Araucana thread anyone?

[smoothmule]

Omniskies,
I am so glad to hear about the Araucana's. I was afraid some of Thom's Araucana's would just disappear to be pets or worse, he used to give a lot of his culls to a neighbor for the stew pot. Where are you located? I know several people that were buying his Araucana's and there were people buying when I got there. I came home with 7 that were decent. There were a bunch of rough looking young ones left by the time I got there but I did get some nice older ones. I bought some of his juveniles last year that actually turned out pretty decent but they were in terrible condition when I got them home. Make sure you worm them and dust them. A friend from Ozark had sent money by paypal to hold some of them and by the time she got there, she didn't want any of what was left so she used the money to get another breed.

You're going to love this breed. I don't think many breeders get to start out with perfect birds so don't feel alone and they are a challenge but definitely worth it. I look at each one as an individual as far as potential. I'm hoping you're not that far from Springfield. I'd love to do some chick or hatching egg trading with you when you're ready. I have several from Thom's flock but I do have some that are not. He had a lot of blue, not my favorite but I do really like Splash so Blue is pretty okay now. If you have a particular color you find you like best, check with me and maybe I'll have something to trade.

I'm just outside of Buffalo.
Cathy

 

[Omniskies]

Thom is where I got the flock. I went out there a few times and helped people pick up a few breeds (our little "group" ended up with his Double Mutant French Copper Marans and quite a few of the Single Mutants. We also got some of his Gold Laced Standard Cochins and a few others). I've always adored going out and seeing Thom. Any frumpy ones you saw was probably due to them being picked through by a lot of people in a very short amount of time.

I'm in the Springfield area.

I've already dusted some of them and plan on dusting the others this weekend. I still haven't decided what to do with the entire flock. Any roosters that don't look up to par will continue on their journey to Camp Kenmore.

There are some frumpy ones in this batch, but I blame it on the miserable weather. Thankfully I've been outside and we didn't lose anyone in the horrible temperatures we had last night. I was really afraid that even with heat lamps I'd be going outside and finding out that I _really_ should have waited before telling anyone I had anything

Thankfullly the weather is now going to warm up. So after the initial bout of we-have-to-get-sick-because-of-drastic-weather-changes everyone should be well on their way to eating lots of food and strutting their stuff so I know who I need to keep and who should find new homes.

 

[smoothmule]

I'm still just so glad someone got them that will at least do that for them. They will improve a lot, the first ones I got from him last year were in horrible condition. They didn't have any feathers on their backs and they were wormy and loaded with lice. They really came around though and in a short time, maybe a month or so. I also got a pair of the GL Cochins. They were too cool not to. They were not nearly as large as the ones I saw at the APA Nationals back in Dec but so pretty. I was just going to get a rooster for the yard to walk around and look pretty but couldn't resist a hen too. My best friend lives in Mississippi and she has the whites. She plans to come for a visit in April and if she does, she's bringing some hatching eggs to trade for some of the GL Cochin eggs.

There is a breeder in Lebanon too and she got some of hers from Thom.

Here's the pair I got. (off topic)

 

[smoothmule]

I was just out to do chores and I have lost a total of 2 of my Araucana's due to this weather. The first was my brown/ red pullet and now my crazy colored columbian pullet with tufts/rumpless. I have heat lamps and all that but the temps have been just horrid. The worst has been -17 but we have been routinely having temps below zero. We're supposed to have better weather coming in and I am soooo relieved. I hate to lose even one

I candled the eggs I set in the incubator on the 31st and I have 6 good ones. I'm halfway surprised any were good as cold as it's been but I was able to pick some up soon after they were laid on my days off. I have more that I'll set Saturday and some of them won't be good as they were freezing before I found them but I couldn't resist trying. Next week should be milder temps so I'll be picking up eggs all week to set. It's going to be interesting seeing what colors I get, all my roosters are cohabitating with the hens and all getting along so I may see a trend in who is top rooster here. The other pen is all of the ones I just bought plus I put Slinky in that pen. I really want some chicks from her and that new rooster, Brooster.

Anyone else got eggs in the incubator? or under a hen?

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Quote:
I just hatched out (yesterday and today) 26 of 29 eggs that I had set and I was pleasantly surprised at the good hatch rate - I too have been battling below zero temps and I know for a fact that a number of those eggs went into the bator just above freezing inside. I really, really, didn't think that I was going to have this many turn out. There are Araucana genes in these chicks, but who knows if there are any pure bred in this batch - I was running the eggs through to try out the new bator while waiting for the hens to "clean out" after putting them in breeding pens before I sell anything as pure bred. I put a note up at he feed store $1.00 barnyard chicks and made a big deal about how they are mostly mixed breeds...... HEAVENS TO BETSY!!!!! I had five e-mails waiting for me when I got home from my errands and phone calls non stop - I am sold out for four weeks - until I can start selling as pure bred, and if I had known to fill up the bator, I could have sold every single chick that I could have hatched out!!! I had requests for 150 chicks yesterday alone!! I knew that chick fever was in the air, but I really hadn't grasped the extent of it. It's Awesome!

Smoothmule - I'm so sorry about your birds. What a shame for them to have made it this close to the end of the nasty weather only to die before they saw any of the good stuff. Winter is tough. I'm so done with winter. We have had a marvelous day today; above freezing and beautiful. The end is near, we can make it.

 

[NateDomRIR]

Quote:
Thanks for the info. I did a search and found out that some people are crossing Barred Rocks and Black Wyandottes to make them. What are you using?

Nathan

 

[smoothmule]

Cackleberrycoop,
Thanks. very crummy but part of it. The little red/brown pullet was always less than healthy. I even kept her back from going out to the coop for weeks after her hatchmates and gave her extra supplements etc trying to put weight on her and she was coming along sort of. She may have been one of those that would just never have flourished but the other chick was a tougher, well filled out, larger than some that were older than her. I have to believe that it is natural selection sometimes and only the stronger will survive the toughest times but that isn't always enough to make me feel better about it.

Here are some of the chicks I have inside at this time. A couple of them may be tufted, definitely not sure yet though. Hopefully, I'll see something more definite soon. All of these chicks were hatched out as chipmunk striped but no two the same. These were all hatched together, I think it's a bit odd how different they are as far as how fast or slow they have been to feather. The colors have been pretty fun to watch develop too. All chipmunk but all so different in the colors of the down/stripes.

Chip

Columbo

Deja

Pokey

Red

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Oh, Columbo is striking!

 

[smoothmule]

I'm pretty sure Columbo will be columbian restricted like the pullet I just lost. I was so interested in seeing the mature feathering on her. This one looks the same as does Deja. They're nice big chicks and won't be going outside till the weather is "settled".
I can keep them in the garage till then when they're too big for the brooder in the house. Most of these will be for sale. I'm looking red over pretty close, wishing for a pullet but betting on cockerel

I'm hoping for at least one pullet, I plan to pair a pullet up with one of my older, tufted cockerels to sell.

The only one I am thinking is a pullet for sure is the smallest of the group, Pokey. Pokey had really neat blue down on the shoulders and bold striping but definitely smaller so could be the only pullet? Really slow to feather out too. Guess I'll have to wait and see. I've also read that the cockerels will have more defined combs and the pullets will look sort of messy bumpy so I took the close ups of the comb to compare later when I know what I have. Maybe we can study these chick photo's and compare to later photo's when I can tell pullets from cockerels and figure out more ways to tell the sexes when they're younger.

 

[NateDomRIR]

The "Araucanas Rings on Their Ears" book has info about their tufts and trimming their vents to improve fertilization.

I only put 2-3 biddies with each of my cocks.