Variations in Araucana...

[Guido]

I bought some UK standard Araucana bantam hatching eggs to hatch, all supposed to be lavender.

3 of the 6 hatched, and are doing well. All the eggs were blue, all the way through.

All 3 chicks are different colours, and the seller told me that his hatches were also "throwing some colours"
At this point i started to suspect one of two things, 1 - he mixed up the eggs, or 2 - these are not pure (excuse me if I've misunderstood the genetics, but true lav/lav should be lav...right?)

Next thing that is beginning to peak my interest, the combs, they should be pea combed. I'd never paid much attention to this in the past as we had mixed breeds. The chicks have a single saw tooth comb at present, I am unsure if this is right or will change later.

Eye colour, true is meant to be amber, but these are blue/grey, does eye colour change like human infants?

I may just have a disreputable seller, or he may unwittingly have impure stock, or made a genuine error.

 

[lazy gardener]

Without knowing more about the genetics, I'm guessing you got taken for a ride. White should not have shown up, nor should single comb.

As I understand it, self blue breeds true for that color. There is also blue which can produce blue, black, or splash.

 

[PouleChick]

I have no idea but yours look better than my French ones

 

[ozzy chooks]

Hi

Pure breed Araucana can be of several colours including black. Not knowledgeable about genetics, sorry.

I have 6 araucana chicks that are almost 10 weeks old.
When they were born 3 were grey (1 light grey, 2 dark grey with yellow shades) and 3 were yellow.
The grey ones turned out to be blue (1 has some brown leakage that showed at week 7). The yellow ones are now 1 lavander and 2 splash.
All from blue eggs of course.

Looking at your picture I'd say the yellow could be lavander and the grey could be blue.

And the combs look the same as the combs of my araucana

 

[Hyper_Chicken05]

Hi

Pure breed Araucana can be of several colours including black. Not knowledgeable about genetics, sorry.

I have 6 araucana chicks that are almost 10 weeks old.
When they were born 3 were grey (1 light grey, 2 dark grey with yellow shades) and 3 were yellow.
The grey ones turned out to be blue (1 has some brown leakage that showed at week 7). The yellow ones are now 1 lavander and 2 splash.
All from blue eggs of course.

Looking at your picture I'd say the yellow could be lavander and the grey could be blue.

And the combs look the same as the combs of my araucana

I had some Araucanas, All the grey ones kept the same colour throughout their life. I thought that Lavender araucanas were born lavender and stayed lavender.

 

[Guido]

Now I am utterly confused!

 

[ozzy chooks]

Mine at 3 days old and at 8 weeks old.

 

[PouleChick]

Mine are confusing me too! I'll get some pics!

 

[Pork Pie]

Peeps here should know, and you may be able to source alternative breeders

http://www.thebritisharaucanaclub.co.uk/

 

[PouleChick]

Peeps here should know, and you may be able to source alternative breeders

http://www.thebritisharaucanaclub.co.uk/

interestingly after seeing your post I've just spent ages looking for a French club and they don't seem to have one! The sites I have found link off to the US one. Still clueless if my chicks have any sort of quality or not! i'll have a deeper chat with the lady I got the eggs from at some point!

So what do you think mine are going to be colour wise now they are starting to get feathers (3 weeks old tomorrow)? Quality wise - do they look OK or a bit rubbish? I've got 2 that are this colour:

And this little one I thought was a pale grey but now the feathers are coming in it looks like it will be white (although I'm not sure if I can see some beige?). Thoughts anyone who has more of a clue than my total cluelessness?

Please excuse the cardboard - it was to stop them going through the wire into the main run when they were really tiny! I stupidly took it down after photos! Is that crest bigger than a pullets crest or is it way to early to tell? You can see some beige'y colour but not sure if it is just skin or colour?