Author Topic: Just saying hello (Read 4884 times)

Guest · « **on:** August 14, 2005, 06:58:05 PM »

Hello to all. My wife and I just entered our birds in the County Fair and we where pleased to see lots of ameraucana\'s and also really happy that a lot of people really liked our birds. Beginners luck. We got some eggs from a breeder this spring and just started to get some eggs from our hens this past week. The fair thing was a last minute decision but I think it’s going to be fun and a real learning experience. Look forward to letting you guys know how we do and to ask lots of questions in the near future. Glad we found you.

Mike Gilbert · « **Reply #1 on:** August 14, 2005, 10:53:50 PM »

Welcome Douglas! Please share a bit about your stock.
Varieties, source, what you like, what you don\'t like, etc.
And where are you from? Please feel free to ask any questions and we will try to help. Thanks for joining us.

Mike Gilbert

Guest · « **Reply #2 on:** August 17, 2005, 02:53:19 PM »

Hey Mike we have 4 black and 2 blue pullets. We had 3 of the blue but one went MIA after an afternoon of free ranging. We have a resident coopers hawk and many fox. So the birds are now confined to the run unless I’m there with them all day from now on. We also have 1 cockerel that is a splash of color. Yellow, black, rust brown and a blue green tail. Not sure about him, he is beautiful but I can’t find any info on him. Any thoughts? I found a person here in Clarke County Virginia that had ameraucana’s and we got our eggs from her this past spring for hatching. She did not know very much about the birds as they where her husbands and he had recently passed. We just wanted to keep a few hens for eggs but I have grown attached to cockerel so we are going to need to make a few decisions in the next week or two as to what we are going to do about him. The judging at the fair is today so I’ll let you know how we do.

Guest · « **Reply #3 on:** August 17, 2005, 03:07:33 PM »

I know all about hawks. My property is called Falconridge Ranch and aptly named! They window shop pretty often. Not sure yet that it\'s a perfect solution, but none have dropped in for lunch yet since we turned out our 22 guinea fowl (keets hatched in May.) The chickens are very tuned into their warning calls and scuttle for the henhouse and covered pens in a hurry. Might be an idea if you can stand the racket. Sure are noisy! The geese could be a deterrent too. So far the chickens are really enjoying their freedom!!

Guest · « **Reply #4 on:** August 17, 2005, 05:29:36 PM »

I wish we had room for 22 guinea but we don\'t. That’s a pretty cool solution though.

Guest · « **Reply #5 on:** August 17, 2005, 10:14:32 PM »

OK now we are really confused. The roster that I talked about above won a 2nd place at our fair

we are really hooked by the way. Of course there was no one there that could tell us why we won. His tag said cockerel and other. No comments by the judge? He looks like the bird on the cover of the Murry McMurray catalog 2005. Now after just doing a little reading on this forum I was thinking he was a mutt out of all the birds we hatched this spring. What gives? The other birds we have look much more like the standard as described here? Also I noticed in the MM catalog that they spelled ameraucana americana and also they had the birds under araucana / Americana. Can anyone explain any of this to me? Sorry for so many questions at once......

We are joining up with you guys tomorrow.

Mike Gilbert · « **Reply #6 on:** August 17, 2005, 11:13:19 PM »

It\'s pretty simple Doug. Many county fair judges don\'t know what to look for in the breed. In our state they judge by the Danish system, so they are bound to give out so many blues, so many reds, so many pinks and whites.

McMurray is another story. They have been informed and just don\'t care because they are making a lot of money selling birds that are neither araucana nor ameraucana. They don\'t even bother to spell the name correctly. The last I checked, however, do they stipulate the colored egg birds they sell are not for show.

Guest · « **Reply #7 on:** August 18, 2005, 09:42:38 AM »

Thanks for the info Mike. What do you think about that roster? I had an offer at the fair for $20 does that sound good? I don\'t want to do any breeding until I have lots of time to look at birds and pester the day lights out of you guys before we start a breeding program. Never mind on the roster I think I just answered my own question. Check is in the mail for Dawn and I to become members of the ABC.

Mike Gilbert · « **Reply #8 on:** August 18, 2005, 06:10:55 PM »

Yup, take the $20 and run. That\'s a real good price for a
multicolored nonstandard bird. Welcome to the ABC, we are here to encourage and help. When you get your new handbook (free with membership) please let us know your thoughts. We tried to be more \"user friendly\" to those just starting out in this edition. Thanks for joining.

Mike G.

Guest · « **Reply #9 on:** August 18, 2005, 09:29:36 PM »

Will do.Thanks again Mike.

Guest · « **Reply #10 on:** August 18, 2005, 09:36:36 PM »

Welcome Doug! (And Dawn, of course!)

You\'ll find these people to be the nicest bunch around! And do \"pester\" away....that\'s one of the things this group does best - help each other.

Best of Luck and Congrats on the rooster sale! Ha, ha!

Kathy
Flagstaff, Arizona

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Author Topic: Just saying hello (Read 4884 times)

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