Reputable Araucana breeder? I would love some hatching eggs or chicks.

[bullets]

Hey yall!


I am a chicken addict. I love hearing them, touching them, eating eggs, and eating them! I would love to start my own flock soon as I found out that my city permits having a 'reasonable' amount of chickens with a few other stipulations. I've been deciding on the breeds I'd like and making preparations for them. I don't have a problem sourcing most of the ones I want. The one I am having a problem with is Araucanas. Hatcheries around here (Mid MO) do not sell Araucanas but keep pushing the Americanas on me. I am gracious but tell them I am not interested. Looking around on ebay and craigslist there's people who say they have them but on pictures the layers they have are tailed or surely mixed. I don't know why I'm being a breed queen about this but I'd really like some quality clean faced Araucanas. I don't mind to hatch them either as it could be more economical and fun. Does anyone have any reliable, reputable breeder suggestions?

 

[sourland]

hinckjcpoultry.com in NE Pa. has true Araucanas.

 

[bullets]

hinckjcpoultry.com in NE Pa. has true Araucanas.

Thanks! You're the greatest!

I am open to more suggestions as well in case it wont work out with these guys

 

[bullets]

hinckjcpoultry.com in NE Pa.  has true Araucanas.

I just received an email back from them and unfortunately they do not carry the Araucana anymore

 

[apajudgeca1962]

Steve Waters in Washington state. Large Whites Black bantams EXCELLENT birds

 

[bullets]

Okay so I got into contact with a gentleman who has beautiful birds (by my standards) and have been corresponding with him via email. His last email to me left me thinking. I am impressed by his reply and challenged my thinking on the Araucana. I'll post our my email to him and his reply. I'd like to get your thoughts on it as I am not really sure what to think really.

Me:
"I visited your site again and looked closer at your flock.  As I said before they are all beautiful! But I did notice a few things that I hadn't before. I saw some of your chicken have single combs, not many have willow legs, and you're getting just over half of your flock laying blue eggs.  Have you been actively trying to breed these issues out of your flock or just been rolling with it? Either way is fine but I just wanted to pick your brain a little over it."

His reply:
"Howdy Andrea, I do not recall that description of my current flock situation. There were some corrections that were made because the site crashed and was rebuilt from the first year of being public 5 years ago. I thought I had made all corrections. Sorry.  At that time I did not include turquoise eggs as blue eggs. Turquoise eggs are some of the bluest eggs but they must be evaluated after Sunset and in diminished light because  the intense light reflects off of the orange yolk making a blue egg look turquoise or even a pale green. About 90% of my stock lay blue eggs. Most of my birds have green legs, but some have yellow legs, black legs, or even white legs or blue legs. Many pure white birds have green legs here. The show strain of Black birds that I have are not of my strain here and not hybridized with my strain. They are different with much lower quality chick production and much higher fertility rate. They can be black combed or black and white feathered with green and black legs.
Mapuche race chickens are not historically a color breed of chickens. Trying to make them conform to the inbred low diversity European/Roman chickens produced from 4 thousand years of inbreeding, is a poor reason to create that as any criteria for evaluating them. I believe Darwin is correct and that diversity insures that a species is viable producing traits that will be better suited for our Planet. Veterinarians and other scientists are concerned  that low diversity, immune compromised, antibiotic enhanced outcomes, has left many animals vulnerable to diseases and potentially unable to survive without antibiotics.

 Color is the last thing I consider as quality. I am against the "Standard of Extinction" that has been put forward as a "Standard of Perfection" for showing Araucana types of Mapuche race chickens. It is unscientific and has no genetic qualifications to address purity and assumes  feather color is the goal along with other low diversity outcomes. Truth should be respected, otherwise the goal is just for "Whimsical Fancy" and not the benefit and/or potential benefits that are possible with this superior chicken breed that is probably like the birds the Romans started out with. Strait combs are extremely rare in my birds but it is common in the South American Mapuche Race chickens. In my birds straight combs are associated with pink egg layers. My research shows that it is not that way in South America. I have only been raising them for 45 years of the 100 years they have been known to exist and I do not know it all. I know my strains came from Chile and  I have kept them pure. I am proud of my accomplishment in isolation from the modern Araucana World with a different Standard in each Country that does not include flock genetics needed to keep these birds viable. That is the only realistic goal in a future  that honors truth. Good luck with your goals. Thank you for your interest in these birds. Let me know if I can help."

What are your thoughts?

 

[apajudgeca1962]

Steve Waters in Washington. That's my thoughts . excellent birds I judged them before. Large Whites Bantam Blacks a great start bHe may also give you leads on other breeders of standard varieties.

 

[n8ivetxn]

@bullets,

Hi there, I sent you a PM...

 

[ejlittle62406]

Are you still looking? What part of MO are you from?

 

[bullets]

I'm still looking. I'm at the Lake of the Ozarks