Araucana thread anyone?

[cottagechick]

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I have only had my two for about 6 weeks. They are young (about 4 months), so I don't have a lot of experience with the breed, but at this point the word I would use is quirky. They seem to be fairly quiet. But always moving. We often look out the patio door while eating dinner and just WATCH them. So funny. Much better than tv. They seem to like to look in and watch us too. My Mom often comments how they must wear themselves out by the end of the day. The worst that I have seen them do is run across my dogs back. The only time they make any kind of noise is when they are out of eyesight of each other. I have seriously considered naming them Laverne and Shirley. I have five more chicks coming in a week (I wanted all different varieties) and I have been tempted to cancel my order and just get every color of Araucanas.

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Quirky is an excellent term for the Araucana. I also have never had a mean one but they are, just as Illia said, not push overs. They do just fine free ranging with my large (140ish) flock of chickens. So far I have never had an Araucana who had to be watched over specially in order to integrate into the flock (unlike some other breeds, like the Marans). However, out of my large bunch of chickens, all of my top favorites, all the funny birds who stand out from the rest based on personality are Araucanas. I really enjoy their temperament, among the other wonderful qualities that they posses. I just wish they weren't so stinking hard to breed!

 

[cackleberrycoop]

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Are you saying that you have Cream Legbars, Illia? Like I said before, I missed about a months worth of discussion on this thread, so forgive me if this has already been covered, but where did you come up with those?! I always sort of assumed that they were more of a poultry land legend than actually real.

 

[Illia]

Ray_n_Debi have Cream Legbar eggshells

They are real though, just exclusive to Europe until Greenfire Farms imported them.

 

[cackleberrycoop]

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That is so interesting that you are getting more of the blue egg color in eggs this year from hens who had less blue last year; I have never heard of this happening. Certainly, I have only ever had it go the other way - brown pigment showing up to greenify eggs that had been coming out truer blue before.
Congratulations on the color improvements.
I absolutely agree that the richer the color, the more I like it - even if it is greener because of it. I also have noticed that the truest blue eggs are the ones that begin coming out lighter and lighter far sooner than any of the greener eggs do in a season (if that makes sense).
Lanae - i am STILL trying to get started on the BBS color variety. Please give me a thought or two if you have any breeding stock ready to sell. My parents are driving out again in October and could swing by your place to pick up some birds for me.

 

[cackleberrycoop]

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Ahha - now I'm up to speed! Very cool

 

[Ray_n_Debi]

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Illia I think you have me confused with suzannaski, I don't have legbar shells, she received some from Greenfire Farms.

 

[Illia]

Ah see? Confusion all around.

 

[ndoles]

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So sorry...I would be devastated...

 

[cashdl]

Megan, I am ready to sell my blues. I just don't want to ship them, so if your parents want to take them when they go see you, I would be ok with that. I have a triple tufted blue roo and a few blue hens that can go with him. I am thinking of keeping a blue tufted roo and my two blue tufted hens, but that still leaves 3 or 4 hens and a tufted roo if you want them.



Illia, congrats on your babies. Good for Josephine. A beauty and useful, can't get any better than that.



I too would call Araucana "Quirky". They have definate personalities. They are very sure of themselves and their elevated place in the universe. One of my baby roos hates blue jays and is constantly chasing them. Its pretty funny to watch. I don't have problems between my cats and chickens. They get along just fine. My cats are hunters and always killing wild birds and leaving bits and pieces around for me to find, but they don't mess with the Araucana. My Araucana are not mean to the cats, just bossy. They tend to crowd out the cats at the food bowl, so have been banned from the front porch. I have one pullet that is convinced she is not one of the banned birds. She finds ways to sneak up and get into the cat food bag.

I have 11 eggs set to hatch today and tomorrow with two already out and 5 more pipping.

Lanae