Araucana thread anyone?

[Illia]

Quote:
With the fact that they're rumpless, they are far better at escaping predators than one would think.

They're very fast runners, superb fliers, and have quite the natural "wild" instincts as well as a lack of tail to grab on to.

They're extremely good foragers, very good for free ranging, and don't eat much either.

As for snow - They're pretty hardy. I don't get much snow out here if any at all, but others from colder states seem to show that they live through it like any other chicken.

 

[pride&joy]

Ok so I finally got those pics today! I have six cockerels and 10 pullets, I figure keep all the girls for lovely blue eggs. Keep maybe 3 roos two to breed and one as insurance. Ideally I would set up two breeding pens and build my #”s and see what I have then add a couple of nice trios come spring? However not sure of what the quality of the birds. I have also decided to breed primarily BBS, with maybe one exception.

Of the six cockerels there is one that is solid black, double tuffed but comb does not look right? Of the four that have some color showing on hackle and saddle feathers there is two that are yellow legged and two that are dark or slate? There is one that is not blk not sure what his color is but his comb looks better to me? I will end up taking more pics later but please feel free to educate me (don’t hold back I can take it ??)

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[cashdl]

For me the black is the best because of the tufts. The comb is easier to correct than the lack of tufts. I do like the body on the blue gold one although if he had dark legs maybe willow or slate it would be better. Those are the two I would keep. I would put tufted pullets with the clean faced roos and clean faced pullets with the tufted and see what the spring brings.

Lanae

 

[Illia]

pride&joy :

Ok so I finally got those pics today! I have six cockerels and 10 pullets, I figure keep all the girls for lovely blue eggs. Keep maybe 3 roos two to breed and one as insurance. Ideally I would set up two breeding pens and build my #”s and see what I have then add a couple of nice trios come spring? However not sure of what the quality of the birds. I have also decided to breed primarily BBS, with maybe one exception.

Of the six cockerels there is one that is solid black, double tuffed but comb does not look right? Of the four that have some color showing on hackle and saddle feathers there is two that are yellow legged and two that are dark or slate? There is one that is not blk not sure what his color is but his comb looks better to me? I will end up taking more pics later but please feel free to educate me (don’t hold back I can take it ??)


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The tufted black one has the best body and is the only one you can actually breed when it comes to APA recognized colors. . . However it looks like you're bound to get tails pop up in the offspring with any of those cockerels except the one in the 7th photo. The rest either have elongated rumps or partial tails coming out.

Also of course, the only one with a good comb is the Blue Duckwing one, which honestly you can actually work on to breed duckwing birds, but his body is too long and he doesn't have tufts. (so, if you've got tufted duckwing females. . .)

The black tufted one is pretty nice, but has a serious comb issue. You want a good pea comb - One that is very small and tight against the head, and does not flop to either side.

A comb like this is ideal:

Three defined rows, parallel to each other, and no floppiness or large size in the comb.​

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I had thought I would get out of Araucanas.
I love the breed but they do not sell as well as my other breeds and I have to sell in order to feed the parent flocks. However, I have this pretty roo chick and a few like the pullet behind him and then I don't want to sell them! I have not offered up this lovely roo for sale yet but I have several other nice fellas here. Look at how gorgeous he is, how can I sell him? I sold so many of these last year and now want to keep him for myself. However, that means more pens and more work. I have several roos out running the farm now, I don't want him to go into general population but I don't care to breed too much of these beauties either.
He is 2 1/2 months old in these photos.

So should I sell or keep?

 

[cashdl]

Very nice roo Nadine. He is bantam correct? If he was large fowl I would happily take him off your hands. In the pic he looks like a buff is that what color he is or is the pic misleading?

Lanae

 

[Illia]

Definitely not buff.

Buffs, especially males, have a golden glow like this:

He is VERY nice though, and perfect tufts. . . I'd keep him. Is he blue? You can always integrate him into blue, black, splash, lavender, etc colors. You can even work on blue duckwing coloring.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

He is the only one I have ever had to come out this color. He is blue based because his mother is blue. She is a small bird but mine are supposed to be LF. Though breeding them in a closed flock for the past few years has made mine smaller, I think. The father was a larger bird but I no longer own him. I have only a black hen and a blue hen left and my black hen is bi lateral tufted.

This fella is a smokey gray/brown color. He is very hard to photograph but I will try to get photos of him outside in the pen.

I don't really need him as I have a red/blue roo that I adore and he makes such nice kids.
I may put this boy up for auction since he has nice tufts and is an awesome color. I have several other boys that I like as well as this boy and tufts are not important to me. Egg color is what I breed for.

In '09 I hatched numerous tufted babies and sold them all. I did not hatch so many this year and still got a good many. This is my last tufted one and I have kept him so long because I like his color.

 

[cluckcluck42]

I've noticed my Araucanas will not step foot in the snow. We have them in a large pen where half is 'indoors' and half is 'outdoors' and sometimes they will peep their head out the door but besides that there are no chicken prints in the snow. My other birds love the snow, so maybe there is some truth to Araucanas not liking snow because mine sure don't.

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
The tufted black one has the best body and is the only one you can actually breed when it comes to APA recognized colors. . . However it looks like you're bound to get tails pop up in the offspring with any of those cockerels except the one in the 7th photo. The rest either have elongated rumps or partial tails coming out.

Also of course, the only one with a good comb is the Blue Duckwing one, which honestly you can actually work on to breed duckwing birds, but his body is too long and he doesn't have tufts. (so, if you've got tufted duckwing females. . .)

The black tufted one is pretty nice, but has a serious comb issue. You want a good pea comb - One that is very small and tight against the head, and does not flop to either side.

A comb like this is ideal:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/5146345267_6d0fc9d2b1_z.jpg

Three defined rows, parallel to each other, and no floppiness or large size in the comb.

this is even better than that but I don't think Araucanas get that small combs..... both are very good examples of pea combs.....

punky

and this Is too large for my liking: