Araucana thread anyone?

[Birch Run Farm]

Illia, Minnie is still very little. Those are her first set of feathers. She is a very independent little chick, orphaned and yet she managed to slip through the fence every day to free range and never get picked off by the resident goshawk. Must be her camo color!

 

[Illia]

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And the fact that she's an Araucana. To me, they're the hardiest, toughest, most "wild" buggers I've ever had. They breed, crow, and lay early, and can withstand anything - Including bigger bully chickens.

 

[cackleberrycoop]

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SO TRUE! When I brought my first banty Araucanas home, I was blown away later that day when I looked out and all my other chickens were huddling inside their coops or under the outside overhangs, gathered around the feed stations, and there are my brand new Araucanas, way out in the field, scratching down through the snow to the ground below. Foraging in the dead of winter!! They weren't being forced out by the other birds either; they had their own coop and sheltered area they could have hung out in. Talk about a hardy breed. I'm a big fan of hardy birds.

 

[Illia]

My latest fuzzy-butts!

This awesome colored one is basically the same as my Lemon Blue, Marango (and his offspring) except in black form.

And this is another Marango offspring, but with a really cute, beautiful broken up duckwing patterning. I'm very excited to see how it will mature to look like. (In real life, this chick is a BRIGHT lemony yellow color)

So far, both are clean faced. I've got another one who hatched but is having some troubles, it's an orange version of the last chick shown, and I have no clue if it is tufted or not yet.

I've got about 6 more eggs left to hatch!

 

[PitterPatterPalace]

Yay!!!

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Oh my Illia, they are just sweet, sweet, sweet. Very interesting colors also; I'm excited to see progression photos as they mature. Fingers crossed for the rest of your hatch.

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Here's Barbie, my blue Araucana banty, and her five week old babies. Obviously, she is not their momma biologically. I tried to break her of going broody for six weeks before giving in and letting her have two eggs from my Black Copper Marans rooster and Ameraucana hen. She set and hatched the eggs in a converted bunny hutch but just a couple of weeks after hatching, she moved them all up to the top branches of our blue spruce tree for nights. I love to climb up on a ladder and look at teensy Barbie with her wings spread up over her head trying to keep her giant babies warm. And it has been COLD, so we shall see if normal breeds reared by a crazy wild tough Araucana banty creature can make it. So far, so good. I'm excited also for her to have this break from egg laying. She began by laying the most stunningly blue eggs, but very, very quickly they faded to pure white, not a hint of color in them. Hopefully after this extended break, her pigment supplies will be replenished.

 

[cashdl]

My son is 10 and almost my size and still likes to be holded (as we say) when he is sick, I keep telling him he needs to start holding me. Sometimes I look at him and wonder where he came from ( my husband is 6'5" but swears the size comes from me at 5'4"). Do you wonder if Barbie looks at her babies as she is trying to spread her wings over them and thinks " sheesh, when are they gonna spread their wings over me. LOL!!

Lanae

 

[Illia]

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Perhaps you showed the wrong image? I see a young Black Copper Marans (cross?), a very young, well, it looks like an Easter Egger, and another young Easter Egger on the right. . .

 

[puredelite]

Will try and post some pics of my 2-3 months old Araucana's later. Young roo's are already exercising their crowing abilities! I am in desperate need of a tufted, rumpless rooster. Single tuft is acceptable, I just need that tufted gene for my breeding program. Anyone out there have anything available? I am in SW Virginia and am willing to travel a reasonable distance for one.... Help please!