Araucana thread anyone?

[cashdl]

The olive egger looks like a nice meaty bird. How old is he? Is he seeming to mature faster than the marans?

Lanae

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Quote:
Would you just look at the size of that boy? Now that's what I'm talking about!! I'm already daydreaming about his spectacular offspring running around my place.


That white rooster is rather incredible as well - wow. Nice tufts. A big gust of wind and that boy just might take off flying.




So Illia, you are wanting longer saddle feathers, is that what you're saying? Got any pictures of your blue cuckoo to compare with - I'd love to see.

 

[cashdl]

Hi Megan,

I think the roo pictured above is how she wants all her roos to look and the roo Morango on the previous page is what she doesn't want. If I got it correctly.

Lanae

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Oh, excuse me - I thought that was a splash roo (how embarrassing). OK, OK, I get it now.

 

[Illia]

I know, he looks like a Splash, trust me, I'm the first to realize

I'm breeding the blue out honestly, and am eyeing for solid black type Cuckoos, if possible, truly BARRED birds.


I prefer the longer saddle feathers, but I want to know which is more likely to throw tails. I know that for one I certainly see a difference in rumps with the females, so I'd like to ask this one difference about males. If I asked about females, man, that would be quite a few different rump types to ask, and, - very very few people breed as precisely as I do. (most just have a group of females per rooster, and don't keep track of who the MOM was)


The Olive Egger is indeed a nice meaty boy. He's VERY heavy too, despite him seeming just a tad bigger than an Araucana. All my meat birds are Marans x Araucana like him, as they do indeed grow fast and grow big. I find them better than the average Ameraucana x Marans as Ameraucanas, per body weight and size, aren't near as chesty and meaty as Araucanas. At least, the ones I've known.

I once had a batch of Olive Eggers in which the males were HUGE! They grew incredibly fast compared to the hatch-mate Marans and were just amazing

 

[cottagechick]

Those of you that have had them a while, how are they as layers? Broodiness? Molting?
Thanks,
Julie

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Excellent, very reliable layers, CONSTANT broodies, pretty good molters. The only breed I'd complain about with molting are Polish. They take forever at least for me they do.

 

[cashdl]

My Araucanas lay reliably all year long. They will slow down a little in the winter but not too much. The are excellant broodies. Some tend to be broody regularly, and some havn't gone broody at all. Good moms and good dads. I have a couple that look like they are molting all year long, but for the most part they molt quickly.


Illia, congrats on your tufted chick.

Lanae

 

[cackleberrycoop]

A bit off topic here, but Illia's Olive Eggers have got my mind working overtime. That boy is amazing Illia!
I recently brought home this Barnevelder cockerel with the intent of trying him out over Ameraucana hens for olive egger chicks. Look at this guy - at 15 weeks his chest is enormous! I couldn't get a pic of him next to my very large 15 week old BCM boys, to show how much wider his chest is than theirs. After seeing your photos, I am pretty amped on the idea of using him in with Araucana girls instead of the Ameraucana like I had been thinking. The only problem with that is I have a surplus of good Ameraucana ladies and not nearly enough Araucanas to make combos with. Oh well - just ANOTHER reason to get more Araucanas!

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Exactly.

Don't get me wrong, I love Ameraucanas too, but Araucanas make far better meat crosses, plus, they're awesome birds! That's a nice Barnie though. He won't get as big as some Black Copper Marans out there but will still be a good choice, however sadly the offspring won't lay "olive" eggs - They'll be more EE green than olive.