Topics

91

Ameraucana Marketplace / Preparing for Show

« on: March 19, 2007, 05:15:22 PM »

Hi everyone!

I am thinking of taking three or so of my birds to the show in Great Falls in April.  So, I have just under 6 weeks.

My question is, can main sickles on a roos tail grow back in that amount of time?  I have a beautiful blue roo I got from a batch of chicks from John, however his main sickles are really ratty and I am thinking of pulling them and moving him to his own cage until the show.

I also want to bring my pullet that did so good at the county fair, but she has been in the breeding pen and is pretty ratty also.

Do any of you have any suggestions to help me out?  I have only shown pullets and cockerels and they have all had fairly new feathers. Any suggestions on how to get new feathers (partial molt?)to come in quick?

I will begin with worming and \"debugging\" and I have a show formula feed that I can get.  I will be adding wheat germ oil and some other vitamins, but the process of getting the old feathers to come out and new ones to come in is what I need help with.

Thanks a bunch!

Jean

PS Anyone out there going to the show in Great Falls at the end of April?

92

Ameraucana Marketplace / Shipping Live Chicks

« on: March 13, 2007, 12:06:29 AM »

I have someone who wants me to ship lives to her in Montana.  Express Mail is going to be two days, so I am thinking to go ahead and ship priority since they can\'t do it in a day.

Anyway, I have a question about the hatchlings.  Do any of you feed or water the chicks before they go out?  Is there any reason why you would or woudn\'t do this?

The post offices around here do not have pick up until 5:00, so it would be pretty hard to have them all hatch on Monday morning, but I could give it a try.  I think John said to time them so that 21 days is around midnight?

Thanks,

Jean

93

Ameraucana Marketplace / Fertile Eggs

« on: February 17, 2007, 02:01:40 PM »

How long would you wait to collect eggs from an unbred hen/hens that have just been introduced to a new rooster?

Thanks,

Jean

94

Ameraucana Marketplace / Check out these chickens.....

« on: February 03, 2007, 08:35:47 PM »

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300077229476

I thought some of you who are developing different colored birds might want to check out these chickens.  They have a muff and a beard and slate legs.  They lay a white egg and have a weird tuft on their head and a \"v\" shaped comb.

Jean

95

Ameraucana Marketplace / Response from Website

« on: January 28, 2007, 07:38:12 PM »

It\'s Jean again.....

Of those who have websites or actively promote hatching eggs and chicks, what kind of response do you get?

I\'m just asking because I have been overwhelmed with e-mails from people wanting eggs or chicks from me.  It all started at the end of December and has gotten to the point of about 3-4 e-mails a day.

I am selling hatching eggs on eggbid right now and have gotten local orders from private individuals and I am going to provide birds to a local feed store chain and I cannot fill the demand for hatching eggs that I am getting.

Is anyone out there ready to sell hatching eggs at this time so I can refer people to you?  Most of the breeders are not ready yet, so let me know please so I don\'t call everyone on the list.  If you let me know what color birds you have available and your e-mail address I can refer people to you.


Thanks,

Jean

96

Ameraucana Marketplace / Sexing Chicks

« on: January 21, 2007, 04:43:22 PM »

Has anyone out there learned how to sex chicks?  I have the book and a handy lighted magnifying glass as I feel I can promote my birds better if I can sex them.

It looks very difficult as it shows 6-8 diffferent types of \"males\" and \"females\".  

Anyhoo, if any one has any experiences they want to share or comments I would appreciate it.

Jean

97

Ameraucana Marketplace / Vitamins & supplements

« on: January 16, 2007, 12:30:20 PM »

For those of you who sell chicks and eggs, I have a question.

What kind of vitamins/supplements do you give your flock during breeding season?

I sold lots of hatching eggs and hatched many chicks last year without giving anything, but my luck on my buffs was poor. (inbreeding?) My blues and blacks had no problems.  I would like to give them a little boost to increase the vigor of chicks.

Thanks alot,

Jean

98

Ameraucana Marketplace / Color questions

« on: December 29, 2006, 01:06:58 PM »

I know I have asked before, but I cannot find the post and have forgotten the answer.

When you breed black and white color varieties together, do you get a black or white chick or a mixed color?

Personal opinion......

Is it easier to remove black or white from the buff genetics?

I need to improve my egg color greatly on my buffs and I have an opportunity to get white chicks that come from very blue eggs.  I have black and blue available with good egg color, but I wanted seasoned professionals to voice their opinions.

Thank you,

Jean

99

Ameraucana Marketplace / NPIP Testing

« on: November 14, 2006, 08:40:52 PM »

How many of you with NPIP Certified flocks tested for MS & MG?

Jean

100

Ameraucana Marketplace / Introducing new birds

« on: November 12, 2006, 06:01:28 PM »

I checked through ten pages and could not find this topic, so I will ask.  What do YOU do when you need to introduce a few more birds to the flock?

I have 3-4 20-22 week old pullets each in the buff, blue and black variety to add to my three coops.  I only have 6-7 blues and blacks and around 13 buff hens.

My thought is to change out the rooster when I add the younger girls to the flock.  I think it may cause alot of confusion and help the newer birds settle in easier with less \"buttkickings\".

I am pretty sure this will work with my buff hens as they are pretty docile.  I added one pullet to my blue pen after she was done with her quarantine (show bird) and the rooster did not put up with any fighting among the hens.  He put a stop to it right away and everyone was happy in about an hour.

Now, my black hens are down right mean.  They even pick on the rooster.  I hear him scream about every half hour or so when they pull another feather out of him.  I am hoping that putting an older more dominant rooster in will help.

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

Jean

101

Ameraucana Marketplace / Please tell me I\'m being paranoid......

« on: October 22, 2006, 04:28:01 PM »

The last few days here in the PNW have been pretty cold and damp.  I noticed some of my young chickens had wet muffs yesterday and a also noticed a couple of sneezes.

Today their faces are dry, but I heard one sneeze while I stood and listened to everyone for a while.  

Someone please tell me it\'s just the changing weather.

I haven\'t had any respitory symptoms here for about two years.  I had MS and the chickens were sneezing frequently and had the rattles.  All those chickens are gone now except one and she is free ranging and rest are not.

Jean

102

Ameraucana Marketplace / Line Breeding????

« on: October 01, 2006, 05:30:02 PM »

Hi!

I have a question about breeding.  Is it correct to \"line\" breed mothers to sons and fathers to daughters with the chickens?  And not to breed siblings, unless they are only half siblings?

I just need to make sure I have it correct as I have raised some really nice birds from my starter flock and I want to try to get their traits coming out strong in all the offspring.

My main goal is to get those slate legs to keep popping up in my blacks.  I only have one exceptional black roo (I can borrow back) with slate legs and I was thinking of breeding him back to (his collective mommies) the three black hens with slate legs to see what I get.  I am really hoping that the cross will be about 90% black with slate legs since both parents are black and have slate legs.

Thanks alot,

Jean

103

Ameraucana Marketplace / Fair Results

« on: September 14, 2006, 12:05:21 AM »

My buff pullet I entered at the Spokane County Interstate Fair won BV, BB, Champion AOSB, Champion Large Fowl and Reserve Show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Blue pullet won RB, BV and Reserve AOSB!

I entered a pullet and a cockerel in blue, buff and black colors.  The remaining chickens all got a BV or RV.

After the show was judged the Judge found me as I was walking into the Poultry Barn and told me he wanted to buy buff chicks from \"me\"?

He then asked me why I didn\'t show my birds at the big poultry shows and I had to tell him, with three young children I just can\'t do it, and I hope to in the future.  He said my birds would be competing and doing well with all the \"big names\".  What a compliment!

That really let me know that I have some idea of what I am doing and I can pick out a decent looking chicken both by color and conformation.  What\'s really funny about the whole thing is, I changed the buff pullet I was taking to the fair at the last minute.  I didn\'t like the color of the one I had cage trained and I felt her eyes were too light, so I went in the coop and looked them all over and picked the one that looked best to me.

So at this moment I would like to thank John B and Paul S for sharing their birds with the rest of us.  If it weren\'t for you, I would not be able to start my little chicken business.  Thanks for sharing your knowledge and help on this board.  And, thanks for sharing the best of the best of your flocks, some only share the so/so birds.  Thank you!

Wow, what a day.  (Myhorse did very well also. Grand Champion Paint Gelding.)

I\'ll try to post some pictures tomorrow.

Jean

104

Ameraucana Marketplace / Dark, dark blue cockerel with green sheen.....

« on: September 07, 2006, 06:20:09 PM »

Someone dropped off a blue cockerel at the feedstore that sold my chicks this spring and left him there.  He is obviously one of my offspring.  There is no one that raises these birds in 100 mile radius of me.  I went ahead and brought him home since he was abandoned and I felt resposible for him since I brought him into the world.

Anyway he is beautiful!  He is one of those dark dark blues with good conformation, nice lacing, nice disposition almost the total package.  

I am tempted to keep him for breeding, except he has green sheen and one white toenail.

So, all you genetics pros, tell me what the pros and cons are to keeping this guy.  What are the odds of him passing the green sheen on to his blue offspring?  Do you think he has the sheen because he is so dark?

Thanks,

Jean

105

Ameraucana Marketplace / When do they have their final set of feathers?

« on: August 19, 2006, 02:35:14 PM »

At about what age do cockerels have their final set of feathers?  I have two wheaten cockerels that have some striping in the lower hackles.  They are around five months old and still have white heads.

Could there still be a chance that they will outgrow the striping?  Or is this something that does not change with age?

Also, do cockerels sometimes take longer for their ear lobes to completely turn bright red?  I have a couple that are mixed flesh colored and red, but again they are ony five months old.

Thanks,

Jean