Araucana thread anyone?

[wilds of pa]

Thanks Cathy, the late Claude McCallister's large black hens have helped this lavender line along nicely..

 

[smoothmule]

Another Araucana is chick hatching, this one is black so the count is 2 chipmunk chicks, 1 blue, 1 black. There are 4 more eggs but none pipped yet but they'll get to stay in the incubator till tomorrow. I've not had them hatch so far apart when they were set together, weird.

They're all rumpless so far and at least one of the chipmunk chicks is tufted I think, it's still wet so it's hard to tell but I think there is some really long down if that isn't a tuft. The first chick is fluffed now and definite chipmunk, I put it in the brooder last night. I usually wait a day or so but the little booger was so antsy to get out of the bator and is already larger than the week old Serama chicks and all over the place like a much older chick. Definitely some nice, large and healthy chicks.

 

[exoticduckluvr]

I need to ask a stupid question. I am going to sell a few non tufted tailed birds as blue egg layers. If one of the parents that produced these birds is rumpless but the(offspring) prs i am selling are both tailed would/could they produce some off spring that are rumpless. I ask only because people down here just have no clue about anything other than just the regular chickens like RIR, Comets,Leghorns, Easter Eggers etc. I would hate for them to hatch out a rumpless chick and put it down thinking something was wrong with it. I wanted to tell them they might get some rumpless chicks if it is possible so they don't freak out

 

[Illia]

Quote:
No. They won't get rumpless chicks from the offspring.

If anything their only chances are 25% for rumpless birds if they bred brother-sister from your sold culls.

 

[exoticduckluvr]

Thanks Illia

 

[smoothmule]

I don't know about that, I had a cute lil clean faced/partial tailed blue hen that I hatched a few chicks from that were by my Serama roosters. Some have full tails but some were totally rumpless and could have passed for Araucana. I gave the cutest pullet to Ruthless, another BYC member. She was so cute. I sold my bantam hen last fall and I have wished I'd kept her several times.

I may be buying a couple of black bantam Araucana hens for a color project. It will take some time because I still have to hatch and raise a couple of cockerels but Serama's mature pretty early. I have a chocolate Serama hen and I have 11 of her eggs under broody hens right now and a couple in the incubator. Any cockerels out of this hen will be split for chocolate so I can breed one of them to a couple of Araucana hens and should get some chocolates. The Serama hen has been with my blue wheaten rooster because I don't have a black rooster for her yet but I'll eventually have a really good black Serama rooster for this hen so their chicks have a better chance for solid chocolate rather than a patterned with other color genes. Serama's have funky colors so it's going to be interesting to try this. Until I have a chocolate split cockerel, I can breed them to my cocopop rooster to see what we get that's rumpless.

I know I can get rumpless/tufted from this cross cause with my Maran hens, I got 100% rumpless chicks and many of them were tufted from that cross so I'm pretty hopeful I'll have some really nice bantams.

Anyone else have any projects for this year?

 

[hinkjc]

Hoping to get some more large fowl buff, mottled and mille fleur this year. Here are a few peeps from a hatch last night. All are rumpless. I am not certain on who has tufts for sure yet, but I believe I see several in there with them. I'll know once they're fluffed up and moving around more.

 

[smoothmule]

I love fat healthy chicks, they look great and love the colors you have there
Cathy

 

[exoticduckluvr]

I love fat healthy chicks to. They are so much fun to raise in small numbers lol. Someone please beat me if I ever decide to hatch 48 chicks over winter again and raise inside. After a month it was not fun anymore

 

[syble]

today is lock down for my 8 araucana eggs. Looks like the high temp that caused my turkeys to start hatching 3 days early must have been in that first week as no signs of piping, or peeping have been heards from the araucanas yet. still they are due on saturday, fingers crossed for a good and healthy hatch!
Sib