Araucana thread anyone?

[cashdl]

I will look for my camera, but of course now that it is the chick is fluffed up the tufts arn't as impressive as when he was wet and they were the only thing sticking out of his face. Kind of reminds me of the fish that got away, if it hadn't got away it wouldn't be as impressive to see as it was to hear about. LOL!

I also want to post pics of my black red roo chick who does have georgous tufts. He is out of my bbr araucana roo who had a straight comb. The comb was hideous but this guys comb is so tiny and tidy. The bbr roo hatched out of a blue egg and was supposedly out of Araucana parents. I have had a couple of breeders tell me that straight combs pop up every once in a while. So I am anxiously waiting to see how the comb on the roo chick turns out. It is definately a pea comb but hopefully it does not get huge and floppy. His mommys comb is very tiny.

So out of the 3 chicks that hatched today, 1 is splash and clean faced, 1 is bbrish and double tufted, 1 is blue and single tufted. Of the 3 dead 2 were tufted. Not bad to get 4 out of 6 eggs have tufted chicks in them. Would be better if four tufted chicks out of 6 hatched but thats how it goes.


Lanae

 

[cashdl]

So here are a few pics of this summers tufted chicks. It was taking a long time to upload them all so I will post more later.

This is my black/red roo I am so excited about. I just put him in a pen with a bbrish pullet and a creme pullet. Both are tufted and rumpless.

Here is a blue roo with losts of gold leakage. He is out of my tufted splash hen and he inherited her tufts.

Here is my bbrish pullet that is in with my black/red roo chick. She has two tiny tufts growing in.

Here is my tufted duckwing splash roo. It is hard to see his tufts in this photo but they are nice sized and are splash also. I have him in a pen with a tufted BBR pullet and a clean faced BBr pullet.

This is a lovely blue pullet. I adore her tufts. She has two even backswept tufts. They look like daisy's on her head.

 

[cashdl]

Here is a couple more.

This is a nice tufted splash pullet that now lives with Beth G.

This is one of my BBRish pullets that is with my tufted duckwing splash roo.

Here is another pic of my tufted black/red roo chick. It shows his tufts better

Lanae

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Hi Lanae! Its been too quiet for too long on this thread; it's great to see some more birds. That blue pullet has nice depth to her feather and nice lacing. She has the super dark eyes just like all of my bantam blue and black hens, I'm not sure where that comes from or what to make of it? Is she in a BBS pen? Those tufts are cool! I've never seen them flattened back like that. It's so much fun having a breed with tufts, it adds a whole other layer of interest to the breeding process; so much more possibility! Love your photos, your flock sure is growing up nicely!
Megan

 

[exoticduckluvr]

oh they are beautiful Lanae

 

[Illia]

Hey Lanae, LOVE your last BBR girl shown. Very gorgeous.

Well as it turns out, which I did not even know, my family actually wants me to hatch out some Araucanas. I've been working so much on Ameraucanas and Marans (and Olive Eggers) they've been asking, "What about Araucanas? Did you put any Araucanas in there? Where's the Araucanas?" - Sadly right now NONE of my Araucanas are laying any eggs though, and the last 3 eggs they gave me are Olive Egger eggs in the bator, and I REALLY hope they're fertile.

 

[cashdl]

It is a perfect time for me to finally stop setting eggs because most of my araucana hens have quit for the winter I think. I am not going to put lights in their pens. They deserve a break if they want one.

I too love the tufts on the blue girl. They are very different from the other araucana that I have. She has a very princess leia look about her. So girly.

That BBR pullet is my favorite. She has the greenest legs and her tufts bounce when she runs to see me. My tufted duckwing splash that is pictured has really pretty aquamarine legs and his eyes have a blue green look to them also. I am looking forward to seeing what I get out of that pen.


Illia,

Our weather is fairly mild so you should be able to hatch thru the winter if your girls lay eggs.

Lanae

 

[cackleberrycoop]

I missed a great picture opportunity today. I boiled a big pot of alfalfa tea for the flock and poured a bunch of the hot liquid into their big water tub. It's been hovering around freezing here for weeks and snowing, so of course, even though the water in the tub was only luke warm, it sent steam up into the air. My sweet tufted white pullet climbed right into the tub, with the warm water up to her thighs and drank and drank, while the rest of the flock surrounded the tub and drank in a far more sophisticated manner from the sides. With the steam billowing up around her, she looked like some wild swamp creature. I've got to come up with a fitting name for her; she's really quite precious.

 

[cashdl]

Thats a girl who knows the value of spa time.

I will give my birds a soak in very warm water, then shampoo them, then they get the blow dryer on low. It is so cute to see their little eyes close and their legs go all loose. You know they are totally enjoying it. I make sure they are dry and toasty warm then put them in a pen with a heat lamp for a while. I have a roo who fairly wiggles when he knows he gets to go for a soak.

I will take a pic next time.


Lanae

 

[zekii]

We are still building our coop, have no chickens yet, but I do like the Ameraucana breed...what can other tell me about them...?
I'm in New Hampshire... do they do well in cold climates ? I read these are multi-purpose breed does that mean they are both layers & meaters ?

Thanks for any info