start. Color can always be worked on, but I will say that I've found most of the breeders do not focus on this due to their focus on getting tufts and rumplessness. Traits have always come before color on this breed. It started that way a long time ago and people still prefer the non-standard colors over the pure varieties. I raised pure blacks without leakage and got rid of the flock when there was no interest in that color variety, and I didn't have a personal interest in black birds. The good news is the flock went to a single person and I can only hope they continue to breed them and enjoy them. I also raise pure whites, which there is little interest in. But I like white birds and will continue to raise them until they perish. It is my understanding Steve Waters is looking for a serious breeder to take over his white breeding program. If you are serious about a great line, I would encourage you to reach out to him.

What people ask for most is the mixed color varieties. Why, who knows. Maybe because they want something rare and in various colors, just for pets and because they're unusual. I can't speak for them, but personally I enjoy my mixed color pen as well. I find they more closely resemble the originating species of fowl that drove this breed. The colonca and quetros that were brought together to develop such an unusual breed will forever be in my mind.

Now that we talk about the colonca and quetros, let's look back at what was done with the APA and see where we went wrong. The colonca is a blue egg fowl that is clean faced and rumpless. The quetros was a brown egg fowl that was tufted and tailed. How did we ever imagine we would get all blue eggs from these two birds is beyond me..first mistake. Years of selective breeding, yes. But keeping true to their history, no. Matching up these two birds and their genetics will not produce 100% tufted and rumpless birds either.

Someone asked about breeding rumpless versus tails. In my experience, tail to tail always produces tails. Breeding rumpless to tail, produces rumpless, rumpless with rudimentary tail feathers, partial tailbone and full tails. Breeding rumpless to rumpless can produce much the same as rumpless to tail, with less full tails evident. Although rudimentary tail feathers and partial tailed birds are common as well, depending on which generation you're on.

Tufted to tufted produced lots of chicks dead in the shell. Not ideal if you want a successful live hatch. I find matching tufted to clean faced is the optimal way to get lots of chicks and lots of chicks with tufts, since it is a dominant trait and a single copy reduces the lethal aspect. Sorry for going on and on, but just wanted to share some of my thoughts on the breed. I hope new breeders find it helpful and will continue to ask questions to learn more.