ARAUCANAS! Pictures of my growing birds.

[Anne]

I've been breeding Large Fowl Araucanas for several years now... specifically, I've been trying to breed for Golden Duckwing (GDW), Silver Duckwing (SDW), and Black-Breasted-Red (BBR) varieties, which hardly exist in correct form for Large Fowl right now. My birds still don't have correct plumage colors, but many of them are at least becoming recognizable as a decent attempt towards a standard color variety.

For the last year I've put plumage color on hold to get correct leg color -- which, for the varieties I want, is "willow" -- a particular shade of green. Green legs are a combination of yellow skin plus a dark outer layer. All of my original birds were white skinned, so I had to bring in some yellow-skinned whites to breed yellow skin into my flock.

Here are some current pictures of some of my growing birds -- it's a work in progress!

A 5-month-old slate-legged GDW pullet. She will need to be bred to a tufted, yellow-legged or willow-legged cockerel.

A 2-month-old rumpless white pullet with bright green legs!

2-month-old pullet with green legs.

Wild momma hen with 10 chicks. If you look closely, you can see the tufts on the chick closest to the camera.

Lovely tufts on this little 2-month-old pullet... and green legs, too!

Tuft closeup.

This 5-month-old cockerel has green legs, too.

This 6-week-old pullet was an "accident" -- she's a mix between an Araucana and an Easter Egger. She has both tufts and a small beard!

3-month-old tufted/tailed pullet.

This little 2-month-old cockerel was impossible to get a good picture of, he moves around so fast! Nice green legs, plumage is VERY dark in color but I'm 90% sure that he'll have some sort of "duck's wing" pattern... will definitely keep him as a backup breeder to put with light-colored hens.

These "whites" are actually only 1/2 white... their father was a GDW. They have nice type and I might breed them with a tufted willow-legged or slate-legged duckwing-type roo.

Wispy tufts and green legs on this rumpless 3-month-old GDW pullet... definitely a keeper for the breeding pen!

This tailed AOV pullet is nothing special to look at, but she has the sweetest personality!

I call the plumage color on this pullet "BBR-wannabe."

The plumage color on this 4-month-old cockerel is WAY too dark, but he has a distinctive "duck's wing" pattern. The green legs are great, but he's FAR too long-legged and has bad type. I'm not sure if I'll keep him as a backup or not.

3-month-old pullet.

"Pigpen" with her new chicks... this is her 2nd batch this year. There are 5 chicks; 4 are tufted!



Hope y'all enjoyed the pics!

-Anne

 

[sara]

Pretty pictures Anne, thanks for sharing. The little "accident" is cute

 

[KKluckers]

Beautiful birds your doing a great job!!

 

[pokey]

wish you weren't so far away, i want some of your"projects"!

 

[pips&peeps]

Ok, I'm going to admit that I am "plumage color" challenged here, but your GDW looks like SDW to me. What is the difference in them please?

Also, how is your size on those puppies? If you have an extra female like the one in the first picture, I may be tempted to get one from you to improve my silver ameraucana line....

 

[hinkjc]

Great pics Anne..thanks for sharing. I love the wild type coloring on the araucana. We are going to focus on some here too and have some interesting breeders for next year's pens, although I'm not sure how they will finish out yet.

What do you consider the reddish girl with lovely tufts (2 mos)? I hatched a couple like her this year and thought they fell in the BBR realm. Is that right? I will have to post pics for your insight. I would be very interested in your feedback and any advise you can offer. Great job on your birds. They are all so beautiful!

Jody

 

[Anne]

Thanks Sara, Korfus and Pokey! Glad you enjoyed the pics!

 

[Anne]

pips&peeps :

Ok, I'm going to admit that I am "plumage color" challenged here, but your GDW looks like SDW to me. What is the difference in them please?

Well, in my flock, hens like this:

Tend to produce male offspring like this:

Which I see as more "Silver," or if the plumage were actually correct, "Silver Duckwing."

In my flock hens like this:

Tend to produce male offspring like this:

Which I see as being "Golden," or again if the plumage were correct, "Golden Duckwing."

To me, the main visible difference in the females is the depth of color in the chest. But I could be wrong about the whole thing!!! I've only been doing this for a few years, and the extent of my knowledge only goes as far as what I've observed in my own flock.

pips&peeps :

Also, how is your size on those puppies? If you have an extra female like the one in the first picture, I may be tempted to get one from you to improve my silver ameraucana line....

Size is good... I've never used bantams in an attempt to improve color... I'm pretty sure the good majority of my birds are standard size or greater. I'm keeping all my good-quality "duckwing" females this year, but next year I may well have plenty of extras. In fact, I may get rid of that very bird next year since she has slate legs (which is the correct leg color for Ameraucanas!).​

 

[Anne]

Quote:
Hi Jody, glad you like the pics! I am so glad you're going to start working on the "wild types" they certainly need all the help they can get! How exciting!

Quote:
Honestly I hesitate to label her at all... I think she's a little too dark even to be wild-type BBR, but the color pattern is there... I'm not sure!
Quote:
Awww, thank you so much! Keep in mind I am DEFINITELY not an expert, I'm really kind of a newbie with this breed, but I would absolutely love to see more pictures of your birds!

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Very nice, Anne! I tend to like the wild colors now that I have had a few hatch. As I mentioned on the ACA forum I don't know what color to call them and I still can't tell if they will be pullets or cockerels. I really need a few more pullets, so far only one of my chicks is a female. I have one more broody hen on a nest with four Araucana eggs.

BTW- the white pullet you have with the green legs is awesome! I like your red-white and blue cockerel, he seems to be very patriotic!

~Ann