Lavender Ameraucana Breeders .... UNITE

[hebertchick12]

Please help me pick a rooster for my lavender hens! I guess I need to read up more on SOP. Not sure which of the three would be best:

#1- from the seller "I hatched him in early April from a show breeder in TX, he has one light feather on one wing but otherwise he is decent." This one is only four months old, same age as my pullets.




#2- only picture willing to send. Has many to choose from. "came from old Toxaway farm which has some of Paul smith line along with some others."



#3 This one is the most expensive and furthest from me... and I have to purchase as a quad of Rooster, Hen, and two 4 month old pullets. "These birds came from the best in show winning breeding pens of Paul Smith."



PLEASE HELP me pick one! LOL I would love to know your thoughts.

 

[thecuriouslynx]

LOL! I claim no expertise here. Just putting in my two cents worth. I like number three. How old is he? To my way of thinking, being he is adult you can see exactly what he finished out as, and is. Hence a good idea of what he might throw. This is still a question with the younger ones. #3 also has true slate grey legs, a nice comb and looks from what I can tell from the pic, a good muff & beard and proper body type.
Can you get pics sent to you that are of his offspring? Might give you a better idea there. But for me # 3 reeks of regality!

 

[Couchmo]

LOL!  I claim no expertise here.  Just putting in my two cents worth.  I like number three.  How old is he?  To my way of thinking, being he is adult you can see exactly what he finished out as, and is.  Hence a good idea of what he might throw.  This is still a question with the younger ones.  #3 also has true slate grey legs, a nice comb and looks from what I can tell from the pic, a good muff & beard and proper body type.
Can you get pics sent to you that are of his offspring?  Might give you a better idea there.  But for me # 3 reeks of regality! 

It's kinda funny that you say "I claim no expertise here" because I've never even seen an Ameraucana in person but I had exactly the same thoughts about #3 and secretly wished I could have him for my flock to be!

'Course, I'd better get set-up first!

Can you tell I'm rather itchin' to start my flock? Sheesh, I haven't even packed my apartment up, closed on the new house or moved in yet and all I wanna do is visit chickens. :cd :yiipchick and watch and listen to them, lol.

 

[thecuriouslynx]

It's kinda funny that you say "I claim no expertise here" because I've never even seen an Ameraucana in person but I had exactly the same thoughts about #3 and secretly wished I could have him for my flock to be!

'Course, I'd better get set-up first!

Can you tell I rather itchin' to start my flock? Sheesh, I haven't even packed my apartment up, closed on the new house or moved in yet and all I wanna do is visit chickens.

and watch and listen to them, lol.

Couchmo, ROFL!! A "tongue-in-cheek" word of advice about the flock you would like to start, Chickens Are ADDICTIVE!!

First you start with only three or four. Then you decide you want different colors and add a few more. THen you decide you can rescue a few that need a good home. THEn you decide the ladies need a rooster because you want to have momma's running around with their chicks.
THEN! THEN you wake up one morning go out to feed and realize that your current count of poultry is 1 Roo, 45 hens, you've had 14 natural hen hatches so far currently resulting in 73 chicks. And it is ONLY AUGUST 8TH!! There are still two more months of broody hens to go and you KNOW you are going to put more eggs under those wonderful girls of yours because you just can't control your urge NOT TO! It is too much fun to see momma's with their chicks and what the matings will result in!

So I hope your new house has a goodly amount of land with it.. It will be the absolute GREENEST property in the neighborhood from all of the refuse properly applied. Your neighbors will be jealous. they will start asking what your secret is... You can slip them one or two bags of potent, powerful, pungent, plant boosting broody bombs... LOL!

Anyway. Best of wishes for your new house and dream flock! You will have lots of fun! Did I mention chickens were ADDICTIVE?!

 

[Couchmo]

Couchmo,  ROFL!!   A "tongue-in-cheek" word of advice about the flock you would like to start, Chickens Are ADDICTIVE!!

First you start with only three or four.  Then you decide you want different colors and add a few more.  THen you decide you can rescue a few that need a good home.  THEn you decide the ladies need a rooster because you want to have momma's running around with their chicks.
THEN!  THEN you wake up one morning go out to feed and realize that your current count of poultry is 1 Roo, 45 hens, you've had 14 natural hen hatches so far currently resulting in 73 chicks.  And it is ONLY AUGUST 8TH!!   There are still two more months of broody hens to go and you KNOW you are going to put more eggs under those wonderful girls of yours because you just can't control your urge NOT TO!  It is too much fun to see momma's with their chicks and what the matings will result in!

       So I hope your new house has a goodly amount of land with it..  It will be the absolute GREENEST property in the neighborhood from all of the refuse properly applied.  Your neighbors will be jealous.  they will start asking what your secret is... You can slip them one or two bags of potent, powerful, pungent, plant boosting broody bombs... LOL!

Anyway.  Best of wishes for your new house and dream flock!  You will have lots of fun!  Did I mention chickens were ADDICTIVE?!

trt

Thanks "thecuriouslynx", for the words of "advice/warning" . I already had a pretty good idea of how addictive they are. When we've been visiting SE MO., we stay at my BFF's son/DIL/GDaughter's. They have a backyard flock and I just love sitting out there watching/listening to the flock, seeing those little ones come out with momma and going into the coop to check the broodies and collect those delicious eggs. We usually stay 2 weeks a month or so. When we leave to come back to PA., I miss all of that.

My two little bungalows are only on less than half acre but my BFF bought the property next door. It has a house, 38X40 shop building, 3 acre fenced pasture on close to 5 acres. Our 3 places and the wonderful little church are all rather secluded by trees from the rest of the tiny "village". The trees should help cut some noise from Mr. Roo.

I will be putting the Ameraucanas in my backyard. We'll prolly put some other breeds by the pasture. My buddy is thinking perhaps he'd like New Hampshires. I also love Silkies (he hates them for some strange reason?) but I bet I sneak a small group of them in somewhere, at some point. :yiipchick

So you see, I'm already addicted! :cd :yiipchick

 

[Finnie]

Please help me pick a rooster for my lavender hens! I guess I need to read up more on SOP. Not sure which of the three would be best:

#1- from the seller "I hatched him in early April from a show breeder in TX, he has one light feather on one wing but otherwise he is decent." This one is only four months old, same age as my pullets.




#2- only picture willing to send. Has many to choose from. "came from old Toxaway farm which has some of Paul smith line along with some others."



#3 This one is the most expensive and furthest from me... and I have to purchase as a quad of Rooster, Hen, and two 4 month old pullets. "These birds came from the best in show winning breeding pens of Paul Smith."



PLEASE HELP me pick one! LOL I would love to know your thoughts.

Well, I know which quad I would be buying!

If you have the space and you are serious about breeding Lavender Ameraucanas, it would seem to me that getting the three extra hens/pullets would really increase the quality of your first round of breeding. Your own hens that you posted look a little young to be able to judge their quality. After they are grown, you might just feel that you don't want to use them at all. (Of course, there are other considerations, and when you weigh your own circumstances against price and distance, one of the first two roos might be a decent option for you.)

You didn't mention if any of these black roos might be split to lavender. That might be a deciding factor.

From what I have learned reading this thread, a black from BBS lines is fine to use in your lavender lines. But you would want to make sure it was really black, and not just a darkly marked blue, because mixing blue and lavender genes can lead to confusion down the road.

I was hoping someone would comment on your pullets. Maybe that post got buried back too far.

 

[hebertchick12]

The pullets that come with this Roo are blues. I plan to only use this black to get a black split to lavender roo from the offspring. I will have a separate breeding pen for lavenders and bbs.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I need help deciding between these 3 boys. I'm only keeping one. I'm partial to the one on the far left. He's the sweetest little thing and I like the way his tail looks so far as compared to the others but I'm no expert. They're all about 16 weeks old, roughly.

Here's a slightly better picture of the two on the right.

Here's boy #1, my favorite right now

I was able to get a lot of pictures of him since he's so friendly and curious lol

Here's boy #2

Boy #3 was really tough to get a shot of.

I know these aren't the best pictures but they're the best I could get with my tablet. I do know that if you click on them they get bigger. Thanks for helping me everyone

 

[Finnie]

The pullets that come with this Roo are blues. I plan to only use this black to get a black split to lavender roo from the offspring. I will have a separate breeding pen for lavenders and bbs.

Well, if you are going to breed both lavenders and BBS, I think you can't go wrong with Paul Smith lines as your foundation.

 

[hebertchick12]

The seller of that quad wasn't very forthcoming at all... which made me leery. Every question I asked, she danced around it. And never did send me more pictures, not even of the eggs. SOOOO I just ordered 10 chicks from Smithey Poultry!!!

Hopefully I have a black roo in there.

The lavenders can just be a part of my main mixed flock until we find them a decent suga daddy.