Placerville is a nice place to visit! Just a bit up the Hill you might see some daffodils too
California - Northern
- Thread starter Nifty-Chicken
- Start date
@GuineaFowling I really wanted a pure Ameraucana (not an Easter Egger) and special ordered from a private breeder two Blue Wheaten Ameraucana pullets (my avatar). But lost one pullet chick before I had her a month and lost the 2nd one at almost 3 yrs old. Although my BW Amer layed sky blue eggs she was not a good layer. If I got eggs from her 4 months out of each year that was a record for her! Either I got a lousy breeding line or just had bad luck as far as productivity. She was also a very skittish bird and afraid of her own shadow. I loved her dearly and also felt sorry that she was too spooky around more assertive hens. If her sister chick had lived I think they would've been companions to toodle around together like my two docile Silkies used to stick together away from the assertive breeds of hens in the yard.
My experience and opinion is that Ameraucanas, Silkies, Breda, and Polish are very timid docile breeds in general and should not be without companion sisters in a mixed flock of other hens that are more assertive breeds. I also wanted chocolate layers like Marans but found our Cuckoo Marans did not lay very dark eggs (about #4 on the egg color chart) and she was a bully and had to be re-homed with a friend who had more assertive layers for her to blend in. When I started keeping hens I didn't realize what a spectrum of docile to assertive breeds there were and that I couldn't just throw different breeds together into one backyard flock. I now have weeded down my breed choices to have more docile breeds and have less drama diva queens in the yard. We all have different requirements for our backyards and this is what I've weeded down to in mine.
My experience and opinion is that Ameraucanas, Silkies, Breda, and Polish are very timid docile breeds in general and should not be without companion sisters in a mixed flock of other hens that are more assertive breeds. I also wanted chocolate layers like Marans but found our Cuckoo Marans did not lay very dark eggs (about #4 on the egg color chart) and she was a bully and had to be re-homed with a friend who had more assertive layers for her to blend in. When I started keeping hens I didn't realize what a spectrum of docile to assertive breeds there were and that I couldn't just throw different breeds together into one backyard flock. I now have weeded down my breed choices to have more docile breeds and have less drama diva queens in the yard. We all have different requirements for our backyards and this is what I've weeded down to in mine.
GuineaFowling
Songster
Ive heard Ameraucana can be pretty timid :/ I might just go for a different blue egg laying breed. If only I could find pullets lol!
@GuineaFowling
Murray McMurray Hatchery has a newly developed breed called the Whiting True Blue named after geneticist Dr. Tom Whiting which McMurray Hatchery claims are true blue egg layers and the breed comes in different colors sort of like Easter Eggers where there are different patterns and colors of feathers and different leg colors. McMurray seems adamant that they are true blue eggs.
Then there's the Arkansas Blue which were developed by UofA and apparently a cross between an Araucana and Leghorn. Only about a half dozen breeding flocks in the USA last I researched.
Then of course as you know there are the Cream Legbars but like Easter Eggers it seems they lay more greenish-blue rather than true blue eggs much to the frustration of breeders.
And any time new breeds are created it takes generations of birds to be perfected and standards established and presented at poultry shows before the breed becomes an "official" accepted breed and no longer just an experimental mutt mix.
Seems that Araucanas were the original blue egg layers that were inter-bred with productivity type breeds like Leghorns, etc, to increase egg size and egg productivity because Araucanas were not the best layers.
EE's & Ameraucanas were developed starting with the original South American Araucanas or Quechua or whatever history you read about the original blue egg layer breeds. I tried researching the history of blue egg layers and facts were conflicting. I decided there really is no original TRUE breed of chicken. In the long run a TRUE breed is one that after it has been created will breed generation after generation holding the same characteristics as its parentage. I'm over-simplifying but its my own conclusion after years of asking questions, researching history, and talking with breeders.
We ended up deciding we're more interested in the personality of chickens as our choice of pets and that the color or size of eggs was not our primary goal. Yes, we wanted eggs but the colors became inconsequential. When we dealt with so many temperament conflicts trying to get a colorful egg basket it turned out in the end that it was more important to us to have compatibility in our choice of breeds.
We all have different poultry goals/interests and it's both fun as well as frustrating to finally decide what our final choice will be.
Murray McMurray Hatchery has a newly developed breed called the Whiting True Blue named after geneticist Dr. Tom Whiting which McMurray Hatchery claims are true blue egg layers and the breed comes in different colors sort of like Easter Eggers where there are different patterns and colors of feathers and different leg colors. McMurray seems adamant that they are true blue eggs.
Then there's the Arkansas Blue which were developed by UofA and apparently a cross between an Araucana and Leghorn. Only about a half dozen breeding flocks in the USA last I researched.
Then of course as you know there are the Cream Legbars but like Easter Eggers it seems they lay more greenish-blue rather than true blue eggs much to the frustration of breeders.
And any time new breeds are created it takes generations of birds to be perfected and standards established and presented at poultry shows before the breed becomes an "official" accepted breed and no longer just an experimental mutt mix.
Seems that Araucanas were the original blue egg layers that were inter-bred with productivity type breeds like Leghorns, etc, to increase egg size and egg productivity because Araucanas were not the best layers.
EE's & Ameraucanas were developed starting with the original South American Araucanas or Quechua or whatever history you read about the original blue egg layer breeds. I tried researching the history of blue egg layers and facts were conflicting. I decided there really is no original TRUE breed of chicken. In the long run a TRUE breed is one that after it has been created will breed generation after generation holding the same characteristics as its parentage. I'm over-simplifying but its my own conclusion after years of asking questions, researching history, and talking with breeders.
We ended up deciding we're more interested in the personality of chickens as our choice of pets and that the color or size of eggs was not our primary goal. Yes, we wanted eggs but the colors became inconsequential. When we dealt with so many temperament conflicts trying to get a colorful egg basket it turned out in the end that it was more important to us to have compatibility in our choice of breeds.
We all have different poultry goals/interests and it's both fun as well as frustrating to finally decide what our final choice will be.
The arkansas blue was developed from whitings blue egg layers. UofA turned whitings breed into Blue Black Splash from whitings flock but did not cross them from leghorn. Paul Whiting did that a long time ago. Paul mostly uses his chickens for making fish lures
I have some pullets and they are amazing egg layers!
GuineaFowling
Songster
@Sylvester017
That’s really interesting! Right now my flock consists of mostly marans and marans mixes, so they’re pretty well mannered with a few exceptions of course. I have a pretty colorful egg basket, I’ve always wanted a blue layer tho as I’ve never had one before. I’ll look into the whiting true blues as they seem like a good fit.
That’s really interesting! Right now my flock consists of mostly marans and marans mixes, so they’re pretty well mannered with a few exceptions of course. I have a pretty colorful egg basket, I’ve always wanted a blue layer tho as I’ve never had one before. I’ll look into the whiting true blues as they seem like a good fit.
@GuineaFowling
If you conclude which blue egg breed you want, be sure to get a minimum of 3 pullets -- in case of loss of a chick (hey, it happens!) you'll have at least two of the same breed left to be companions -- if all 3 blue egg layers survive to adulthood all the better! I used to order breeds in pairs but invariably would lose one so now I order by triples to allow for loss.
It's amazing how alike breeds seem to toodle around together. I have two Dominique hens that are like the Bobsy Twins -- you never see one without the other next to each other! I originally had 3 Dom pullets that flocked together but lost one to illness at one year so I was glad I had the two remaining Doms to be companions.
3 Dominiques before we lost one to illness.
My old Silkie lost her Silkie companion a couple years ago and it's been hard for her to be the only Silkie left in the flock now. Lost the black Silkie to a bleeding ovarian tumor.
We're just very glad that our two bigger Dominique hens are good to the old remaining Silkie. The Doms actually submit to her when she really wants to eat first -- but we wonder if she ever thinks about her missing companion Silkie. Isn't it funny how we project humanism onto our animals, LOL. I really need more pullets but with Newcastles quarantine and now the new Corona/Covid virus panic going on I decided not to order new birds this year which is making my veterinarian happy that we aren't acquiring new birds this year!.
Let us know what blue layers you finally acquire. Cheers!
If you conclude which blue egg breed you want, be sure to get a minimum of 3 pullets -- in case of loss of a chick (hey, it happens!) you'll have at least two of the same breed left to be companions -- if all 3 blue egg layers survive to adulthood all the better! I used to order breeds in pairs but invariably would lose one so now I order by triples to allow for loss.
It's amazing how alike breeds seem to toodle around together. I have two Dominique hens that are like the Bobsy Twins -- you never see one without the other next to each other! I originally had 3 Dom pullets that flocked together but lost one to illness at one year so I was glad I had the two remaining Doms to be companions.
3 Dominiques before we lost one to illness.
My old Silkie lost her Silkie companion a couple years ago and it's been hard for her to be the only Silkie left in the flock now. Lost the black Silkie to a bleeding ovarian tumor.
We're just very glad that our two bigger Dominique hens are good to the old remaining Silkie. The Doms actually submit to her when she really wants to eat first -- but we wonder if she ever thinks about her missing companion Silkie. Isn't it funny how we project humanism onto our animals, LOL. I really need more pullets but with Newcastles quarantine and now the new Corona/Covid virus panic going on I decided not to order new birds this year which is making my veterinarian happy that we aren't acquiring new birds this year!.
Let us know what blue layers you finally acquire. Cheers!
I found the gal's email and would be happy to provide it to you by PM if you're still interested (I have no idea if she'd be okay with me posting it publicly, so better play it safe). To answer your previous question, the one time I went, they had various breeds at various ages. You can email her and ask if they have any older legbars. By the way, my legbar lays true blue eggs. I can take a photo if you'd like.
Pardon the interruption and the shameless promotion of the EHAL and the EHAL contests, but we need more entries:
11th Annual Easter Hatch a Long 2020, hosted by @ronott1
Yay!
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