Convince me i need silkies

[fluffycrow]

My EE was a very good and determined and intelligent broody but since they are mixes it varies.
She had a Dominique bantam mother who hatched her out in secret and for that reason she did the same and hatched about 10 (having an Ameraucana father so being a small to medium sized chicken.)
She left her remaining eggs and started off with the chicks.
Then we gave them away.
But she had a plan B! And she hatched the egg that had been sitting abandoned for 48 hours.

chickens really are smarter than we give them credit for sometimes. Emphasis on the sometimes

 

[fluffycrow]

The only one on your list I've had experience successfully hatching is the Silkies. Never have had a Sussex long enough to go broody. The brahma liked to brood for a week before quitting. The EE just couldn't successfully hatch out her eggs no matter how long she sat, poor thing, and your araucanas are a different breed than the araucanas here.

Seramas are absolutely not the bird for this though

What are the key differences between European araucanas and American araucanas?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Perhaps. Will you be breeding Aseel?

 

[fluffycrow]

Perhaps. Will you be breeding Aseel?

I hope to! My focus is definitely aseel, but I don't think that will be the most immediate breeding project as I've yet to find a good hen to improve my males faults. So the breed I'm looking into now serves as a surrogate to the aseel eggs, because most aseel hens typically can't successfully brood all the eggs they lay. But aseel are more demanding and slow growing birds, that's what I like about them

 

[JacinLarkwell]

What are the key differences between European araucanas and American araucanas?

Looks, and likely behavior too.

 

[Amer]

What are the key differences between European araucanas and American araucanas?

European Araucanas have beards and tufts. American ones don’t have beards, but have tufts. Neither have tails. And British ones are tailed and crested and bearded.

 

[fluffycrow]

I hope to! My focus is definitely aseel, but I don't think that will be the most immediate breeding project as I've yet to find a good hen to improve my males faults. So the breed I'm looking into now serves as a surrogate to the aseel eggs, because most aseel hens typically can't successfully brood all the eggs they lay. But aseel are more demanding and slow growing birds, that's what I like about them

The second reason I'm looking into another breed, hence this thread, is I want to add some more birds into my free ranging flock, as well as some birds that consistently go broody, alhough I am also interested in breeding said breed to its SOP, just as a side project

 

[fluffycrow]

European Araucanas have beards and tufts. American ones don’t have beards, but have tufts. Neither have tails. And British ones are tailed and crested and bearded.

I just looked at some photos, and it's so strange! Why have tailed araucanas it defeats the purpose
The ones I saw from the seller were definitely European, they were bearded but they didn't have tails

 

[fluffycrow]

I've been looking at the Fayoumi for a couple of days, they seem like the perfect free rangers, the only drawbacks are that they won't brood until they mature, as per the chart @ChickenCanoe provided, and the fact that they are not yet (I believe) a recognised breed. I love brahma, but then again they're kind of big. I might end up with silkies, idk. I think I'm spiralling into chicken madness, which is kind of fun because I'm discovering breeds I didn't know existed, or getting a better understanding of others, and kind of annoying at other times

 

[fluffycrow]

Ok so after looking at my options, I've narrowed it down to two breeds, but first I'll say why I disqualified the others
1. Fayoumi: great free ranger, would be perfect but goes broody later than I'd like right now
2. Jersey Giants: don't go broody that often, plus they're a little too big
3. Sussex: doesn't go broody as often
4. Brahma: it's a gamble with them, and they're also on the bigger side
Now let's talk about the remaining breeds
1. Araucana: they are calm and non- aggressive, they are good free rangers, and as long as they're true araucanas they're also great broodies
2. Silkies: they are my second choice, since they're not the best at free ranging, but I can't get over their brooding ability

So with that in mind, I might be getting araucanas, or I might get silkies as well, we'll see
I will say, that if I find cochin eggs available, I will snatch that opportunity, but as of now, I haven't found any. Well, that was plan B
Now onto plan C
I'm sorry I've been so chaotic and potentially annoying in this thread, I just really want to make this work