Posted by Jacob Johnston The two that I mentioned first seem to be from really good stock and should make good breeders despite not really being show quality (no tufts on the blue, and a couple of dangling tail feathers and the single tuft on the black). The mature birds and the other young birds seem to vary in their quality. One of the chicks I'm sure should probably stay out of the breeding pens because he's highly reminiscent of a game. Most of the birds, except the black I mentioned earlier have really small tufts when they have any, but all are fully tailess, and most seem to have a really good body shape with a couple of exceptions and all of the birds have good coloring, although I have some uncertainty about combs and leg color. I've read Rings in their Ears, however, not having experience with the birds, I'd like some help pinpointing each bird's strengths and weaknesses. Would anyone be interested in allowing me to e-mail them photos of the birds to get the opinions about the birds and ideas for areas to focus on improving the flock from more experienced breeders? Also, for a show bird, how important is the egg color? The first two birds I hatched from eggs that were on the greener end of the spectrum while the adult birds mostly lay a blue so pale that it is almost white. I know from a breeders point of view, this is an important part of the equation, but I was thinking that if it's not something that is judged at the show, then I could focus on more pressing improvement areas such as leg color and comb structure before working on the egg color. Jacob
on 10/16/2006, 4:54 pm
70.41.21.229
I recently joined the Araucana Club and currently have one blue, clean-faced Aracauna bantam and a standard black with one tuft, both about 9-10 weeks old, 9 hens (black, white, and blue), one rooster each of black white and blue, and a dozen young birds from a couple of weeks up into a several months. I've been interested in the breed since I was a child, but this is the first time I've actually had the real breed.
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