Araucana thread anyone?

[cackleberrycoop]

I was very disappointed that photo came out so blurry, but not surprised; I wasn't actually photographing the rooster (contrary to what he thought), so I just swung the lens down when he began to holler and obviously got some motion blur as a result. Glad you enjoyed it despite.

Lanae - he is very handsome. I'm positively itching to get started hatching out babies from that boy!!!!!

The hen was in the nesting box again today and I'm beginning to wonder if she isn't more interested in going broody than she is in laying eggs. Wouldn't that just figure? It will not surprise me in the least if that turns out to be the case; it's happened before and it will happen many times more...... ahhhh, chickens.....

9 double tufted chicks out of 13 is wonderful. Is it just me, or does it seem like this year's hatches on this forum were very heavily tufted? As I remember it, last year, the occasional tufted chick was a wondrous achievement, and there were significantly more hatches with no tufts than there were those with even a single tufted chick. Sure seems like we're all moving our flocks in the right direction.

 

[smoothmule]

I think it was a pretty good year too. I'm very excited for 2012 to get here, spring in particular

Here is one of my double tufted/rumpless pullets, the youngest here right now so she's been a bit spoiled. She likes sleeping on the computer desk.

Anyone have any particular goals for 2012?

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Quote:
Ha Ha! I love it!!

 

[cashdl]

So some of you may remember that I, much to my husbands delight decided to stop hatching till spring. My poor husband, came home to find baby chicks running around his house a couple of weeks ago. I bought a bunch of day olds, hoping to tide myself over till spring. Well a few of my hens started laying again and I decided to see what would hatch, I mean, I already had babies running around, whats a few more right. But then I was done for sure! Two cuckoo chicks hatched yesterday, noisy little creatures. My husband has been pretending he doesn't notice. So where was I, oh yes, I was done for the year again. Only problem is, I found a couple of eggs in my duckwing pen. I held off for a couple of days, but yesterday I went ahead and put them in the incubator. I am soo excited. LOL!!

So I guess I am not done.

My double tufted roo chick, ( big thick legs and feet ) is now going on 4 months old and most definately a girl. If its not a girl, it is going to have the most wonderful comb and be completely shiny black. But, I am pretty sure its a girl. So now I have 3 really nice black girls. I have probably 6 or 8 other black pullets and not a roo yet. I see everyones problem. No good black roos. Everytime something looks good it either turns out to be a girl or dies.
I do have a birchen roo that is split for both silver and gold, and has alot of melanizers, so might be good to breed to my black hens. He doesn't have great tufts but he does have tufts.

I am not totally sure of my goals for next year, other than I want to start working on the araucana shape. I have a few girls that look like little footballs with heads and legs. I love it. They look kinda meaty too, so I think that is the direction I want to go. Here is a pic or two.

Lanae

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Quote:
Absolutely lovely.

I am discovering that I don't have a real set type in my head. I love the Araucana hens with the little rump bumps, but then I get excited when I see Araucanas that look more like a nice tear drop on legs. I see that the Araucana drawings in the Standard of Perfection don't have the rump bumps, and that makes me a little sad. Is that what others are breeding for?

 

[cashdl]

I think part of it is that the chickens with the rump bump are fluffy butted. At least here they are. Under the bump is quite a bit of fluff, which gives a nice shape. However I think less fluff is more desirable. So for me somewhere in between is perfect. I like the bumpy behind because it is cute, but I would like less fluff, which will help with fertility.

Lanae

 

[smoothmule]

I'm so glad to see the progress I've seen in this group. There's been a lot of improvement in just this years hatches I think. I don't know why other breeders say this breed is too hard or not worth the effort. There is so much pride in getting improvement, they don't have to be perfect....they just have to keep getting better. I'm seeing more uniformity in my flock so I'll be working to improve color, get leg colors correct, better the combs and continue working to keep the weight in range for the standard. I don't mind the oddballs at all, I have one white cockerel that is close to being the worst I've hatched yet, clean faced, tail feathers, bad comb.......but awesome dark yellow legs, better yellow than any of my other whites, lol. I am so tempted, might try him over the white rumpless hens for one period (a couple weeks of being the only rooster in the pen) first thing in the spring and see how badly he does. Worst that can happen is they are all culls and I can sell them as easter eggers as chicks. Then the good white roosters will rotate in the pen the rest of the year. This ugly boy also has the best personality and stays all day with my Texas Heeler puppies that are close to 1 weeks old now. He stands around by them when they sleep and eats with them and even eats on the deer carcass with the pups. He's just a funny roo. I have another up and coming white, double tufted/rumpless that has willow legs. If he is good enough otherwise, while the Ugly Boy (his newest name) breeds the rumpless hen, I'll try this tufted/rumpless cockerel with my white hens first thing in the spring that have a bit of tail and try him out before I consider culling either of these white cockerels. Yellow is the correct leg color for whites so I have that to work on. I'm fine with the leg color being willow for now, I've learned how to breed to correct it then I can do that later.

The blacks are coming along too. Seeing better cockerel color. The correct leg color is willow or black. Mine are mostly swarthy but a couple hens have really black legs and yellow soles. The hens have awesome color, as they usually do, and gorgeous green sheen. I think it's just a matter of more years of breeding and adding silver to the flock to reduce the red hackles. Degas and his sons will help that along and I just bought a double tufted/rumpless black cockerel. He has a little red in the hackles now but I'm fine with that since his other attributes are what I'm needing. Maybe a nother year or two and I'll be getting some correct black roosters. My black hens are gorgeous, I think I might have a chance for some show quality black pullets this year, especially out of Obsidian. I have 3 eggs in the incubator Lanae, we'll have spoiled babies all winter

I sold Slinky, she's in Colorado. She was too good not to use in a duckwing flock. I did keep Shirley, my only tailed duckwing hen. She's a great layer and definitely silver so I put her in the black pen this week to see what happens. I've worked hard to get red out of my blacks and whites breeding so I was considering selling Rudy but just can't part with him, he was my first rooster but also just as gorgeous as can be. I have my dark red looking BBR hen with him and I may just keep them as a pair for now and see, when and if she starts laying again, what they produce and take it from there. They're both clean faced and rumpless. I want to know if I'm going to get reds from this or BBR or what. We'll see I hope. I figure out if I like it well enough to work on them or just have another color that I can sell. Joker is my blue duckwing. He's huge! I don't know what to do with him. I have 2 hens with that duckwing looking pattern and a lot of blue that would make a good trio but not sure I want to keep any of those. I have someone interested in swapping for the 2 hens for a good black hen so Joker will be sold then if they leave. He has good yellow legs so he's not near correct for duckwing or blue but for odd and beautiful colors, he will be just perfect for someone who loves the blue eggs and loves unique colors. Topaz, the odd colored blue? dun looking hen is molting and I mean she nearly went Bald! It's cold and she's just covered in pin feathers coming in, wow. They look very, very blue so I don't know if when I got her she was in just that bad a condition or it was just how she is but I think she's going to end up blue.

I don't know what direction I'll go with my blues. I guess I'll see what I have and how they look in the spring and see if this pullet looking blue chick is for sure a pullet or will be a cockerel in a couple of months, still just a baby. If it's a cockerel, I have 2 gorgeous large blue hens for him plus Topaz but I really do think it's a pullet......any guesses from the pictures above? She's a month or so old now. Of course if that all worked out, I'll get splash chicks but then I can use a black cockerel when he's not busy in the black pen to breed the blues and splash hens later.

I'm gonna have to do some pen building in the spring

I've been eyeing a couple of smaller, old green house hoop frames that haven't been used in a few years. That would be great to add welded wire over with some shade cloth over one end and a small shelter in it for roosting and a couple of dog houses for nesting boxes, I've also seen plastic barrels with a concrete block in the bottom to keep them from rolling and straw over it for nests on the ground.

What happened to "JUST" working on blacks and whites?

 

[Stacykins]

I might be getting my first Araucana eggs soon, since one of my girls did a squat for me. I went to pick her up to clean her off (she had gotten poo'd on) and she dropped to the ground with her wings out. Made wiping her off extra easy, hah.

 

[cashdl]

How exciting. Let us know.

Lanae

 

[Bentley]

Quote:
The rumpless gene is a genetic trait that prevents the bird form growing significant portions of the tail bone and skeletal formations in the area. As I check each of my Araucana chicks when they hatch I notice anywhere from a few fully tailed birds to those with significant loss of skeleton where the tail bone attaches. Those that have a loss of tail bone only will have more of a "rump bump" and also have a greater chance of throwing tailed chicks or other chicks with the "bump". For the breed, true rumpless is desired and no "rump bump"