Araucana thread anyone?

[Illia]

Araucanas have always been pretty rare, most likely you had Easter Eggers. When I was a kid we had an Easter Egger in with a mixed flock, when I started with chickens again after moving we had Easter Eggers but were told they were Araucanas, and it wasn't until we deliberately went looking for true to type, real, purebred Araucanas online that we got some.

But yes, I also love my Easter Eggers, Ameraucanas, and Araucanas all.

 

[gg706]

For show, no. Duckwings are showable but too much melanizer makes more black in the plumage. Like this boy - He should have pure yellowish whitish hackle, saddle, and plenty color on the wing but doesn't.




Otherwise it's fine if you are not planning to breed for show, most don't.



Great news - My gal Josephine is a mommy!! She's been sitting on a large quantity of eggs for quite a while now and just this morning, a little double tufted blue cuckoo chick's head was poking out from under her breast. Carefully lifting her up, she's got two more chicks, both yellow with faint stripes, and several more eggs some pipped under her. I'm very excited! So far she's being a great mom too, still sitting and waiting for the rest. I'm assuming the yellow chicks means my blue cuckoo boy is actually hiding a recessive (Wheaten?) gene. The chicks are pretty yellow.

Thank You for educating me! I am not planning on showing or breeding unless it is for my own use anyway. Congrats on the new babies!

 

[Cciprnancy]

Congratulations, Grandma. I can't wait for mine to hatch.

 

[eggdd]

hey all:

i have two bbr chicks - - one is coming in black and the other brown. i'm guessing one is male and one is female. does anyone know?

 

[Ray_n_Debi]

Do you have and pics of them?

 

[eggdd]

hey there deb!!

no, i don't. i guess i could try and take some tomorrow, but honestly i was hoping they could be color sexed. they look very different in color - well, obviously brown and black are different - lol.

 

[Illia]

So, could you describe how both looked as chicks? If they were both striped well (or yellow) when chicks, then feathered in mostly black or mostly brown it does sound like male vs female, however solid black, maybe not so much unless the chick is say 6 weeks old, then it is likely heavily melanotic

 

[Ray_n_Debi]

 

[Illia]

Alrighty, hatch is done and Josephine is a mommy to 6 chicks this time. (she's done this 3 times now) With awesome luck, 3 are tufted, and somehow even though I'm pretty solidly sure my blue cuckoo is dad to 'em all, I've got quite a colorful rainbow here.

First let me say, yes, I know, this is a really weird place for a broody hen to be. But, this is where I found her. In our rather unused barn in the back corner with left-over box bits and stuff from moving roosters and unpacking things.





The chick on the far left is a bilaterally tufted blue cuckoo cockerel. The blue chick in the center is clean faced, the blue on the far right has one tuft. The duckwing striped one is bilaterally tufted, the yellow ones I'm assuming to be Wheaten carrying are clean faced.




The striped duckwing-based one. Very nice little fella. It and the blue cuckoo are who I mostly look forward to, but all are important and will be fun to watch grow up.


And just for fun, Lanae this is for you especially, here's my tufted crested bearded Easter Egger pullet. She's tailed though.

 

[Cciprnancy]

They are adorable chicks. Congrats, Grandma.