Araucana thread anyone?

[Birch Run Farm]

No Lanae, you must not start liking blacks!

 

[syble]

with how fragile they sound maybe i'm better off not having tufts hatch this time around haha. Its ok lanae, i like black too, i hope to mostly keep black blue and splash. i just hope whatever hatches it carries that awesome blue egg gene! its the only one that hasnt piped yet. once they finish hatching i think i'll crack the 2 that died late term to see if they had tufts. curiosity i guess. Is it possible that any of the chicks dont look obviously tufted but can have tufts when they feather out?
just curious again haha.
Thanks
Sib

 

[syble]

i also meant to ask if willow legs are seen from day 1 or if they come in and turn green as they mature?
Thanks
sib

 

[cackleberrycoop]

leg color absolutely changes as they mature.

 

[cashdl]

Willow legged chicks will appear smudgy looking in the legs. The best I can describe it. When looking for tufts, look for the ear opening, then run your fingers from the back of the head towards the beak along the cheek. Tufts will be slightly longer than fuzz and just look slightly differently. They will sometimes be two or three hairs that look funny or different. I am not explaining it well. When the chick is first hatched and still wet I will rub my finger over their ears and the tufts will stick out where the fuzz wont. Once you see a tuft you will understand what I mean. The first tuft is the most exciting.

I am trying deserately not to like black Ann, This one pullet I have is just so awesome and black, I can't help myself.

Lanae

 

[Illia]

Tufted chick for reference

Well congrats on the hatches!! I really hope the eggs I've been shipping off give people at least one chick. I know getting shipped Araucana eggs to hatch is a big pain, I feel people's sorrow when it happens. . . It's not an easy thing, and the hard part especially is not realizing the difficulty of hatching Araucana eggs until you get your first dozen, and, no chicks.

Well, me, after next week I'm going to put selling eggs to a stall and hatch about 2 dozen of my own (finally

) to get some chicks for myself. Right now I've got eggs in lockdown and am hoping for some tufted chicks, but they're Olive Eggers.


Anyway, just gotta show off my "bad boys." Marango, the Lemon Pyle type colored guy, got himself some new spur ornaments.

The little brat is apparently so skilled in fighting that not only can he fight two other Araucanas and still "win" on the second bird, but he can fight a full sized Shamo and make the Shamo run for it. Ugh, it must be his small size and great ability to fly and jump. . . As a note, these fights were NOT approved! That's why he's got spur caps now. . . Although he's not much of a man to use his spurs, it helps his ego drop a tad. With the weight and silliness of them on his spurs, he tends to get more distracted with the fact that it feels like he's being restrained.

And just for show - Here's his gorgeous son, who is practically a clone of him in temperament. He thinks he's all that, but he's still young and dumb - He once tried fighting a tiny little bantam Cochin when he got loose, and lost, and I personally thought it was hilarious! He got chased off by some tiny little 2 lb rooster.

And just for fun, here's my littlest man who I'm on and off trying to sell. He's of no use to me because although he's got a wonderful, very tame temperament, PERFECT tufts, a nice splash color, and good body - He's too small for my taste.

So at the moment production is going great, I'm getting about 2 dozen Araucana eggs a week, the boys have some testosterone issues they've finally gotten over (notice all my talk about fighting

- The Shamo incident was seriously an unexpected accident, Marango got loose, btw) and things are going good. I just need to find myself some time to hatch some of my own Araucanas.

No roosters were seriously hurt during the making of this, umm, post.

Some bloody combs and a torn tuft, but all were mended and none were meant to happen. After all the ruckos I've officially decided to either separate the troubling Araucana boys as a breed from the rest of the boys or separate the lowest rooster in the pecking order, my Buff Ameraucana. Well after days of the Araucanas, Marango especially, being crafty and finding ways to get out of their new covered, completely sealed up run (or so I thought) I decided to just give the run and coop to the Buff Ameraucana. So far so good!

 

[syble]

chick number 5 is out and a blue! and best of all #6 is finally piped! hopefully out by the end of the day.

Illia that splash roo is a looker! why not test breed him with some big girls and see what you get, those genes are too pretty not to pass on!

Sib

 

[syble]

even after going off of your pictures, i dont see tufts, i guess their isnt any. though i did feel some form of a tail on one of the blues

maybe its a hen hehe

 

[nivtup]

I am happy to report that after a major non-fertility issue in the White Pen, and a major vent trimming session 2 weeks ago..................

I just candled eggs, and nearly all of the Whites are fertile.


So happy, so happy.................

 

[syble]

Quote:
So what dose it mean if it hatched out blue hehe...

And yay, finally #6 is out. I'm happy with that, hopefully not all roos! lord knows i'll be hanging on to everyone of them probably till they are mature!

Here are some pics, i dont see anything resembling a tuft!

The 3 chipmunkesque chicks. 2 were from ginger eggs, 1 from silverduckwing (darkest) not sure why they look so much more red in the photo, they look very yellow in person!


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The 2 blues from the blue eggs, one is darker then the other.



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and the Dominant white x black egg



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Sorry i'll get a better picture of it when it dries. I had to double check if it had a tail! was just his but hole sticking out haha.

So excited to see these guys grow! Thanks again lanae!
Sib