Araucana thread anyone?

[Quirky]

I'd love to have some of your pullets. I don't really have any projects except to keep everyone healthy and get my first chicks. How's that for being at the very beginning?

No one is laying yet and there are no signs of them doing the deed, so we are coming along s-l-o-w-l-y here.

 

[smoothmule]

Once my friend Kandi has been here and bought what she's going to buy, I have a buyer that has picked out 6 pullets so after that, I'll be posting some on the skyblueegg auction and I'll post here when I do. I'm going to list them as soon as I know what I have left for sale and will put leg bands on the ones that are sold and just hold them until the weather is safe to ship again.

Here is one of the cockerels I hatched, I think Joker is this one's dad. His name is Columbo.
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/281710_2057391548994_1070765760_2255059_6940385_s.jpg

 

[Quirky]

Oooh, he's pretty. That's duckwing-ish coloring, yes?

 

[ilovechicks2]

Here is my amerucana/EE roo at 3 weeks

and 5 weeks

 

[smoothmule]

Oops. Yes, a gold duckwing. Sorry about the tiny picture. I thought I could link from my facebook photo but that didn't work. Here he is from the photobucket album.

 

[smoothmule]

ilovechicks2, what cute chicks! I love the stink eye from the light one and the other one has some neat eyeliner

 

[suzannaski]

Hi Smoothmule-
I am incubating 8 Araucana eggs from dealerlarry on ebay (Chicken Scratch Farm) . I have little to no hope for them, but I'm seeing it through to the end anyway. I candled on day 3 and saw nothing, and again last night (day 7) and still saw nothing. Here's to hoping I'm wrong. I am also hatching 6 of my own Araucana/Ameraucana eggs, they are looking all dark, which is promising. Mine should start hatching next weekend, and the bought eggs, if by some miracle, will hatch the following weekend.
I'll be watching Skyblueeggs for your posts- I am bound and determined to have a true Araucana.
All I want for Christmas is a true BLUE EGG! Not greenish blue. I have plenty of those.

Hey, does anyone know how to sorta tell cockerels from pullets? I heard one had one tall center row in the comb, and the other had all the same height on the 3 comb rows. But now I forget which is which. I know its not tried and true, but....

 

[Quirky]

Suzan,

I hope your eggs hatch. I can only imagine the suspense of incubating eggs.

As for cockerel vs. pullet, isn't darkening of color the easiest way to tell on rose comb birds? I have very, very limited experience, but my little cockerel had a much redder comb from about 4 months.

 

[Stacykins]

Quote:
I hope everything goes well. I just recently hatched some eggs from Chicken Scratch Poultry, also bought through eBay. Two were tufted and rumpless, I know they came from those eggs. So if they make it, you may have a standard fitting araucanas!

 

[smoothmule]

suzannaski, best of luck with your hatch. I don't candle before 10 days but by 10 days, you should see definitely if they are good or not. That doesn't mean they will hatch but it means they are fertile. Were they shipped during this heat? It's been 104 here. I wouldn't thing any eggs would survive this heat for days in the mail. Those first days in a warm incubator are crucial to their beginning development so warming them to even 90 degrees for a couple days would start incubation and then the change when they're set out to settle before putting them in the incubator would kill the embryo.

I hope they were packed well enough to be insulated.

Cathy