I absolutely adore Gypsy. Her mother was a blue and for a time, I had both of them, but Charlotte passed away suddenly a few years ago. Gypsy also keeps the young roosters in line, though, LOL. It won't be the same when I lose Gypsy, but I hope that won't happen for at least a few years.
I was just curious. It seems all the books I read are "when the hen quits laying, eat her", so I wasn't sure if that actually held true or if some people kept them around because they were good chickens. I think I might eat a surplus of roosters if I had them, but I would have a hard time eating a hen I had for so many years.
The other hens are highly unimpressed though, as my broody is sitting in the nest box(she won't be moved, i tried that last time, and she threw a complete fit, and went off the sit) so they are having to lay elsewhere now. Been very funny watching them the last few days trying to decide which of the nest i have set up in the garden shed to use haha, and listening to them complain about it the entire time haha
Haha, they probably all talk about each other I'm sure.Just to weigh in here, it also depends on the country. I am in New Zealand, and here we have Araucanas, but they are based on the british tailed and muffed version. They look very similar to the Ameraucana, but our Araucanas are also meant to have crests. Sadly, we have such a small gene pool here, and very strict importing laws, that it is pretty much impossible to bring in new blood to improve the lines. I have heard that all the Araucanas in NZ came from 1 doz eggs brought in from Aussie way back.
Like the Ameraucana, these guys are so loved for the egg colour, that people breed them to everything, call it a pure araucana(cuz it lays coloured eggs, so it's pure) and so it spreads.
I have got my first breeding group this season, and boy has it been hard trying to find a few good hens worth breeding from, as a lot of the 'araucanas' out there are EEs, half of them don't look much like an araucana at all.
We are also losing the egg colour, most araucanas lay green eggs now, or very pale, washed out blues. I will be trying to breed for better egg colour in my birds, but i dare day it's going to be a long road. Not helped by the fact that everyone wants to breed the interesting colours into them,(All OEG game colours are accepted in araucanas here) and as a result they are so outcrossed, that type has been compromised and everyone has forgotten about egg colour in their mad dash to get the latest colour into their birds.
Oh for the money and influence to be able to get some new stock into the country.
All that being said, i have managed to find some good hens to start with, and really love my guys. They are so full of personality. I have 3 EEs as layers, and one of them has gone broody, which is great, as she's the friendliest, and my absolute favourite, and i have eggs in the bator i am going to give her when they hatch
