Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[CrazyChookChookLady]

You have to see this commercial

It gave me a much needed smile today.

I love this!!! I have this saved in my YouTube.

 

[RoyalChick]

Looks like you need another Polish ByBob. But introducing a lone hen is problematic, especially if it doesn't work out as you planned.



Having 2 entrances to the coop may work, although I can just see Aurora running from door to door repelling all borders.

I actually went and held Tsuki in my lap a couple of times until everyone else got settled. It wasn't a permanent solution but it made me feel a bit better at the time.

It has been raining a lot lately and everyone has been in the coop when I lock up. I guess no-one wants to be wet.





Yep, that was me. Here it is again

I finally got a chance to watch the video. I am definitely going to channel my inner rooster a bit more! I can pick everyone up already but I don’t have anyone who wants to sit on my lap. This will be fun.

 

[RoyalChick]

Oh!!! I think I remember this now. Araucanas on your side of the globe have crests, but ours do not.

I just want to say that this is a PHD level chicken breed conversation and I am still not at the level of reliably spotting a Wyandotte (though remember my Barnevelder triumph!!). So pardon me for not joining in, I am simply going to wait for the ‘For Dummies’ version.

 

[Kris5902]

Kris, you know your Ameraucanas, Araucanas and EEs better than I do. I do think it’s that chilean bird that gives Cream Legbars their crest, so I still can’t wrap my head around why Araucanas don’t have them.

I’m not sure about the Crests, but I do know that the Cream Legbars have a dominant blue gene, so F1 crosses all lay blue, (maybe green depending on the other breed?) whereas the Ameraucana gene isn’t dominant so the first generation of offspring could lay pretty much anything. My Sapphires are a blue laying F1 CCL x leghorn, but their Daughters with production reds and BCM lay tan, brown, or green. In essence also an Easter egger without the Ameraucana.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

One thing I think may be worth Noting, Aurora is an Easter egger. Which is an Ameraucana, not a pure Aracauna (I think your Australian lines are very different from North American ones) or Araucana cross of some sort, like Jabber and Chickie Hawk essentially. The Ameraucana was carefully line bred to eliminate a fatal genetic flaw in the Chilean Araucana stock. My Easter Eggers, Chickie Hawks daughters, and Hawk himself, are some of my most assertive (to put it politely) chickens. I have also read quite a few threads on BYC about Easter eggers in particular being bullies towards other chickens. I think it may be a bit of a common personality trait in the “breed”...

I understood that EEs are not Ameraucanas. I’m confused about that.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Yep, Alice definitely has a crest. No beard or muffs though.
View attachment 2393705

She is adorable! ❤

 

[Kris5902]

But mine do ~ have a crest that is ~ & I think you'll find so does ACM's.

Oh!!! I think I remember this now. Araucanas on your side of the globe have crests, but ours do not.

I’m thinking that the Australian “Araucana” is likely quite different genetically, possibly through the same selective breeding as Ameraucanas?. I forget, do they also lay blue eggs? Do they have any fatal genetic conditions? i have seen the Rumpless factor crop up in Chickie Hawks off spring twice. Once led to an early cull, but the other made it into processing.

Spoiler: Rumpless chicken processed

this chicken didn’t have a tail, had an incredibly messy backside that needed daily attention, and was smaller than average, but nowhere near as much as the one I culled myself.

 

[Kris5902]

I understood that EEs are not Ameraucanas. I’m confused about that.

totally due to the poor wording on my post! But I think it’s too late to edit... nope! Added one word in and that should clear up the confusion for any future readers. Sorry for wording things so weirdly there! My key point was meant to be that from what I’ve seen personally, and read, Easter Eggers can be a very pushy, domineering breed. Hawk is downright aggressive to other Roosters, a jerk to people, and I dare not free range him. Some of his girls are pretty “assertive/mean” as well, but they are mostly in a flock together so it’s not too bad.

 

[Kris5902]

I understood that EEs are not Ameraucanas. I’m confused about that.

my phone died mid post... but basically
Ameraucanas were extensively bred from Auraucanas to eliminate the genetic defect while still laying exclusively blue eggs. Easter eggers are a first generation cross breed with one Ameraucana parent. This is an unstable cross, so if you breed two Easter eggers together your chicks could range anywhere on the spectrum going back several generations in traits to their great grandparents.

for instance with dogs:
Labrador+ Poodle=Labradoodle (a fairly uniform cross breed)
Labradoodle+labradoodle= genetic chaos; with offspring anywhere from seemingly pure Lab through looks like almost pure poodle.
If you pulled the most “labradoodle“ like pups and bred them to to each other and their parents (Backcrossing), after enough generations you could establish the labradoodle as it’s own breed to where Labradoodle +labradoodle= labradoodle

This is what happened in the case of the Ameraucana. The blue egg gene in the Ameraucana is not dominant. Easter eggers can produce a high range of egg colors as they are F1 Ameraucana cross hybrids. There are other things that go into eggcolour with only two true shell colors, white and blue. Brown is a coating with many different genes affecting it, and when you cross a blue and a brown layer you often get green, a chicken that carries the blue shell and a variety of brown coating genes.

Crested Cream Legbars, however, have two Dominant Blue genes so they will only ever produce Blue or green laying offspring in a first generation cross.

it’s a confusing topic to start with. I’m focusing on a niche multicolored egg market which is why I’ve spent so long looking into it and trying to wrap my head around what would be best to add into my flock. The CCL has strong blue genetics, but is a smaller and far less frequent layer. I have been breeding their F1 Offspring into my flock but don’t have any pure CCL or Ameraucanas, as of yet

 

[RoyalChick]

The CCL has strong blue genetics, but is a smaller and far less frequent layer. I have been breeding their F1 Offspring into my flock but don’t have any pure CCL or Ameraucanas, as of yet

Ooooh - finally something I understand and am delighted by. My Little Princesses are clearly not a 'production' breed. So happy about that!