Araucana thread anyone?

[cashdl]

I am so happy for you. I am thrilled that some are developing for you. I hate that the post office can be so rough on packages. I always tell them that they are fragile but don't mark the boxs, cause everytime I bought eggs, the ones that came the most damaged were in the boxs marked fragile. Its like a challenge to see how far they can drop kick them.

Lanae

 

[syble]

well if the post office does it anything like UPS its no wonder! every day i watch the guy drop at least half the packages he deliver, i heard a lamp break once and handed it right back to him, he wasn't impressed in the slightest! I'm just soo excited, i can't wait for them to all hatch and see what i get! hopefully a blue or splash in there somewhere, maybe a silver duckwing too.... but i'm not pushing it

Sib

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Quote:

 

[syble]

So curiosity has me. What is everyone breeding for with their own flocks? I've been following this thread for a while now, and i hear a lot of emphasis placed on tufts, and rumplessness. I know some (like me) are on the pursuit of blue large fowl. I know i'm a bit premature seeing as mine are still in their eggs, but i'm trying to come up with a key element to improve. Hopefully my chicks hatch and i can use them for breeding (tufts optional, rumplessness a must

) From the various pictures i see around it looks like leg coloring is a bit of a challenge, i see slate, yellow even white from time to time. I also see assortments of comb styles(its supposed to be pea right? which is the 3 rows of bumps?). I think my main emphasis will also be on egg color/size. On that note, i'm assuming the roo has 50% to do with egg color of offspring, how do you manage that? Do you just keep track of the birds that hatch from the bluest eggs and only use them?
Thanks
Sib

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Good question.

I have three main priorities - Body fitting the SOP, Blue eggs, and YELLOW SKIN . . . I don't mind if I have yellow legs pop up in a non-splash or non-white bird now and then, but if I see slate or white in the birds, I would freak. And cull like crazy.

Tufts aren't a huge concern to me right now. If I've got good tufts on a good bird, that's a show bird. Otherwise, tufts are a little of a wild card. I mainly just want enough tufted birds to make pairs for everyone, which usually slims down to just tufted males, and a couple females. Most will be clean faced though.

My number one thing thing, besides blue eggs, is body type. I don't like small or narrow cushions (rear ends) I don't like skinny or long legs, and I don't like horrible combs or bantam-faces (too big of eyes, too little of feather around the eyes)

I don't mind a little droop or fold in the pea comb, but one that is too tall, thus making too big of wattles as well - I cull.

Here's a VERY ideal female to me. Big blue eggs, yellow legs and skin on a splash bird, and good body. Very posterior shape, good, round cushion, etc. This girl I want to take to a show, . . . but her tufts are small and big.

Male version - bad comb (but at least not tall) and weird color, but I'm definitely using him.

Oh yeah, size is another thing. I don't like small Araucanas. I have one, but she's mainly a pet because she's so beautiful, but I can't breed for her color as I don't have a male to fit to it.

 

[syble]

they look like nice substantial birds illia. I agree with you, that some almost look wispy. Not quite bantam but not quite Large fowl either. I've also seen some pictures with really long legs and no rump to them at all. Do you find it a challenge to get the yellow skin and green legs? I'm just learning my chicken genetics so far and i don't know which leg colors are dominant and which are recessive.
Thanks
Sib

 

[smoothmule]

I'm with Illia on the standards. I want a substantial bird, they aren't a gigantic breed anyway. They're great foragers so they should be less expensive to raise if given a chance to free range. Mine feel a lot heavier than they look, built like a brick. I like that. I like the cushion too. They're still rumpless but the back isn't so short that they can't breed naturally and easily and they shouldn't have poopy butt all the time if they aren't so short backed.

Tufts/Rumpless/Blue eggs are a goal we should all strive for but we all know it's not always a package deal and for myself, I feel luck to have any at all so I am probably less likely to cull right off. I try to use the best qualities from each and when I have one that is lacking, I will give them a chance to be bred to a better mate to produce one better than they are to keep and continue and then I will feel okay to cull them. I have to say that if you cull every Araucana that doesn't meet the standard, you could end up pretty quickly with no birds left. It takes a lot of work and money to keep a flock going that is so complicated.

I have concerns about the small gene pool and I don't want the gene pool to shrink, I want it to grow as I find more breeders and bloodlines. When you check around and ask where the bloodlines came from, they are coming from the same small group of breeders who have been working so hard to get this breed going. I am so glad to see the growing number of people not only wanting to raise and enjoy these guys, but also wanting to take part in improving the breed and keeping it going. It just kept running through my mind that there might be a whole flock lost and there was a whole flock lost this winter.

I'll eventually get where I want to be but I'm really just getting started so it will take a few years and generations.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Ditto. I myself am aware of my small genepool, which is why I'm really on the lookout for other birds from different lines.

Anyway, here's some photos of some very nice girls of mine. Pardon the muck, it's the northwest after all

Blue Cuckoo - hatchmate, but a clean-faced blue version, she's got less of a cushion though, but still, she's a fav!

Silver Duckwing

This here is detail, especially in eye color, of a beloved hen of mine who's struggling right now. She will not, absolutely not, live in the pasture with the other girls. . . However living free range on the front lawn means being chased and torn at by Shamos, and living in the bachelor pad means being chased and ganged up on by a bunch of huge roosters. . . Sigh. Wish she'd understand the situation.

Araucana eggs! Going in the bator!!

The six on the left are Araucana eggs, the six on the right are Ameraucana eggs. I now have about 10 or so Araucana eggs in the incubator. So excited.

Oh, and wanna see something neat? My man, Marango, has melanizer that causes blue spangling on his chest. . . But I'm sure you may know that.

Well, this spangling is obviously homozygous or just really dominant, as, . . . This is his son. Isn't it beautiful? He's nearly a blue laced red.

Little man has a tuft, too.

 

[syble]

It's so nice to have a topic like this to learn off of. I think for me, i will focus mostly on the body shape and size, and some of the fine details like proper comb and leg color/skin color, but i want to make sure i focus on eggs too. I want to have decent sized blue eggs as my goal. I'm good with aqua, turquoise sky blue all those shades, but i dont really like the olive ones too much, or the browner ones. I do remember from before i had a hen that had very nice blue eggs, and hers had almost a coating on them, that felt a bit waxy but gave the best color by far. I wondered if it was only chance as she was a cross, but one of the eggs i got from Lanae had it too! So far its growing, and i have very high hopes for it. Not sure how but i'm gonna try and keep track of the bluest egg chicks. I wouldn't let that govern completely weather i keep them later or not, but if i need to shave a hen or roo and there are 2 comparable, i would favor the one that came from the better egg i think. It seams like such a challenging breed I almost wonder what i'm doing haha. But if i go slow and keep learning, in a couple years maybe i'll have something to show off!
Thanks
Sib

 

[syble]

forgot to mention, but illia i love your lemon blues!
Sib