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UrbanFarmOC said:
Hi. Is anyone near La Habra?

Am new to BYC and chickens. Just got some in April. We have 4 for now. I'd maybe like more in the future, but this is all we can manage for now... Silkies, polish and wyandotted are really appealing to me too! The coop isn't even finished! We have 2 EEs, an Australorp and a Barred Rock. We also have 6 large veggie beds and the chickens are loving all the kale. I need to re-sow new lettuce seeds and barricade the bed because they ate all the sprouts.
Click to expand...
Hello from Orange and welcome to the chicken world!!! They are lots of fun and VERY amusing at times
pop.gif
 
sol2go said:
Is that a wheaten ameraucana in your avatar?
If it is, it looks like one I have from Phage, as a matter of fact =)

Has anyone had broody ameraucanas, if so would you say that is typical of the breed? This one has been every year, and she is crazy, I think we would call her a "helicopter parent".
Click to expand...

My avatar is a Blue Wheaten shipped all the way from VT. She came with her sister but her sister was sickly and died three weeks later. This is my expensive Ameraucana as she and her sister cost me $125 and now the sister is gone so this is one expensive girl. But she is wonderful. Kooky, spooky, klutzy, skittish, jumpy, yelpie, jittery, etc. But she is predator alert and savvy, does the barnyard alerts even if it's only for a floating mylar balloon, chases stray cats out of the yard, but doesn't have a mean bone in her body. For being a jittery jumpy bird she has never flown from the yard because I don't think she wants to miss any treat times!

As a juvenile we had her in-house for quarantine before setting out in the flock. She got to bond with us, let us pet her, flew up to us for attention (this breed seems to crave human interraction and actually carry on conversations with you), she coo's when petted, she falls asleep limp in our arms, never tries to run away if she sees our hand coming out to pet her or stroke her (she coos). She is not interested in flock politics and is kind to flockmates and humans alike. For having such an eagle-like expression its hard to believe there is a gentle soul behind those eyes.

OurFlyBabies.com says they keep Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas because they will accept orphaned chicks or injured birds into their flock willingly where other breeds are not so friendly. That was good enough for me to find a B/W Ameraucana breeder and ordered two pullets. Our girl avoids conflicts and submits to the matriarch Silkie and she could very easily be a bully as she statuesquely stands two times taller than the Silkies. Ameraucanas are a pure joy and such gentle souls that I would never integrate such a gentle breed in with other Heavy LF breeds - Heavier or Dual-Purpose LF at maturity around 18 months to 2 years old have a tendency to become bullies toward bantams, smaller, or gentler breeds in our flock experience.

She began laying as a pullet around 7 months old in December 2013 and hasn't stopped laying yet. Her blue eggs started as 1.75 oz and are up to 2.25 oz now. She is a year old and since Ameraucanas and EEs mature slowly I don't expect any broody behavior from her. I am told they are not broody. However I was told Buff Leghorns aren't broody either and I have one that's been broody for 6 weeks now and finally coming out of it. Our Leghorn is a sweet broody as are both our Silkies but I think it's because we are hands on them all the time and often we offer treats to them in the nestbox so they don't fear our hands. We could pet any broody in a nestbox, lift her out, and never fear any pecks or nips. I expect should the Ameraucana ever brood that she would be just as amenable to handling in the nestbox as the others - especially if we have treats in our hand since she is our chowhound chicken. She loves food.

Only one thing keeps me from ever having a 100% flock of sweet APA Ameraucanas or EEs for that matter - they are noisy. If my girl gets into a calling frenzy there's no stopping her and she sometimes gets the flock going to. My friend has one Ameraucana and 3 EEs and she says the same thing. It's almost embarassing because we can't stop them. Our Leghorn experiences gave us some noisy hens but after a short episode they would stop. Our Ameraucana can go on for 10 to 20 minutes, stop, and then start again if she's upset. If I had a flock of them the neighbors would probably get a petition on us! LOL I guess for every perfect breed there's got to be at least one drawback.

People say bantams or Silkies or Cochins are sweet pets because they are easy to handle and gentle. I used to think that but they really are not too keen on a lot of handling and without treats are not so easy to approach. However the Ameraucana will seek out your company and will want to carry on a conversation. Another breed that we found that is curious and seeks human contact is the Dominique. They will want to sit on you and get petted and talk and sleep on you with no treats involved.
 
Sylvester017 said:
My avatar is a Blue Wheaten shipped all the way from VT. She came with her sister but her sister was sickly and died three weeks later. This is my expensive Ameraucana as she and her sister cost me $125 and now the sister is gone so this is one expensive girl. But she is wonderful. Kooky, spooky, klutzy, skittish, jumpy, yelpie, jittery, etc. But she is predator alert and savvy, does the barnyard alerts even if it's only for a floating mylar balloon, chases stray cats out of the yard, but doesn't have a mean bone in her body. For being a jittery jumpy bird she has never flown from the yard because I don't think she wants to miss any treat times!

<<edited>>
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for your story. That was a long trip! My wheaten Am. has a similar nature, although she does get along fine with a mixed flock. Much like yours, she talks a lot and seems very people oriented, until she went broody. Now it is all about the chick; I couldn't leave all of them with her, she is so intent to show them how to forage, that she sends them flying with the dirt/straw. Just one is more likely to get out of the way =)

I don't have any Dominiques, thanks for mentioning your experience with the breed.
 
calichicken said:
Hello from Orange and welcome to the chicken world!!! They are lots of fun and VERY amusing at times:pop
Click to expand...


Tell me about it!! I love watching them fly/ jump out when I let them out to free-range. They fly-run in circles and do little chest bumps
with one another! I also love watching them fight for and try to steal extra treats from my hand, except when my barred rock
(the biggest of the 4) gets too excited ends up biting my finger. ouch!
 
UrbanFarmOC said:
Tell me about it!! I love watching them fly/ jump out when I let them out to free-range. They fly-run in circles and do little chest bumps
with one another! I also love watching them fight for and try to steal extra treats from my hand, except when my barred rock
(the biggest of the 4) gets too excited ends up biting my finger. ouch!
Click to expand...
I call it chicken therapy, except for the finger-biting part.
 

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