Araucana thread anyone?

[cashdl]

Lanae, I'm saving that bit of information, thank you.
Whatever that Black hen with the gold neck lacing is? I want more of her color. How do I get them?

Breed her to a crow wing rooster with gold or red. I have quite a few running around. I mostly get silver birchen hens here but both silver ( birchen) and brown red roosters.

Lanae

 

[smoothmule]

Lanae,
Rudy is crow-wing looking but it's still confusing because he has brown leaking through where the triangle would be on the wing. It's just not solid black there. Does that matter as far as what color to call him? I had been considering him a brown red.

Here are the 2 hens with him now. They're laying in this heat so I've been putting them right in the bator but for a little bit, some of the chicks will still be Jokers.

I can't wait to see what I get from this trio

double tufted/tailed hen....wheaten splash or dominant white? as in red pyle? guess I'll find out



She's a lot more filled out now.



Here is the other hen. Blue wheaten? or Wild type blue?

 

[laura877]

I'm confused about something. Smoothmule's top two birds have normal tails. Is that acceptable practice to breed birds with tails? Are they still considered purebred? All this is so new to me.

 

[BackyardCoop]

Can I just brag for a moment? LOL

My Araucana is the perfect couple and the my roo is the most perfect roo ever! He is gentle with people but protects his hen. He calls her for food and sometimes will even hold it in his beak until she comes to him. If she makes a high pitched coo noise, he doesn't over power her to get ant "tail" (Or, no tail in their case). Even he understands "I have a headache!"

He is such a sweetheart!

I still need to build a run for them since I've only had them a few weeks and it's been in the 100's I haven't gotten to it. But they get a few hours a day out of the coop that is just for the two of them made from pallets. Lots of air gets through it and they do wonderful but they so enjoy free ranging. I can tell they are used to it as well from the previous owner. They are a little over a year old and were sort of picked on I believe. "Ricky" is starting to get more feathers back on his neck and head since I've had him but "Lucy" keeps him groomed sort of funky like this.

I don't mind them just being in my yard at all except I have to keep a close eye on them for hawks and such. They do not pick at my garden at all and only eat the bugs and grass. And Lucy has laid me a total of 5 perfect green eggs since I've had her.

Okay, done bragging!

 

[BackyardCoop]

I'm confused about something. Smoothmule's top two birds have normal tails. Is that acceptable practice to breed birds with tails? Are they still considered purebred? All this is so new to me.

I was wondering as well because I have seen similar posts. My hen is "rumpless" but had a few little straggled feathers from it. A total of 6 I think. And the lady I got my couple from told me that they were pure. I know the male is. But I was confused as well.

 

[smoothmule]

Laura877
Yes, there are totally rumpless, some with such a short back they can't breed easily, some with regular rumpless rear end, some have a couple of tail feathers but no tail bump you can feel, some with a tiny bit of tail bump and a partial tail and some full tailed. I've never had a problem using the ones with a tail. The chicks from this tailed hen and my rumpless roo will be mostly rumpless but there may be a couple with a partial tail or just a couple of feathers back there. Those will be bred to a rumpless and the chicks will be rumpless. Some breeders use them, some won't. I started with culls and built my flock from those and have progressed every year. I don't automatically just use tailed though, they must possess something of value to the breed. Tufts, excellent color, correct comb etc might make me think twice about culling just because of a tail. You have to consider the total bird. I'll hatch a few from this hen before determining whether she is making chicks better than herself or not and I'll cull her if needed.

Some breeders won't use clean faced either and some won't breed tufted to tufted. Only you can decide your breeding strategy. The top 2 photo's are the same pullet.

What I typically won't do is cross 2 with tails or partial tails unless they are fabulous otherwise or a project that I need something from. They're still Araucana's.

 

[smoothmule]

Some recent pics
An obvious mottled chick (possibly mottled plus birchen)


One of the older chicks still in the brooder



an updated photo of the chocolate pullet, now in the garage brooder....... that was a hard thing to do, to let her out of my sight, lol
I can't wait till she's feathered out



another unusual chick, ??? Not the usual color here. Possibly out of the above hen, the blue wheatenish looking one with the round rump

 

[BackyardCoop]

Laura877
Yes, there are totally rumpless, some with such a short back they can't breed easily, some with regular rumpless rear end, some have a couple of tail feathers but no tail bump you can feel, some with a tiny bit of tail bump and a partial tail and some full tailed. I've never had a problem using the ones with a tail. The chicks from this tailed hen and my rumpless roo will be mostly rumpless but there may be a couple with a partial tail or just a couple of feathers back there. Those will be bred to a rumpless and the chicks will be rumpless. Some breeders use them, some won't. I started with culls and built my flock from those and have progressed every year. I don't automatically just use tailed though, they must possess something of value to the breed. Tufts, excellent color, correct comb etc might make me think twice about culling just because of a tail. You have to consider the total bird. I'll hatch a few from this hen before determining whether she is making chicks better than herself or not and I'll cull her if needed.

Some breeders won't use clean faced either and some won't breed tufted to tufted. Only you can decide your breeding strategy. The top 2 photo's are the same pullet.

What I typically won't do is cross 2 with tails or partial tails unless they are fabulous otherwise or a project that I need something from. They're still Araucana's.

Laura, Here is my hen from the side. You can see that even though she had very few tail feathers, she is still rumpless. She doesn't have that bump on her butt like a normal chicken. So she is pure Arucana.

 

[BackyardCoop]

Some recent pics
An obvious mottled chick (possibly mottled plus birchen)

Oh this one melts my heart! Very cute baby there!

 

[cashdl]

Lanae,
Rudy is crow-wing looking but it's still confusing because he has brown leaking through where the triangle would be on the wing. It's just not solid black there. Does that matter as far as what color to call him? I had been considering him a brown red.

Here are the 2 hens with him now. They're laying in this heat so I've been putting them right in the bator but for a little bit, some of the chicks will still be Jokers.

I can't wait to see what I get from this trio

double tufted/tailed hen....wheaten splash or dominant white? as in red pyle? guess I'll find out



She's a lot more filled out now.



Here is the other hen. Blue wheaten? or Wild type blue?

Hi Cathy,

I would consider your roo Rudy a wild type with melanizers. A birchen will not show any wing color. Even with a split birchenXwild type there wont be any wing color. The top two pics is a duckwing splash pullet. I would guess if bred to another duckwing splash eventually the splash would lighten and leave you with the red pyle look, but I think red pyle is built with dominant white. Not totally sure though.

The bottom pics is of what I would call a Blue Breasted Red, so a wild type based on blue. I have those two I got from you that are similar coloration. I am getting almost 100% tails from them and they are with a rumpless roo. However the roo is tufted and so is one of the hens. So lots of tailed and tufted from those girls. Lots of really cool colors coming out of them too.

Lanae