March 2017! Hatch with us!

[orrpeople]

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Thank you so much for posting this. I can't tell you how many times I've heard folks call their EEs Araucanas... and I'm politely saying, "You can't get them in a farm store..."

 

[WVduckchick]

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ju7zFCYh704/Ves8a0AWHdI/AAAAAAABAvE/p53Stf2UR9c/s400/chart.jpg
Thank you so much for posting this. I can't tell you how many times I've heard folks call their EEs Araucanas... and I'm politely saying, "You can't get them in a farm store..."

Its the fault of the feed stores. They mislabel them, and people will swear they know what they bought without knowing the difference.

The Ameraucana thread here is full of people who post EE pics. All politely told that they are EE's. Some will argue, some admit they didn't know the difference. Some get downright mean! LOL

 

[lilwildrabbit]

Thank you!
Just to be clear, are you talking about the electrolyte powder mixing into the water? It sure sounds like it but there was also disscussion about food.
I don't mind measuring at all. In fact I prefer to do it that way. There were just no instructions for doing that.
I also went by the color.  To me, when mixed properly, it looks like the old "Tang" drinks we had as kids (my age is showing! I'm 53 yrs old). They got that complicated by pushing food into the water/electrolyte mix.
These birds are characters!
I know there's as much harm potential in giving too much as well as them needing it and not giving it enough. Since the color (whether from food or from strength of mix) was darker than I wanted, I just add plain water if there's any (clean) when I  refresh the water. I do that many times per day...a well meaning excuse to look in on and pick up the little peeps.
I hope they're dry and camera ready this morning!

Now what's wrong with tang it's the drink of astronauts lol I'm just glad I'm not an astronaut that's stuff was nasty lol

 

[Cerise1924]

They're all set! The air cells were not floating, just a little wiggly, so I decided to lay these eggs on their sides.
Yes, I name my eggs.

It helps me cheer them on.

Because it's a "March" hatch, my four EEs are called Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (the March sisters from Little Women). I already have a 'Meg' in my flock, short for Nutmeg, but we'll deal with that after hatching.

On the EE / Araucana /Ameraucauna topic... Papa's Poultry has a pen where he mixes true Ameraucanas and EEs, so the chicks could end up as either, but he only markets them as EEs. It's more likely that a seller will pass off an EE as an Ameraucana or Araucana, don't you think?

 

[yeye5]

Well, sadly, the last chick to hatch--the dark grey one--died in the night.
When I saw the 3 of them all soaking wet and sticky from the electrolyte water, I tried to simply think positive which is the only productive thing I could've done.
After raising the dishes to prevent that from happening again, Mima happily sat on all of them.
This morning going to take pics I couldn't find the 3rd one. Exhaustive search later, it was in the nest just way under clumps of dirt.

I get it. It happens. In fact I've read about it happening to a few people on this thread.
I have no doubt the other 2 are fine. They're eating and peeping nicely. Mima is an excellent mom.
I'd like to know (wouldn't we All like to know what chickens are thinking) why the heck they ended up in the water dish in the first place...in Mima's previous 3 hatches that has never happened with that placement of dishes.
Learning takes change and change takes many forms.
I'm still really content with the 2 peeps that are with us and doing so well!
The pullets (one of the pullets at least) laid an egg this morning. On the ground, next to a nest box. That's ok. She'll get the hang of it. With the other birds boogying around (7 others, including dad roo and 6 siblings) I'm happily surprised no one stepped on it.
I gathered it and put it into my in-case-of-broody stash in the cupboard.

I have sticky pics of the 2 yellow peeps which I'll post today too.

 

[WVduckchick]

They're all set! The air cells were not floating, just a little wiggly, so I decided to lay these eggs on their sides.
Yes, I name my eggs.

It helps me cheer them on.

Because it's a "March" hatch, my four EEs are called Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (the March sisters from Little Women). I already have a 'Meg' in my flock, short for Nutmeg, but we'll deal with that after hatching.

On the EE / Araucana /Ameraucauna topic... Papa's Poultry has a pen where he mixes true Ameraucanas and EEs, so the chicks could end up as either, but he only markets them as EEs. It's more likely that a seller will pass off an EE as an Ameraucana or Araucana, don't you think?

Beautiful rainbow!! Best of luck with the set! I love the names... lol

I don't breed EEs, Ameraucanas, nor Araucanas, but I do follow some threads because of friends that breed them. But from what they say, either true Ams or Ars will always mention a color. Blue Ams, Wheaten Ams, black Ars... etc. The Ams in Papa's mixed pen, I would presume are ones that he didn't want to continue to breed pure. A little leakage, an off-color feather, wrong shape... etc. They get "very" picky, to say the least. But the gene for the egg color is useful, so they use them as EEs. If you get a pure color from the mixed pen, it could still grow out very well, but I would suspect his best birds are saved for the true breed pens. (or he could just have extras that he didn't want to get rid of!)

 

[Cerise1924]

Beautiful rainbow!! Best of luck with the set! I love the names... lol

I don't breed EEs, Ameraucanas, nor Araucanas, but I do follow some threads because of friends that breed them. But from what they say, either true Ams or Ars will always mention a color. Blue Ams, Wheaten Ams, black Ars... etc. The Ams in Papa's mixed pen, I would presume are ones that he didn't want to continue to breed pure. A little leakage, an off-color feather, wrong shape... etc. They get "very" picky, to say the least. But the gene for the egg color is useful, so they use them as EEs. If you get a pure color from the mixed pen, it could still grow out very well, but I would suspect his best birds are saved for the true breed pens. (or he could just have extras that he didn't want to get rid of!)

I am eagerly soaking up your wealth of information! I love learning about muffs vs tufts vs beards.

You know your stuff! Papa's mentioned Wheaten Ams in this pen. He does a lot of tinkering in his breeding, and is very clear when he sells purebred chicks, if they are up to standard or not. He will note that they are "good" or "just okay." I'm sure your suspicion is completely right, that these are slightly funky Ams that won't be good for his purebred lines, but that can help contribute to egg colours for the EEs.

Thanks, the rainbow looks better in person. The green and blue tints don't show up well in this photo. As I'm raising for pets and eggs, not for breeding, I'd not mind an imperfect Am in the mix. Not to offend anyone, but when I first saw EEs, I thought they were goofy looking. Now, I think those 'chubby chipmunk cheeks' are adorable!

 

[lilwildrabbit]

I

Just my 2 cents on the question. I will admit I am in love with silkies. More objectively though, I feel they are easy as any other breed and might be easier in some respects as the hens tend strongly toward broodiness.
Fringe benefits are that they look like fluffy little dolls. It is unreal!
If you're looking for eggs though, they lay nicely but their eggs are quite a bit smaller than standard breeds. I'd say my silkie eggs range from 1/2 the size of a medium brown egg (also laid here) to 1/3 the size of a white leghorn egg.

have a sweet little Dutch bantam that is on a clutch of eggs now so I would have no problem with a sitter for some silkies and my incubator has plenty of room! I went overboard when I found a 96 egg incubator for less than a smaller one

 

[yeye5]

1 quart

Gotcha and thanks. I def need to dilute it!

 

[yeye5]

No it does not.

SWEET!