AudriAnna's Americauna's

[combatfuzzball]

Well I've pretty much decided the top picture is a rooster since the comb is really way too big to not be. Now I'm waffling over Jules actually being a hen due to the comb not being as big. Oh well I've decided to name the top one Tolkien for now. Meaning I need to find a home for Jules and Tolkien in a while. For now they're all getting along great but once the cockerels reach sexual maturity I'll definitely need to do something. Reason why I'll keep Heinlein is I just like his coloring pattern and his feathers are more developed.
Definitely Heinlein and Lessa are the dominant pair grouping out of my 8 chicks. Leia is the conflicted one who seems to want attention from me yet is a big scaredy cat. I've caught Heinlein and Lessa taking a dust bath together yesterday meaning they're bonding already. That's awesome as it should give me some nicely colored red-Brown or wheaten chicks from that pairing. Lessa has always been the dominant I'm fairly sure. She's always jumped up on top of the water jug from about the second week. Other than her Esmay also used to jump on top of the water jug. Esmay also was the first one to step outside of the coop once I took them out of the brooder. Uhura followed behind yet she seems to basically just hang out with either Esmay or Honor.
Lessa is definitely going to be queen of the coop though. She already has that dignified calm manner to go with it.
The other two roosters Jules and especially Tolkien are very retiring and act more hen like than anything else. Wondering if this is a defense to keep Heinlein from beating up on them or what?
It appears that the 6 Black Australorps are 3 each of Cockerels and hens. Meaning I have 4 roosters I will be needing to get rid of. That's great if I can find someone to take them off my hands soon enough for me to get another set of 6 hens but not really hopeful about that.

 

[combatfuzzball]

Well now every Easter egger has a name. For the roosters I have Heinlein who's either a red brown or wheaten and the largest and calmest. Jules who is same coloration except for a black head. Tolkien who is mostly black and white speckled.
Hens I have Lessa and Leia both are reddish brown with Lessa being larger and calmer while Leia has a bit of blue feathering and best muff and beard.then there are Esmay, Uhura, and Honor. All are black and white. With Uhura being largest with a black head, Esmay is almost her twin. Both have a lot more curiosity than the rest. Honor is the smallest of all and has only a small amount of black. I called her smokey until names were decided on. She's still half size of Lessa.
I want to keep Heinlein wife likes Tolkien's colors. So probably have to keep him also. Didn't realize it but named the two reds names starting with L. Also the black and whites start with a vowel.

 

[combatfuzzball]

Well Gotten started on the new coop now Much better than the pre-fabbed one. Got discarded lumber from 2 separate job sites. Part of which is 2 separate halves of 2 separate lobster pens from a local restaurant. This is my gold mine find. The lumber is covered with a fiberglass coating so it's textured, waterproof as well as painted a nice blue green color. It's also very solid which is going to help keep other critters out of my coop. I also got 4 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood tongue and groove. Got an old ferret cage that the walls will make some nice breezy windows for the warm weather. Looking like the roof coating is going to be some spare linoleum.
Won't be any Ameracauna's for AudriAnna this year maybe but by the time I can get some eggs to hatch or chicks I'll have a great coop set-up for them.
Thinking I'll use this part as is and have a covered walkway between the 2 floors. That way I can separate birds if needed.

 

[combatfuzzball]

Well have the coop partially built for the chickens. Had to do a rush job since the babies (black Australorps had started flying out of the brooder. Luckily I was the one to find the chick out not the wife. She would not have been amused. I did an emergency fix to make it habitable for a few days which has now turned into a week. Hoping to finish very soon.

 

[combatfuzzball]

Some pictures of AudriAnna's and my Chickens. They're growing even faster than AudriAnna. They like her also have their own personalities. Heinlein and Leia are the least skittish and actually allow me to pet them. Honor is still the smallest and most unique being almost totally white. Our Black Australorps are thriving as well. No pictures of them since they're all the same color... Black.
Count now is 4 EE Roosters, 4 EE Hens, 3 Australorp Roosters and 3 Australorp Hens.
THe Easter Eggers all have names. My plan to have real Americauna's for AudriAnna has hit a bit of a snag since I fell for the old Americana hatchery trick. I will keep these cause now they're pretty much pets. A few of the roosters I will get rid of. I have to figure out the color of all of them. I think next year I'll buy some true Ameracauna's Most likely Blues since I can get 3 different color schemes for them.

 

[combatfuzzball]

Latest Update: Have the home built coop about 75% done. Well enough to keep chicks dry and most predators out. I also moved the store bought coop beside it. Now letting all the chickens out and no mixing yet after about 3 days of all out. They are already doing a number on the bugs. Too bad I got totally eaten up last weekend.
Very bummed though as 2 of what I'd thought were hens are now definitely roosters. Lessa and Uhura are now Orson and Flint. Bummed as one was a brown/red color and other was one of my white with black splashes.
Now have 5 blasted EE roosters. Heinlein, Jules, Tolkien as the originally identified 3 and now Orson and Flint. Curiously enough THe first 3 get along great but all have faced off with Orson and FLint. Heinlein and Jules are always together unless Heinlein's with Leia. Tolkien is always near Esmay, and Flint and Honor. Funny how the ones with white are always together while the Brown, red , and black colored ones are always together.
They are slowly starting to integrate with the Black Australorps. AT least with the Black Australorps I have an equal number of Roosters to Hens. 6 out of 14 chickens are hens which really stinks. Hoping I can find someone to either swap or trade for more EE Pullets. Maybe someone who has older hens that have slowed down laying and want to retire versus just killing.
Too late in the year to order more this year. Will be having some chicken in the freezer from this batch though.
Heinlein and Leia have figured out I am the source of food and will actually come up to me and let me pick them up. Heinlein actually more often than Leia. Heinlein is definitely the boss rooster but gets along great with Jules and Tolkien so far.

 

[combatfuzzball]

Well the great thing about having some chickens that will let you pick them up is that means they are friendly. The down side of that is they are foraging among Poison Oak and managed to give me a totally nasty case of it. The coop is looking alright for now. Thinking it's got kind of a Swiss Chalet look to it. I'm amazed to how much foraging the chicks are doing already.
Looking like a 50/50 split of Males and Females and noticing some of my Easter Eggers appear to have a good dose of Arauacana in them at least as far as their appearance goes.

 

[combatfuzzball]

Here's a list of my named roosters.
Orson. He goes out of his way to just randomly attack the hens. Appears Random anyway. Could just be a pecking order thing. He doesn't even think of attacking me but he's attacked the hens and ripped feathers off them. Not mating just being a bully. He's a pretty red color with a black tail. He just has the ugliest rooster comb I've ever seen. IT should be a pea comb but it's just a glob of orange color. Believe he'll be invited to dinner as the very special guest Dinner.
Heinlein. A beautiful rooster He just doesn't have anything other than the comb and greenish legs of an easter egger. Not a sign of a beard or Muff. He looks mostly like a game chicken if I had to guess. He also has some pretty black and yellow hackle feathers.Long legged and slim. He's also the culprit behind me getting Poison Oak. He will come right up to me and stand like he wants to get picked up. I'll probably keep for breeding as he's a lot bigger than the others so maybe breed his size in to the rest.
Jules. Dark Dark REd with black head and tail. He's got the beautiful Muff and beard that makes him really stand out. He's not as friendly as Heinlein but not an A-hole like Orson. For some reason he hackled up at me when I was giving out treats. Guess I must have given him my best Dirty Harry Stare. Cause he definitely didn't feel lucky and backed down. Almost seems like he realized he could put himself on a Platter and has been lots nicer now. He crows fairly often but not a jerk about it. most of the time.
Tolkien- is my wife's favorite. He's got almost every color possible in him. He's also the one that inherited the Araucana Rumplessness. He's got the beautiful beard and muff and just a very nice rooster. Not as friendly as Heinlein but still a very social rooster. He's really the only one that will spend time with the Black Australorps. Keeping them separate for a few weeks has made them into 2 distinct flocks but they are slowly starting to b lend together. I'll try and post pictures later.

 

[combatfuzzball]

Well we are excited to get some REAL Ameracauna chickens today! They are black and silver. Lady that we got them from has been breeding them for 20 years supposedly. Tried her best to give us 3 pullets and a roo but stll some doubt on 1.
Our littlest hen Honor has started laying also

 

[combatfuzzball]

Now have 3 different Breeds. (okay I know Easter Eggers aren't a breed). Hard to believe all I wanted was True Ameracauna's. for Audrianna.
now we've got 6 Easter Eggers. THe Hens Honor, Esmay, Uhura, and Leia. Honor is really impressive as she's missed 3 days total since she started laying 4 weeks ago. two of those days were in her first week of laying. Sadly she has a brown egg. Uhura has a greenish tent to her eggs but they are now blue as are the others. I've also sold my first dozen eggs as well as processed 4 roosters for food. Two were the EE roosters Heinlein and Jules. SInce Heinlein wouldn't stop crowing and Jules was almost as bad along with being mean to the other chickens. Now we just have Tolkien and Orson for EE roosters. Tolkien and Orson are both much nicer roosters and not as big crowers. Tolkien is actually turning into a good lead rooster and working at keeping peace among all the chickens.
I tried an experiment to hatch eggs using just a box, foam insulation and my brooder heat pad. Was getting some success and middle of the incubation period colder night blew the entire experiment. My sister actually bought me an incubator and sent it too me as a gift. Now We have a batch of 12 in it incubating for 4 days so far.
The Black Australorps are now down to only 4 as 2 of the smaller roosters I had slaughtered as well. This group really never had names as there wasn't a lot of individuality. I did keep the largest rooster which is the only one I gave a name to, Vader. The rest are still going by the collective name of the
little's since they are 3 weeks younger than the EE's. These guys are taking forever to mature so probably will be a month or so before I see any eggs out of them. Hoping to breed these in with my EE's to see if I can get larger birds as well as possibly getting the Dark legs of true Ameracauna's. Now will just keep separate I believe except to breed up some Olive Eggers and more BA's for egg production.
Now have 4 True Ameracauna's Not sure how well they will turn out. Supposed to be silver's however lady I bought them from has been breeding some black into her bloodline. She did her best to give me 3 pullets and one rooster however at their age it's a bit hard to tell. Pretty sure 2 are definitely pullets and one is a rooster but one is a bit more difficult at the moment.