Araucana thread anyone?

[smoothmule]

Nice batch there Lanae! Love the colors. I had thought I was out of all the colorful ones then they started popping up again. All black and nothing else would have eventually bored me, the whites no longer were favorites, I think I'm sticking to my variety pack, black being the center of them all here.

 

[cashdl]

Here is a few more that I took while they were standing somewhat still.

I love this pullet. She is just as soft as she looks.


This is a blue egger.



The difference between BBR wild type and BBR wheaten. The first pic is wild type the second is wheaten. The 3rd pic is the daughter of the first wheaten hen in pic two. She will be almost identical when mature.



These are two of my pure wheaten pullets whose color is kind of all over the place right now. It is so interesting to watch them change day by day. The next pic is the only Wheaten cockerel that I am keeping for the next year. He is pure wheaten and cleanfaced, but I have a couple of tufted pullets and I will be putting him with his mother who is tufted also.



Lanae

 

[Ksane]

The difference between BBR wild type and BBR wheaten. The first pic is wild type the second is wheaten. The 3rd pic is the daughter of the first wheaten hen in pic two. She will be almost identical when mature.


Lanae

A picture makes all the difference, the Wheatens are really *dark, aren't they??
I've got one that's colored real light like a Wheaten Ameraucana or a Salmon Faverolles girl, I can't wait to see what he/she looks like in a few months. After seeing these pictures I don't think it's a Wheaten though.

 

[cashdl]

A picture makes all the difference, the Wheatens are really *dark, aren't they??
I've got one that's colored real light like a Wheaten Ameraucana or a Salmon Faverolles girl, I can't wait to see what he/she looks like in a few months. After seeing these pictures I don't think it's a Wheaten though.

The araucana BBR (wheaten) is the same color as the cubalaya BBR (wheaten) and completely different than others breeds BBR color which are based on wild type and other breeds wheaten colors which are too light. It is a darker wheaten than other breeds carry.

There are several different shades of wheaten described in the SOP with the standard for most wheatens being the lightest and the Malay BBR being the darkest. Below are the differences in the 3 descriptions:

Malay BBR - which is probably the darkest wheaten, calling for a dark brown head, back is dark cinnamon brown, body is brown and the breast is cinnamon brown.

Araucana and Cubalaya BBR - Their heads should be a dark reddish chestnut. The back and wings should be Cinnamon. The breast should be a light Cinnamon.

Standard wheaten color - Tthe heads should be rich wheaten, Neck is medium wheaten, back and breast is creamy wheaten, body and stern is light creamy wheaten. So overall a much lighter color.

Hopefully that makes sense to all.

Lanae

 

[collaire]

Take a look at the BBR hen example on the Araucana club website. She is a good example of Wheaten.

 

[cmsdvm]

How many here are keeping colors in separate pens and how many are keeping colors segregated for a single color or keeping colors that work well together such as blues, black and splash?

I am trying to develop a line of good white bantams. Unfortunately, all of my best were killed by a feral cat while we were on vacation 2 years ago. These were irreplaceable- being based on Steve Waters' line of bantam whites which no longer exist. Now I am breeding from the few culls I had in the yard into some of Steve's good black bantams, trying to get back good tufts and leg color. It is an uphill battle. I have perhaps 2 showable whites and several showable blacks out of this years' hatch. I have also lost many good double tufted chicks to Marek's in spite of vaccination. The clean faced chicks are fine, of course. I still get off colors popping up because some of my cull whites came from 2 other araucana breeders who were not breeding for color. I generally sell or give these away as fast as possible. I do have some decent blues, but would like to get out of these as most of the off-colors come from them. I wish I could find someone to work with, but find most araucana breeders want only tufts without consideration of color. This is fine for the person who is not interested in serious exhibition, but the kiss of death for someone looking for that Best of Show.

 

[cashdl]

Take a look at the BBR hen example on the Araucana club website. She is a good example of Wheaten.

That is Garys hen and she is lovely. Here is another pic of her.

Here is a few larger ones of my hens.
Mine are a darker shade of cinnamon than Garys, but mine also have the required black in the primaries. His hen is closer to the correct color although I think the hackle is to light because the standard calls for Dark Reddish Chestnut. With mine the head and neck look correct but the chest is too dark, it should be light cinnamon. Everyones I have seen also has the gold in the neck, I wonder why, possibly influence of columbian.

 

[laura877]

I've had my chicks home now for a week and I can see why everyone that owns these wonderful birds are in love with them. I told my husband they are like parakeets...just so much personality. But that really wasn't a great example. I go into the stall that I keep them in for now, and sit on a milk crate. In that stall I have 4x blue marans abt 12 wks old, 18x mutts chicks under a month old, and Stacykins 13 araucana chicks. I sit there and the mutts panic, the marans stare at a distant, and the araucanas come sit at my feet, scratching, pecking, investigating. More and more of them let me scoop them up and hold them. They even settle down when I start petting them. I can amost hear them coo.

What better feeling then to know that your chickens are happy to see you?

 

[Stacykins]

That is one of the things I love about them! They are infinitely curious, and don't mind being close to people at all!

 

[Rumbull]

How many here are keeping colors in separate pens and how many are keeping colors segregated for a single color or keeping colors that work well together such as blues, black and splash?

I have my Blue/Black/Splash pen and my Cuckoo/Barred pen.
I have sold 20 young culls this week. I am only keeping a couple of the best blacks and all the barred chicks. All the young ones went to Grandmas house today to spend the next ten days. We are going on vacation and they need supervision. The adults will be fine with the neighbor collecting eggs a few times while we are gone.
I need to take some new pictures. I am getting some great looking black and white "footballs" from the barred project! I will post some when we get back.