MARYLAND THREAD!

[fiddlebanshee]

I haven't heard that EE are excessively agressive or flighty. Many people have them and love them. They are certainly easier to come by so if the blue/green color is not an absolute goal, I'd say go for easy for your first flock (or mix them with some other breeds, get one of each of 3 different breeds).

There is absolutely no reason not to mix chicken breeds. I should know, I have 9 different breeds. As long as they are more or less the same size there should not be a problem. I would probably not mix bantams and large fowl.

 

[dheltzel]

I haven't heard that EE are excessively agressive or flighty. Many people have them and love them. They are certainly easier to come by so if the blue/green color is not an absolute goal, I'd say go for easy for your first flock (or mix them with some other breeds, get one of each of 3 different breeds).

There is absolutely no reason not to mix chicken breeds. I should know, I have 9 different breeds. As long as they are more or less the same size there should not be a problem. I would probably not mix bantams and large fowl.

The nice thing about EE's is that you can likely find pullet chicks right now at some local feed stores. I saw 3 at our TSC Saturday. Cute chicks and they grow up to be great producers, ours are a few years old and laid mostly jumbo size eggs right through this past winter. They are equivalent in my view to sex links, but with blue green eggs.

That said, we are moving toward pure Ameracuanas, not to improved the eggs or temperament, but because they are more valuable when selling hatching eggs or chick. The remaining EE's will remain in our flock until the die of natural causes because they are pets as much as layers.

Either way, you're picking a good breed.

 

[Anna Lee]

...

Hey everyone. I moved to Maryland about a year and a half ago thanks to the military.  Before that I was really interested in having chickens, but I ended up in Harford and not Cecil county and my understanding was you needed two acres to be agriculture and thus be allowed to have livestock.  Recently come to learn I can have three chickens on my 1/3 acre of fenced in land, and that got me really excited.  I have wanted to go for the Ameraucana breed, but wanted to see if people have experience with it and kids.  I have been reading their thread, but wanted to see if I can get some direct answers here.

I have two kids, a 3 year old girl and a 9 month old son.  Two dogs, a lab/bull dog mix and a Australian shepherd/husky mix, that are very friendly and mild temperaments.  As noted before, my backyard is fenced in and big enough for my two dogs to run around comfortably and tire themselves out in, so my plan is a coop for night and free range for the day.  I (attempt to) breed guppies, and my daughter is starting to understand life and death from them (death means they go down the toilette and new babies will be born later), so I thought I would try chickens.  I hear they can be great with children as a pet, and I don't mind the idea of getting fresh eggs now and then as well.

If I do go Ameraucana's, does anyone know anywhere I can get them around here?  I can order Easter Eggers online, but I am not really sure I want those verses the more pure bloods instead as I don't understand the difference enough.

Thanks for all the help and advice .
[/quote

You should be able to get purebred female Ameraucanas at the Maryland Poultry Swap at Greenhill Farm in Sharpburg. The next one is mid-June. Get there early so they don't sell out of the birds you want. We really love our Ameraucanas. In addition to the Wheaten and Blue Wheaten from a breeder at the swap we got an Ameraucana from Whitmore too. They are all friendly and gentle and lay light blue to turquoise eggs.

 

[teamcarp33]

Oh I love my EEs though! They're such a fun surprise. I hatched some eggs I got at a poultry swap almost two years ago and got 3 hens and 3 rooster, which I couldn't keep. One hen is a teeny little bantam mix- looks like an OEGB just a bit bigger. Doesn't resemble an Americana. At. All. I was so shocked when she started laying a very blue, almost LARGE sized egg. The second one is a big fat ball with a wry tail. She has the big face puffs AND green legs but lays a really pretty light browny pink egg. The third really looks like an Americana all around, but lays an olive green egg. They are awesome and great foragers.

 

[HaplessRunner]

Hey everyone. I moved to Maryland about a year and a half ago thanks to the military. Before that I was really interested in having chickens, but I ended up in Harford and not Cecil county and my understanding was you needed two acres to be agriculture and thus be allowed to have livestock. Recently come to learn I can have three chickens on my 1/3 acre of fenced in land, and that got me really excited. I have wanted to go for the Ameraucana breed, but wanted to see if people have experience with it and kids. I have been reading their thread, but wanted to see if I can get some direct answers here.

I have two kids, a 3 year old girl and a 9 month old son. Two dogs, a lab/bull dog mix and a Australian shepherd/husky mix, that are very friendly and mild temperaments. As noted before, my backyard is fenced in and big enough for my two dogs to run around comfortably and tire themselves out in, so my plan is a coop for night and free range for the day. I (attempt to) breed guppies, and my daughter is starting to understand life and death from them (death means they go down the toilette and new babies will be born later), so I thought I would try chickens. I hear they can be great with children as a pet, and I don't mind the idea of getting fresh eggs now and then as well.

If I do go Ameraucana's, does anyone know anywhere I can get them around here? I can order Easter Eggers online, but I am not really sure I want those verses the more pure bloods instead as I don't understand the difference enough.

Thanks for all the help and advice .

FWIW, I have had ameraucanas and many other breeds. Ameraucanas hens and pullets are some of the nicest and friendliest you will find. The ameraucana roosters are not only strikingly beautiful but also strikingly aggressive. I have found that they can be hard on hens and pullets during breeding. They also become very aggressive to other breed chickens and in particular to other breed roosters. I have had to intervene to save an other breed cockerel from a bunch of ameraucana boys who decided to gang up on that cockerel. They would chase him relentlessly trying to finish him off. I also had one ameraucana cockerel become aggressive with me. It was a fatal mistake on his part.

While I have not had EEs, I have bred them. Almost all of my cross breed chickens have been friendly and easier to get along with. Maybe they are like the mutt that you refer to from the shelter. The mutt is almost always more friendly, does not have near the health issues, or personality issues. Your call but I would give EEs a good consideration.

 

[Deb B]

FWIW, I have had ameraucanas and many other breeds. Ameraucanas hens and pullets are some of the nicest and friendliest you will find. The ameraucana roosters are not only strikingly beautiful but also strikingly aggressive. I have found that they can be hard on hens and pullets during breeding. They also become very aggressive to other breed chickens and in particular to other breed roosters. I have had to intervene to save an other breed cockerel from a bunch of ameraucana boys who decided to gang up on that cockerel. They would chase him relentlessly trying to finish him off. I also had one ameraucana cockerel become aggressive with me. It was a fatal mistake on his part.

While I have not had EEs, I have bred them. Almost all of my cross breed chickens have been friendly and easier to get along with. Maybe they are like the mutt that you refer to from the shelter. The mutt is almost always more friendly, does not have near the health issues, or personality issues. Your call but I would give EEs a good consideration.

I have one EE hen and she lays a very pretty large (and occasionally extra-large) sized light green egg. Not the greatest layer, but worth waiting for. She's neither overly friendly or overly flighty. She just kind of ignores you unless you get too close. I used to have an EE roo. He went to freezer camp because he became quite people aggressive. That may have been my fault because I handled him a lot when he was a chick. (In my defense he was sexed to be a pullet and was in the first batch of chicks I've ever had, so I treated him like a pullet and it took about 8 weeks before I started suspecting she was really a he!)

I also have Pure Bred Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas (2 ten month old pullets, 2 one year old roos).

The Am. girls are currently laying medium sized blue eggs. Again, not the greatest layers, but so pretty. They are young and have only been laying for 2 months, so the egg size is likely to increase. One is very friendly and likes to be picked up. The other doesn't like to be touched but doesn't mind if you are close. One nice thing about EEs is that they start laying younger, generally. Pure Ameraucanas often don't start laying until 8 months old.

My Am. roos are not aggressive at all towards people. They don't get along with each other despite being raised together, so they have to be penned and free ranged separately. Usually they ignored each other, but every once in a while they got into it badly enough to draw blood, so now I just keep them separate. One is hard on his hens (there are only currently 5 for him, which is too few....but I'm hatching more out shortly!) so those hens wear saddles (or they wouldn't have any feathers on their backs.) The other roo only has 3 hens, but he isn't quite so aggressive with breeding with them, so they are doing fine.

EEs are much easier (and cheaper) to come by. But I love my pure bred Ams. They have the greatest personality.

 

[dheltzel]

In the top pic.. To the left is the eggs from my Marans and to the right is the eggs I am getting from my Welsummers..

Sure hope to see my Marans getting darker lol right now I think my Welsummers got them beat

Loved the eggs I got from you. 14 healthy little Welsummer chicks from 17 eggs, and 10 Marans from 11 eggs!

Here's a picture with them mostly dried off.
4 of the Marans are blue, you can see at least one in there.

 

[Dcat]

All of those pretty babies and beautiful eggs. I believe you are right and your Welsummers are much darker. Wow

 

[maceman121]

Those are stunning looking chicks . Are they supposed to keep such a deep color through adulthood?

 

[dheltzel]

Those are stunning looking chicks . Are they supposed to keep such a deep color through adulthood?

I don't have pics of the parents, but they came from Whitmore Farms and I know they have pics on their website. As I recall, the parents were very typical of their breeds.
The brown chicks are all Welsummers and the others are Black Copper Marans and Blue Copper Marans.