Araucana thread anyone?

[Ksane]

Carol, since no one answered I'll give it a shot-I'd call him Blue Wheaten Splash but I just made that up. He's beautiful and I wish that color could be duplicated.

 

[laura877]

Stacy,
I just got home from being gone all day. I immediately ran to the incubator and saw that one was pipping. I also saw that the temp had jumped to 102.5 and humidity was way down. I opened it up, poured some hot water into the resoviours, dabbed my finger in some water and lightly dabbed some onto the dry skin that was showing in the piipped hole. I could see that it was still breathing. I went and did a few things and came back and don't see any movement.

I so hate this time in a way. This little ones can be so fragile at this point. so its a matter of sitting and waiting.

 

[Ksane]

Stacy,
I just got home from being gone all day. I immediately ran to the incubator and saw that one was pipping. I also saw that the temp had jumped to 102.5 and humidity was way down. I opened it up, poured some hot water into the resoviours, dabbed my finger in some water and lightly dabbed some onto the dry skin that was showing in the piipped hole. I could see that it was still breathing. I went and did a few things and came back and don't see any movement.

I so hate this time in a way. This little ones can be so fragile at this point. so its a matter of sitting and waiting.

Laura, I have one heck of a time keeping humidity up in my Brinsea. The last 2 hatches I've had 7 out of 8 hatch but I had microfiber cloths laying in there that I had to keep pouring water on. I've got it rigged now with a rubber tube and I can just shoot water in there right onto the cloth with a syringe. I also had both water channels full and sponges in the water channel. All that before it'd stay between 65-70. I'm just saying it may take a lot to keep humidity up. I do dry hatches and then jack the humidity up pretty much as far as I want the last 3 days.

 

[cashdl]

What "color" is this Araucana cockerel? I hatched him from eggs I got from an eBay auction. I love Araucanas but I don't know much about their recognized or official colors. I figure this guy is probably a mix. Right now he's the only rooster in a pen with about 15 hens. Since he's so much smaller than most of the hens, I'm not sure his mating efforts are successful - but that doesn't stop him - he is relentless in his attempts.

AH the joys of being a teenager. Practice makes perfect.

He is not a recognized color but very beautiful. I would say he has 1 copy of the blue gene which has changed his black to blue and his base color could be wheaten or wild type, very hard to tell as an adult.

Lanae

 

[laura877]

Ksane,
All I ever do anymore are dry hatches but when only using a Little Giant, its hard to keep any stability. I started making a look alike GQF that will hold 180 eggs in trays or probably 300 without. I got busy doing other stuff and haven't gotten it finished yet. I had to order the turner mechanism and while I waited, I got sidetracked and haven't gotten back to it. summer is just too busy and I really want to try to get separate pens set up in my indoor riding arena. We don't use it anymore for horses so I thought I could put it to good use.

I just checked the one pipping and gently broke the skin a little. Just enough that I could peer inside with a flashlight. Its still breathing so I will leave it alone. I have 2 more araucana eggs in there along with 2 blue eggs that are ameracuanas.

 

[Stacykins]

Hopefully the little one makes it out just fine! Humidity can be such a difficult thing to get right. Especially if there is low humidity in the air to begin with (like during the winter, or this dry summer). I actually found my Brinsea Eco 20 to hold humidity reaaally well, which is a plus, since low humidity is more a problem here than high for me.

 

[CarolJ]

AH the joys of being a teenager. Practice makes perfect.

He is not a recognized color but very beautiful. I would say he has 1 copy of the blue gene which has changed his black to blue and his base color could be wheaten or wild type, very hard to tell as an adult.

Lanae

Thanks for the replies. I figured he wasn't a recognized color. "Blue Wheaten Splash" has a nice ring to it. LOL!

 

[laura877]

First of three out of the shell. It looks to be a blue and yellow chick. Second one pipping now.

 

[Ksane]

Laura, any updates?

 

[Gold Griffin Chicken Mom]

Suffering from this chicken math maddness, I drove to North Carolina today to buy some Aracuanas. My new guys and gals are sleeping in the dog kennel and I'm resisting the urge to go stare at the little drama queens some more.

Mr. Reggie Neal is trying to sell off his flock. I told him I would pass the word here in the hopes that it reaches the correct audience: people here on this thread! He said that for the right person, he will sell 70+ birds for $250. He will also sell trios or even single birds. He does show his birds (and win!), but between his health and the everyday battles with fire ants, he's ready to send them to someone else.

While we were picking out my "trio", my daughter and I knelt down in the grass for a few minutes. Ants were everywhere. Since I grew up in The Land of Fire Ants, I knew better than to stay there. We found another spot of shade. Mr. Neal says as soon as an egg pips, the fire ants are inside the egg killing the baby.

It's currently too hot to ship, but if you want to drive to South East North Carolina like I did, go see his birds. He gave permission for me to post his email for direct contact: [email protected]

I think I got it across to my in-laws that these were special birds when I introduced them as "South American Earring Chickens", lol! My exhausted self is off to bed now. Y'all go email Mr. Neal and buy some of his birds. Sweet dreams!