our first purebred ameraucana babies!!!

[Guest]

ohh.. we are happy,  have hatched our first two batches of purebred ameraucana babies;  2 blacks, 2 whites  and a silver.

The blacks and whites were hatched dec30-31/08 and the silver on jan12th..  Please note.. the last baby is listed as a blue.. believe it is actually a black!

Barb & Paul

[bryngyld]

Congratulations!  It feels like spring!

The \"blue\" in question looks like one of my black gold chicks. It would be interesting to see what he turns out to be.

The black - blue looks like a black.  

The duckwing to silver looks ...  ...  cute.  (I have no clue what color it might be!)  

Your two whites don\'t look like any white chick I\'ve gotten.  Granted I don\'t get too many whites.  My whites were solid yellow fluff.  Their legs are also willow instead of slate.  Some leg color darkens to slate but I don\'t think they start out as willow.

I think you may have a lot of work ahead of you.   What are your goals for breeding?  

[Guest]

Cute chicks.  My question is, where all the colors of adult birds mixed together in a pen?

[Guest]

First off.. all my colors are separated.. I incubate the eggs together, but all my birds have separate pens.. The two black babies are from a black/blue/splash pen.  and yes.. I think both babies are going to be blacks.  The white were bred from white to white annd the silver was from a silver duckwing male and a silver hen.  

As for the future.. we have a new white rooster (from Jerry Deschmidts lines and 2 white hens that came from Paul Smiths lines.

Our splash rooster just got eaten by a skunk!  Two days ago.. but we had already purchased a very nice blue rooster for our blue/black  pen.. We also have a blue hen and a black hen from Paul Smiths lines.  We hope to purchase some more blues , hopefully from Paul .  

Our silver pen has a silver duckwing roo and one hen.  

The white babies were big yellow balls of fluff when they were born.. we will see what happens.  they are 2 weeks old.  
The little \"silver\" baby is out of a hen I raised, Sultana.. she looked just like that baby when I hatched her!  

[bryngyld]

Gosh, you have tough skunks!  I never had one take a full grown rooster!  I lost a full grown bantam rooster to a hawk.  (He wasn\'t supposed to be out with the big chickens!)  The hawks circled for days after that looking for another one that size!

I bet the black chick with the rusty head will turn out to be brown/red.  (That would be black with orange/red hackles and saddle.) All my black chicks were all black on their heads with sometimes a yellow chest.  All my brown/red looked like your chick.  With rust all across the top of the head, he would look like my black gold chicks.

I bet you\'re excited about the new additions.  Sounds great!

[Guest]

I wasn\'t trying to be rude, just asking. I didn\'t think whites would have brown on them, and the last black chick had the redish head and wrong color beak.  I was just curious.

[Guest]

Sara,

I didn\'t think you were being rude!!!  No problem.. grin..  I want opinions,  I think they are all wonderful, grin.. I want other opinions!   Other people see things we don\'t.. I never noticed the beak color on that baby!  

[Mike Gilbert]

The e-locus genes go a long way toward governing the color and pattern of chick down.   Your white chicks have that faint stripe, so they may be wild type or brown at the e-locus instead of the preferred extended black or birchen.   That last chick does look like a brown red (birchen at e-locus), but if his e-locus is brown he may indeed turn out to be all black.   How is that for a contradiction in terms?  My suggestion:   wait and see how they turn out.

[John]

Barb & Paul,

The black/blue chick is the only one that looks like it may turn out to be a recognized variety from my experience.

Keep us posted as they grow,

[Guest]

Thanks Mike,  it is a waiting game!  I looked closer at the one black chick and saw some brown on one wing.. so.. wait and see.
Fortunately,  have lots of people in this area who want colored egg layers.. so , not a problem selling them that way!  

We have two more hatches this month.. one of whites, using the Jerry DeSchmiddt rooster and another with our new blue rooster who we got from a gentleman in Spring Branch who bought hatching eggs from a place called Whitmore Farms (on east coast).They are a heritage farm,  specializing in rare breeds
Yes, they do keep their colors separated.. grin..

That is one of the first things I ask now!  picture below...This is Trooper,  8 months old.. shown last week at College Stationd, took 1st  &BV.. 600 entries.