Comments on: “Jake ala king”

By: lee

lee — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:36:29 +0000

Hi Michelle, good to hear the positive report about Ameraucanas. I have heard that there are pretty significant variations in breeds between hatcheries or even different lines from the same hatchery. Our two Ameraucana’s are from a local feed store (because the hatchery we tried to buy from flaked out), so perhaps we will have to try the breed again from a different source. I will say that our two do reliably produce eggs as often as the others (and a bit larger) now that they’ve finally started. And of course, they lay blue/green eggs — that’s pretty novel.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:55:05 +0000

Hi, I came over at Leigh’s recommendation, and because I liked Lee’s comments on her blog. Our two Easter Egger (Ameracauna) hens are right up there at the top of our nine hens in egg production, and one of them (the one we raised from a chick) is the least skittish (the other one we got as a young layer, and she’s not skittish, either). I would think their egg production and temperament would have a lot to do with what kind of a hybrid they are….

By: robin

robin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:27:43 +0000

Lynn, that is too funny that you considered naming 2 of your chickens Bob. My brother-in-law is always trying to name everything Bob. Even his two daughters just to give his wife a bad time. It’s too bad you wound up so heavy on boy side of them. 10 roosters is a whole lot of boys.

By: Rachael

Rachael — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:58:01 +0000

I like the labels. I can’t hold the cursor steady if I try to write something on Paint, and it ususally turns out all squiggly.

I like the egg color! It reminds me of Crayola’s robin blue.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:29:01 +0000

Yes, Robin (and Leigh), I love the Araucanas that we have. All our chicks were born in early Oct. We handled them alot as chicks. We have one Araucanas rooster, Muffin, who is very talkative – he never shuts up. Not crowing, but just making noises, talking. We have 2 Araucana hens who are quiet and shy, but very very sweet. I am trying to think of names for them. I considered “Bob”. Then we have 2 other Araucana roosters (which we call Brown Spot & White Spot) who are normal chickens, friendly, like to be held. We did have another Araucana hen who had a nerve/muscle problem and we had to put her down. She was the only chicken we had with a birth defect.

My favorite chicken is my white Leghorn rooster. Leggy. I’d like to try some more Leghorn chicks maybe later this year. Leggy is he biggest cuddler, loves to be held more than anyone, but also is the best rooster. He really watches out for his flock and is extremely protective if anyone makes an odd noise. He’s smart and very alert and has been since he was an infant. The only bad thing about him is that he does not do well in the cold. He gets cold fast and seems miserable when the other chickens don’t seem to mind if it’s really chilly outside. He grew up faster than all the others, so much so that I think maybe Leghorn hens would lay eggs earlier than other breeds.

Anyway, that’s my two cents about chicken breeds. And yes, I know we have a problem with naming our chickens. I refused to name a bird that we might kill later. So I said that “no one gets named” back when they were little chicks, and well, somehow, we named them by mistake. I couldn’t eat one of my “babies”, and so I didn’t want to allow them to be babies. I wish all my birds were hens like yours, Robin! But I counted this week – we have 10 roosters!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:09:48 +0000

Hahaha, poor Lee, that foiled his plans for chicken dinner. Jake shows up really well out in the pasture, I always stare at her when I’m driving by. She’s very photogenic too, I see. She just probably wanted to be a high society fashion model city chicken. You can’t expect them to be bothered with such petty things as egg laying because it might ruin their girlish figure. And they don’t associate with lesser beings such as humans…..it’s just too much for you to expect.

By: robin

robin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:24:58 +0000

It could be the particular strain of Araucanas that we have. Lynn seems to like her’s a lot. They were handled the most of all our chicks (because of being different), but now they are the spookiest of the flock. I do like their colored eggs though.

By: Leigh

Leigh — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:06:44 +0000

This is interesting because I ordered 6 Araucanas/Americauanas (straight run). From all my reading plus the feedback I’ve gotten, these don’t seem to be a favorite breed of very many. For that reason, I almost didn’t order any. Still, I suppose its the colorful eggs that makes them so popular. My first experience with chickens included an Easter Egger and I really wanted Dan to experience the fun of having a rainbow of our own eggs. I ordered 6 of the chocolate colored egg layers too. Plus some Barred Hollands for white eggs and some Delawares for lighter brown. I figure that with four breeds to start, we can hopefully find some we’d like to breed!