Araucana thread anyone?

[Stacykins]

In my case I just want my kids to be able to see that chicks come from mommy's, not incubators! I want them to see a little head poke out from under a hen at least once.
So if they go broody towards the Fall, and the rooster is fertile and doing his job correctly, does that mean that even at less than a year old they can have chicks? For instance, your 5 month old that is trying to sit on that 1 egg, do you think it would hatch if you let her? Sorry - newbie questions, I know. I always assumed that spring was the only time successful broody hatches happened, I don't know why.

I had a broody successfully raise chicks (and a duckling) in the dead of winter. Spring isn't the only time they can do it, just one of the best. They can brood and rear any time of the year. The winter chicks would run about for a minute or two, then duck under their Mom to warm up, then do the same. Hens make good heaters for their chicks, heh. All mine are less than a year old right now.

Provided the egg is fertile, it would hatch under a 5 month old no problem.

 

[cashdl]

Shannon,

Yes it appears that your chick is a BBR. BBR can be based on Wild Type which is the color you have, Wheaten which sounds like the color Ma Mama has, and Brown which typically is a brown headed or helmeted headed chick. As chicks they will look very different and you can tell their genotype, however as adults the roos will look very similar and it is diffficult to tell their genotype or what color base they are, however their phenotype or looks is Black Breasted Red. The hens as adults will all look very different.



Ma Mama,

Yes her eggs would be fertile at five months if the roo is doing his thing, but with each hen it is different and you will just have to see.

Lanae

 

[sega]

I am wondering what is the color mix of these two Roosters?
I am breeding them with solid Black singleTufted rumpless Araucana hens. What will I get?

 

[Rumbull]

I am wondering what is the color mix of these two Roosters?
I am breeding them with solid Black singleTufted rumpless Araucana hens. What will I get?

I will take a stab at it since no one else has but please correct me if I am wrong...
The first one appears to be a heavily melanized gold duckwing and the second is black breasted red.

 

[sega]

Thanks!!

 

[smoothmule]

Sega,
It depends on the hens background. If they have several generations of black to black breeding, you should get blacks and that second rooster, is he blue and red? He looks kind of blue in the photo but lighting can be the cause. You might get some blues there. The chicks will get genes from each parent so you should get a variety of anything from solid black (and blues if that second guy is blue) all the way to more like the roosters with mostly black and a lot of leakage. Depending on what your goals are, you can cull or just have fun with all the colors. They will be messy colors (not correct for the standard colors) but that doesn't bother some. I like the crazy colors too but if you're breeding for standard colors, with your hens you're best to work on culling for the most black for a couple more generations. (or blues.....is he blue and red?)

Red and gold leakage will be the biggest issue and more so with the cockerels.

 

[Illia]

I will take a stab at it since no one else has but please correct me if I am wrong...
The first one appears to be a heavily melanized gold duckwing and the second is black breasted red.

The first is a black carrying recessive duckwing. Duckwings, even mealnized, require color in the secondary feathers. Number one rule.

The second is another one carrying recessive duckwing or BBR/Wheaten, but with probably the Columbian gene as well as something else, which gives it the red breast.

Breeding them to ANY color will give you 50-100% blacks (or blues) with leakage, the other possible 50% depending on the hens will be variations of duckwing or BBR/Wheaten. So, if you have BBR or Duckwing hens or any sort of neat color other than blue, black, splash, cuckoo, - You'll get colorful chicks but only 50%.

 

[MA Mama]

Sooooo let's say that I really really don't want to have to clip the rumpless Araucana "tail" feathers to increase fertility. How badly would intact tail feathers hurt fertility? Would I still get a few babies even if I didn't clip?

 

[shanshan51]

Sooooo let's say that I really really don't want to have to clip the rumpless Araucana "tail" feathers to increase fertility. How badly would intact tail feathers hurt fertility? Would I still get a few babies even if I didn't clip?

I have not clipped any tail feathers and I have had great success. However, I think my Roo is very good at his job

I did some plucking on my BLRWs and almost lost my lunch......so......now its all natural here.

 

[shanshan51]

I have some hatching eggs for sale on ebay right now. If you look up seller HaulYourHorse it ends in 3 hours.