Messages

691

Ameraucana Marketplace / Ameraucana Breeding Stock

« on: May 02, 2008, 10:27:56 AM »

The last hatch (May 12) still can provide a few more blue and possibly some splash chicks.  We can supply several orders of blacks in this hatch.  Blacks win the most shows, if someone wants to enter into the fancy hobby.  We have a grandmaster in black Ameraucanas.  All the wheatens, and blue wheatens have been booked for this hatch for several months.
 
All chicks are toe punched using the APA code which only allows for 15 breeding pens.  We have 28 breeding pens of black, blue and splash, so we use a plus code to identify the extra 13 pens progency.  This allows the birds to be identified so siblings aren\'t mated together.

Express mail live shipping charges go up May 12, along with other postage, but we will retain the same prices for this last hatch of 2008.

692

Ameraucana Marketplace / Ameraucana Breeding Stock

« on: April 23, 2008, 02:58:40 PM »

  We set our last incubator for 2008 on Monday 4-21.  It will be hatching 5-12 and we have one hatching 4-28.  We still can supply some potential show quality, straight run (unsexed), day old, express mail live lives postage paid, Ameraucana chicks in black, blue and splash.  The wheatens are heavily booked for our last two hatches.  Prices are: 10 for $85, 15 for $120, 20 for $150, 25 for $175 or 50 for $340.  All chicks are toe punched and produced by penned matings.
 
  We also will have hatching eggs for a few more weeks.  Soon it will be too hot here to have the birds penned and they will be turned out.  Hatching eggs are $10/dozen plus PO charges.  They are sent by priority mail which is determined by weight and distance, so we must have a zip code to know what the PO charges will be.  Chicks are highly recommended over hatching eggs as the PO has ways of decreasing their ability to hatch.  Some get good hatches while others don\'t from eggs from the same breeding pens.
 
  We also are now offering part of our breeding birds (black and blue) for sale to make room for the 2008 breeders.  Pullets and cockerels will be for sale this fall.

Paul & Angela Smith
sw_psmith@swmail.net

693

Ameraucana Marketplace / Breeding Question

« on: April 22, 2008, 08:19:41 AM »

We have raised several thousand blacks the past 9 years.  They can be culled at one day of age for feather legs and no muffs.  The majority of the culling will have to wait for the birds to develop.

694

Ameraucana Marketplace / Ameraucanas - poor layers?

« on: March 25, 2008, 12:05:53 PM »

  We have raised 9 crops of Ameraucanas and 5 crops of EEL\'s.  No two growing seasons have been the exact same.  Some pullets have started as soon as 4 to 5 months of age, laying while other years they have been over 10 months of age, before laying.  Normally 7 months of age and they start laying.  I\'ve come to the conclusion that several factors are involved in early puberty.  The growing season, being number one then followed by genetics; time of year (length of daylight and average temperture) at maturity; and administration of sulphur drugs during growing stage to name a few.
 
  Personally, I prefer the pullets to be about 8 months before starting their egg production.  A delayed laying gives the pullets time to get larger which results in larger eggs.

695

Ameraucana Marketplace / Cock to hen ratios

« on: March 17, 2008, 03:31:57 PM »

     We presently are using 26 blue, black and splash males and 9 wheaten, blue wheaten and splash wheaten males, our 2008 hatch birds.  All chicks are toe punched at hatching, according to the number assigned to the breeding pen which produced the eggs that produced them.  The APA toe punch system is 1, 2, 4 and 8 - starting with the birds left outside web and advancing one web at time-ending with the bird\'s right outside web being 8.  This system only allows for 15 different breeding pens so I came up with the plus (+) system which is a hole punched then slit open.  The plus system allows for an additional 15 more breeding pens.  
 
   Toe punching all chicks allows the producer to know how all of the birds are bred.  When the breeding pens are set-up in the fall (after the hot weather is gone), I usually put the females produced from one breeding pen together, with a non-related or distant related male produced from a different breeding pen to prevent inbreeding.  We have used the toe punch system of marking our birds even before we started raising Ameraucanas.  It was used on the EELs.  I highly recommend it, to everyone serious about breeding their birds.
   
  We have shown our Ameraucanas since 1999, and haven\'t had any negative comments about the holes from any of the many judges.  It requires a lot of extra effort and time to use a toe punch system to mark the birds, but it is worth it.  Each egg is marked with the pen number at gathering.  The eggs are sorted by the number written on them before setting the incubator.  The eggs are partitioned off by their number when they are taken out of the racks and laid in the hatching trays with homemade lids on the trays.  The babies are marked before being placed together.  
   
  I have found the best way to use a toe punch is with the spike (push pin) pointed up and the hole side of the puncher on top.  When the puncher is closed on the chick\'s web make sure the circular part of the web is totally removed, otherwise it may grow back leaving only a slight scar.  It can easily be removed with a fingernail while the puncher is still mashed closed on the chick\'s web.

696

Ameraucana Marketplace / ABA/APA Yearbook ads

« on: March 07, 2008, 09:15:33 AM »

If a space in the APA ad is still available, Angela and I will purchase one.

697

Ameraucana Marketplace / egg color

« on: February 23, 2008, 10:01:59 PM »

Yes, Ameraucana\'s eggs will get lighter as they lay.  Usually after they molt, they will lay good colored eggs again, if they laid good colored eggs as a pullet.  An Ameraucana stores her egg coloring agent in her comb, face, ear lobes, wattles (if she has them), shanks and feet.  Once she depletes her supply her eggs will be very light colored if not white.  The correct color is sky blue.

698

Ameraucana Marketplace / Cock to hen ratios

« on: February 17, 2008, 11:32:07 PM »

I have had 15 hens to 1 cock in the past with good fertility.  Each hen must be mated within 21 days to remain fertile.  Most Ameraucana males are very active breeders and will keep their hens eggs fertile.

699

Breeding / Egg Color

« on: February 06, 2008, 09:11:11 AM »

I finally found time to put my two cents in.  I would not set the browner colored egg laying horizontal on the left.  I would set the rest of them and watch for a good breeding male out of the bottom four.  Good egg color is not easily achieved.  We have some blue and black pullets, full sisters, that are from three generations of good blue eggs.  Their mother, a blue pullet, laid our best blue eggs last year.  She was mated to a good black cockerel out of a blue egg.  These pullets started laying about a month ago they laid every shade of blue and green imaginable at first, but now have started laying good colored blue eggs.  The weather has changed so much this season, and with not putting lights with a timer on the females this time, its been difficult to get eggs.

700

Ameraucana Marketplace / Incubator Recommendations

« on: January 29, 2008, 02:48:30 PM »

I started with a styrofoam hovabator and an egg turner about 14 years ago.  After a few hatches added a turbo fan.  One with a turbo fan and egg turner works fairly well.  About a 50% hatch rate would be considered good.  The worst problem is cleaning the styrofoam without harming it.  It\'s very important not to let a bacteria get in the incubator.  We use an oxine and water solution to clean our GQF\'s and the eggs before setting them.

701

Housing, Health & Hatching / Fowl Pox Vaccinations

« on: January 26, 2008, 12:10:32 AM »

Hi Jean,

We have vaccinated for Pox for over ten years-long before vaccinating for anything else.  Pox is caused by a virus carried by mosquitoes.  Here in mosquito country it\'s a must to vaccinate for pox.  We vaccinate the entire flock on the fourth of July week-end each year.  It usually takes two or three mornings to vaccinate all of our birds.  It\'s always hot here in July so we start before daylight and quit as soon as it is too warm to safely handle the birds.

The vaccine is mixed with the sterile solution.  A two pronged sticker is dipped into the vaccine then stabbed through the bird\'s wing web from the underside missing the major blood veins and missing the feathers.  A small spot (about the size of a dime) of feathers should be pulled before pushing the prongs through the wing web.  The prongs must be redipped into the vaccine before sticking another bird.  We keep the vaccine on an ice pack as much as possible while vaccinating the birds.  It is only good for about one hour after it is mixed, so as many birds as possible are caged ready to be vaccinated before mixing the vaccine.

The vaccinated birds should not be mixed with unvaccinated birds for at least 35 days.  That means no shows or sales until the withdrawl time is completed.

We get all our vaccines from Peter Brown with the First State Vet Supply.  They may be ordered online.

The Pox vaccination needs to be alone-do not vaccinate for anything else for several days.  If one is having a real battle with Pox there is a vaccine for chicks, then they need to be  revaccinated with the Pox vaccine for older chickens.  I\'ve never used the chick vaccine-just once a year (July 4th week-end) with the vaccine for older chickens.

This vaccine works great!  We have used it for over a decade without any cases of Pox while other fanciers in the area had a battle with it.

Pox causes white sores on the birds combs, and wattles (if they have any).  It also causes scabs over the eyes causing blindness.  In severe cases some may die.  Long before having real Ameraucanas, we had a small battle with Pox in the EEL\'s.  I found out what the problem was and started vaccinating.

702

Ameraucana Marketplace / New Member Says \"Hi!\"

« on: January 25, 2008, 11:42:02 PM »

Glad to see you joined the forum.
Welcome aboard.

703

Ameraucana Marketplace / Incubator Recommendations

« on: January 25, 2008, 11:39:46 PM »

We use two GQF #1202 incubators that have been upgraded with the electronic thermostats.  They each hold 288 eggs.  The second incubator is set two weeks after the first one.  One week after the second one is set the first one hatches.  Then we have one week to clean it to get ready for setting the next one (third hatch).  The cycle is repeated (set one week-hatch the next week) through hatching season.

I highly recommend using a digital outdoor/indoor thermometer.  The probe is placed inside the incubator and the digital part of the thermometer on top of the incubator.  They are more accurate than the dial thermometers which come with the incubator.  We cooked two incubators of eggs last year, due to a thermometer which failed.  Circulated air incubators need to be set at 99.5ºF.  Still air incubators need to be set at 98ºF.

704

Ameraucana Marketplace / NPIP Certification

« on: January 22, 2008, 06:09:50 PM »

We have a Texas equivalent.  The state has four testers who each have a section of the state.  They go to each farm once a year and blood test for Pullorum Typhoid.  It is illegal in Texas to move any fowl that is not from a tested flock.

705

Housing, Health & Hatching / Moon phases

« on: January 22, 2008, 06:05:49 PM »

We set ours by the calendar-every other Monday, if it does\'nt cause the hatch to fall on a holiday.  We plant the garden seeds by the time of year-not paying any attention to the moon phase.  I do know from experience that the moon phase has a great effect on animals when they are to be dehorned, casterated with the knife method or docked (tail removed with knife-off sheep).  I also know that the moon phase has an effect on the gulf tide.  It is high in the full stage.  The current is in half the month then changes to out the other half.  Learned that a few years ago when we were going deep sea fishing and had to settle for jetty fishing because of too large of waves on the ocean.  I\'m eager to hear what the moon phase has to do with incubating eggs?