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[Guest]

I\'ve just bought my first Ameraucana\'s, 3 pullets, 5 1/2 months old. I will be the first to admit, I bought them just to get colored eggs to share, but now I\'m hooked! They are the sweetest birds, and SO pretty.

I think I have a wheaten, and two red browns, one with a speckled breast. I\'ll get some pics as soon as I can to confirm that what I got is what I think I got!

My name is Tracey, and I live near Lenoir, NC. I am an emergency food pantry director and our flock of 40 austrolorps, orpingtons and gold comets, provide eggs for the food pantry clients. I\'m getting about 15 dozen eggs a week in the dead of winter . . . I\'m a happy camper!

My only rooster is a mixed breed that resembles a brown leghorn with a rose comb named Drumstick. He\'s a great roo, not too hard on the girls and a great protector, but I know I need to invest in more roos if I want to breed.

So, if I want to breed the Ameraucana\'s, how do I go about getting a rooster? Should I look for a particular color, or does it really matter? If I did let Drumstick cover these three for eggs to hatch (just for my personal use), how quickly will the rooster dilute the blue egg color? One generation? Two? Just curious at this point. I\'ve no real interest in breeding hybrids or mutts for sale.

I\'m looking forward to developing a standardized Ameraucana flock in my region and am very happy to make your acquaintance!

Blessings,
Tracey

[bryngyld]

Welcome Tracey!

I got hooked on them the same way as you did.  

If you breed your blue egg layers to another breed, you will have what we call Easter Eggers.  It is fun and they are often good layers, but you can no longer call them Ameraucanas.  If your rooster came from a brown egg laying line, the offspring will likely lay a green egg.  If your Ameraucanas have already been crossed you could get white, green, blue, pinkish brown or brown egg layers - thus the name Easter Eggers.

Of course, you must realize that you are amongst folks that are trying to improve the Ameraucana breed, so we are likely to encourage you to get a purebred Ameraucana rooster to improve your hens.  The different varieties should also be bred to the same color variety.  I would pick my favorite color from the hens and get a rooster to match.  Then I would only hatch the eggs from those hens.

Now to discover what colors you have!

[Guest]

Thanks Lynn!

I too want to breed true . . . but I can have fun doing it! I have true Ameraucanas, I saw the birds at the hatchery, and I saw the parent birds. They are isolated and bred specifically.

I guess I need to figure out which of these girls is closest to the breed standard and go from there. One of my red-browns seems to have more of a blue tint, but it\'s pretty muddy. The wheaten seems like a nice bird, but my favorite is the speckled breast red-brown. She flew to my shoulder today while I was feeding! They all have feathers missing from the tumultuous introduction to my layers so I\'ll have to wait and see how they look in about 6 weeks or so. They should be laying by then I would think.

What age do Ameraucanas typically start laying?

Thanks for the welcome!
Tracey
Near Lenoir. NC