Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Sylvester017]

We have humid summers and they lay just fine even when combined with moderate (80-90F) heat. All first year layers will lay better through the winters. They won't molt until the second fall/winter and egg production stops or drops. Without supplemental light they will be slow to recover.

I figured as a pullet her first year would be a good layer year but we got less than 5 months of eggs (sometimes 8 days in a row!) and then laying stopped in January. The following first week August got 3 beautiful blue eggs and then nothing. Now it is January and still nothing. My broody little Silkies way out-produced her and they are old hens. Also, the weird start, stop, starting again to molt is puzzling. Our Am exploded like a pillow once around summer and then again a few months later. Our humid summers are more like 95-105 degree temps for several weeks in a row. I would consider your 80-90F humidity a cool period for us LOL! But seriously I'm thinking the Am would be better off in cool weather where her fluffy down and face muffs didn't make her so uncomfortable. When we give a fluffy Silkie a bath the bird dries off fairly quickly. When we washed the Am's tush it took 3 baby shampoo applications to get her vent fluff clean and quite a long time to get all the fluff and feathers dry again. She is by far fluffier and thicker than the Leghorns and Marans we bathed before.

 

[Sylvester017]

There's a reason. I've paid much more for much lower quality birds. A few are stunning.
I haven't seen enough of your posts to fully understand samouw's post, so I am not arguing at all, I'm curious. Where did you get your AMs from? These are my first AMs, but I've had over 100 chickens for years. 90% of the time a chicken over 4 weeks old dies, it's my fault. Something I didn't provide them or protect them from. Their attitudes also seem to have a lot to do with their environment. Why do you say they are flighty and unfriendly?

I PM'd you to let you know who I purchased from

 

[scflock]

 

[scflock]

So what if you don't have anyone to

Does it still work? and you still can't sleep! I think we all may need therapy after this!!!

me. Even if you don't know why, I'm sure I deserved it for something. Like bringing frogs to the breed thread

Yep! He has his girls (how many?) so he has something to crow about! After all, they like him! So how are those those little first generation of scflockers coming along? How many did u say u set?

Each rooster has 4 girls. I set 28 eggs last Friday, and I'm not much of a candler, but I'm dying to know what is going on in there so I will probably candle this weekend

 

[abbevilleoz]

Hi scflock, I'm in Tennessee and it's raining here. Is it raining frogs back home?

 

[scflock]

If I've been repetitive I've only been answering the posts that asked me questions or I had questions. I keep hoping someone will come up with an explanation or something I may not have thought of as a fix.
The explanation that has been given over and over is that 3 birds is not enough to make generalized statements about a breed
I have no intention of "putting down" any bird unless it is vet recommended.
You need to learn to cull a bird that would be better off not suffering or spreading disease. Some people say they are too "kind hearted" to cull. Sometimes the kind heart is the one that makes the difficult decision
I really do love my only Ameraucana but how can some people have hardy birds, have good layers, or at least decent layers and we here in the SoCal SGV don't have any luck with them.
Is that everyone in SoCal, or you and your friend?
I know Am's hate the heat and seem to have fun on cooler or rainy days because mine pants like crazy in humid weather which unfortunately we had for several weeks.
I live in the real SC, South Carolina, and I seriously doubt you are as hot or as humid as we are in July. Chickens do better in the cold than the heat, that's just how it is. All of my chickens were panting and suffering until I built roofs over 50% of my pens to provide shade.
Now that it's been cooler and even raining she's been out and about but her comb shows no sign of deepening. Is that a sign she'll never lay again? She layed through winter before so I'm stumped.
How many chickens do you have over 2 years old? First year layers lay through the winter for the most part. The second winter, they slow way down, even stop for a few months during and after molt. That's not a sign that the AM is defective, it's a sign that she is a chicken
I've also been posting what breeds seem to be a good match in the flock for the Amer since not all LF are good flock matches with our timid Am as we found out having her with some other assertive LF breeds.
This is something else I wanted to ask you about. I see LF in with silkies in your pics. I also assume there are different ages of chickens that you keep moving in and out. Is this one combined flock? I have 7 flocks, but I also have 7 pens. I fell in love with keeping chickens, just like so many others on this forum. When I saw that my addiction was bringing in different breeds, LF and bantams, I had to build new housing to keep the birds comfortable and happy. Adding chickens to an established flock creates problems, such as reduced laying, fighting, and overly timid birds. The problem is compounded when mixing LF and bantams
I hoped my experience would help others who may have had or have a similar dilemma and that's what posting is all about - sharing - I thought. This thread is entitled "Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds" -- so I'm discussing

. Sorry you were ruffled as it's never predictable what emotions are evoked from people who read someone else's posts. I was hoping to get some encouragement or get a handle on some constructive feedback that I might have missed somewhere along the way.

I have read a ton of constructive feedback that you have received, and what I have seen is that you are unable to comprehend that any of the problems could possibly be related to something you have done or not done. It must be those fragile, flighty, poor laying AMs.
I've posted pictures on here of birds I was proud of, and got some very harsh criticism when I asked for advice from more experienced keepers. I bought BCMs from a local "breeder", then posted pics on the BCM thread. I was told to cull them all and start over. It was suggested at least twice that I should eat them. I didn't start posting about how hard BCM were to breed, about how their hackles are impossible to get correct color on, or how they have chicks with yellow feet. I stayed on that thread and learned that it was my fault for not doing research and buying a faulty flock. It wasn't the chickens' fault, it was mine. That's how I came to buy chicks from Paul. I sold all of my BCM (as dark egg layers) to make room for the AMs I wanted to breed. Sometimes criticism is hard to hear, and the first reaction is to be defensive, but 99% of the issues in a flock, or flocks, are directly related to the flock keeper

 

[scflock]

Hi scflock, I'm in Tennessee and it's raining here. Is it raining frogs back home?

Yep, I need a bigger umbrella

 

[marchick]

Yep, I need a bigger umbrella

Yes you do! Make it a very big one and made very well! Could you imagine being pelted by bullfrogs! lol

 

[abbevilleoz]

      Yes you do! Make it a very big one and made very well! Could you imagine being pelted by bullfrogs! lol

Nothing would surprise me after all the rain we've had. I guess you're more accustomed to rain in the pacific NW. But... after all the years of drought I promised God I would stop complaining about rainy days.

 

[scflock]

I PM'd you to let you know who I purchased from

I'm not going to post the entire PM here, but so others will know, your issues are related to the breeder you bought your birds from. A disreputable breeder who doesn't even sell AMs any more. The problems you have were caused by the breeder, and that is why I rave about Paul so much. I'm sure there are many other breeders that have birds just as good, maybe even better, but when you get purebred birds from someone who has been working them for a long time, is good at what they do, and is pleasant to deal with, the difference in those birds is astonishing