British Araucana thread

[maddogdodge]

I haven't been able to find a thread for British Tailed Araucanas... I don't even know if there are there enough British Araucana owners on here for there to be a thread for the breed...

I'm totally new to the breed, I had one backyard quality lavender chick that grew up to be a rooster, so I had him swapped for a show standard whit pullet who is now 17 weeks old

 

[SilchooksNZ]

Hi,
We have a Lavender British Tailed Araucana, complete with her "mullet". Her name is Vespa.

Here is her first egg, along with those of Gina and Tonica and Lena Kravitz.




Here she is hanging out with her mate Ferrari, our Blue Leghorn.



She is the cutest but not super friendly to humans. We only got her as a young pullet (maybe 16-17 wo?) but she's about 26 weeks old now and laying the cutest light green/blue eggs. We always know when she has performed!!
We suspect she is getting broody now, as she's been sitting in the nesting box for hours. She laid an egg yesterday but nothing today, and she sat on the other chickens' eggs instead. She is moody as too!!
Hopefully, if someone who has more experience than us on BT Araucanas could steer us in the right direction that would be great.
Good luck with your girl!!

 

[maddogdodge]

Your girl is gorgeous SilchooksNZ.

As mine has grown up I've noticed that she isn't show quality, but I don't really care. She's adorable, I've named her 'Toot' because she sounds like a little high pitched trumpet compared to all my other birds

This is her, she's about 24 weeks old now... no signs of eggs yet... I'm so keen for her to start laying though!




She's really friendly actually. I was expecting her to be really flighty and scared of me, but she's actually the friendliest of all my birds! She happily lets me pick her up and carry her around

 

[maddogdodge]

This is the boy I had for a while... he was very flighty... he didn't like me at all

Cute little thing though, I liked his beard!

 

[SilchooksNZ]

Oh she is Toot is cute!!! Try and give her plain yoghurt, with some flax or sunflower seeds so she can sort of pick the yoghurt. Thats what got Vespa on the lay.
It is confirmed: after 2 weeks of laying, she is now broody. It will be so nice to have bay chicks!!! And to find out if she is a good mother.
Your boy was handsome too!

 

[maddogdodge]

Oh she is Toot is cute!!! Try and give her plain yoghurt, with some flax or sunflower seeds so she can sort of pick the yoghurt. Thats what got Vespa on the lay.
It is confirmed: after 2 weeks of laying, she is now broody. It will be so nice to have bay chicks!!! And to find out if she is a good mother.
Your boy was handsome too!

Oh cool, I'll give that a shot!

I've just recently hatched chicks under a broody hen for the first time. Its so nice to see a broody hen looking after some babies, rather than the chicks stuck in a brooder box

 

[SilchooksNZ]

Yes thats what i thought. Plus, we don't have a lot of room for equipment, nor time to fuss about baby chicks. A mother sounds like the easiest, most natural way.
It will have to wait until Monday at least tho.... Keep me posted on Toot's progress!

 

[maddogdodge]

Yes will do

I raised some day old chicks in a brooder box once around 6 months ago... I don't think I'll ever do it that way again... It was so much more work and the chicks didn't get as much sunshine or opportunity to forage around for bugs and other tasty treats... Broody hens are definitely the best way in my opinion

 

[SilchooksNZ]

Cool, we are getting some fertile eggs today or tomorrow, and I'll keep you all posted!!

 

[maddogdodge]

I got my first egg from Toot today