bantam araucanas, and genetics of blue wheaten?

[wilds of pa]

All will need work, but they are nice looking birds..
Doesnt look like fowl pox to me,, would need better pic's to see it closer, looks more like bruising or from pecking/fighting possibly..however just keep a close eye on it..
Just my thought on that..

here some pox pictures found right on site
https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-diseases-AvianPox.html

Charlie

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
Thanks! I don't know enough about chicken colors yet to contradict anyone. It may well be that Dick refers to him as blue wheaten because he produces blues with the hens -- Dick often seems more interested in what color a bird produces than what the bird itself is. But whatever he is, I do think he'll be handsome once he's back in condition.

His beak is also overgrown, needs to be trimmed pronto.

Yeah, I know. I didn't really think about it til I had that still photo staring me in the face, though!

In any case, I do think gold duckwing is a very nice color, who knows maybe you will like his color quite a bit once he fully molts.. it's flashy.

Yup. I would actually rather have duckwing than blue wheaten. I think it's that combo of blue and orange that turns me off. Just don't like it. For that matter, I'm not too fond of solid blue either. I love splash, though. I'm just odd that way!

In addition to comment above, buff hen 1 is a blue-something. Not a buff.. like maybe a mix of duckwing and wheaten.. she definitely has blue(the grey spots).

Thanks. I LOVE the gold highlights in the neck of this one. You can't really appreciate them in the pics, but in real life they are beautifully shiny. Whatever category she does or does not fit into, she's a very pretty bird!

BH2 is a buff.. it is hard to get a clean solid buff so she is pretty good- no off color in hackles, however don't know if the white frosting is desirable or not(I like it though).. BH3 is a blue-something again.. appears to be a mix of wheaten/duckwing or ?? Buff roo is buff..

I'd be a bit suspicious of the buff rooster's comb, it is rather large.. kind of makes me wonder if it may be heterozygous for single comb, as some of the hens (the real squiggly looking ones).

Thanks. I should maybe mention that the "buff" birds are offspring of birds from Nancy Utterback. I don't know what it takes to develop buff in araucanas, but I'm wondering whether these guys have the single comb floating around as a result of some other breed being brought in along with the color.

blue wheaten hen 1 actually looks more like a blue duckwing hen.. BWH2 now that's looking like a wheaten hen. Mostly solid colored light body with detailing on neck and wings.. her comb is horribly crooked though. Can't tell if she has blue..

That's what I thought about bwh2, also. She's the only one who really looks like the pics of wheaten/blue wheaten hens that I've seen. Don't worry about her comb, though. In person it's obvious that she has had a previous injury to her comb, and that's why it's crooked.

Too bad they were sent while having obvious pox lesions.. unfortunately, pox is transmitted by mosquitoes, so keeping them far away may not be foolproof.. and it does get shed into the ground to re-infect next mosquito season.

Yupyupyup. Fortunately, the other birds are all inside right now. Unfortunately, I *am* concerned about infecting the premises for next year. But in the grand scheme of things, pox is far from the worst thing I could have to worry about.

Thanks for the very helpful comments. I really appreciate it!​

 

[amazondoc]

I forgot to mention -- I got a nice blue egg yesterday.

It looked very large to me (for a bantam), so I was surprised when it weighed in at only 44 g (barely within the "small" range).

Anybody want an egg?

Edited to add -- oh P.S. -- On a bit more thought, I think I'll order some pox vaccine, just so I won't have to worry about the other birds for next year.

 

[herechickchick]

Quote:
I thought it could be that as well Charlie (I'm no expert on poultry disease). Ione, sorry to bring up the pox thing I should have Pm'ed you. It really isn't a big deal. We have had it about a month now and it is pretty much gone. None of my kids lost any weight with it, they really had no complications at all and it is one of those things you just cant prevent (unless you vaccinate), especially being down here in muggy mosquito land.

I heard of a great natural mosquito replant that I am going to try next year. All in all I think you have some nice birds and they should be a lot of fun to work with. Congrats on the egg. My little bantam Araucana lays like a mad woman and her eggs are pretty large to.

 

[amazondoc]

Hey Adam --

What colors of araucanas do you have? Maybe we should swap some eggs next spring. I've got four bantam cochins that should be broody by then!

 

[herechickchick]

Right now I only have one little splash hen but I will have my Red Pyle OEGB x Wild Type BBR Araucanas, Pure Wild Type BBR Araucanas and I may set up a Blue, Black, Splash Araucana pen, all bantam.

 

[Kev]

Ah, sounds like you hit on more or less the birds you would have liked anyways! I can see how the seller would think he's a blue due to "producing" blue chicks, or meant that you would get blues out of breeding him and those hens. However, the wheaten label is still way off.. Way off. Plus the claim of winning shows(if it was entered as blue wheaten) now sounds extremely strange.. He is a nice specimen just wrong color name. Guess you're going to get wide color variety in the offspring anyways..

Blue duckwings are very beautiful. I don't recall seeing a splash duckwing, you'll have to show pictures later.

Some of the bantams I had were directly from Utterback(gold and silver duckwings). They were nice birds and some of the hens laid the bluest eggs ever.

I did cross out them out to single combed birds- unfortunately got only females from Utterback.. and they produced combs extremely similar to some of the birds. That is why I wondered about the comb size and appearance(squiggly combs were very common in the mixed hens). Single comb would be understandable in the buffs if they were a recent creation though.

Have fun with your new birds!

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
Well ya see, blue wheaten isn't an approved color in araucanas anyway -- so he would have to be entered in AOV in any case. But -- whatever. I'm not interested in showing, so I'm not all that worked up about matching the precise color categories. I AM very interested in learning though, so thanks again for all the great info!

 

[amazondoc]

Adam -- if you come up with splash youngsters, I'm interested.

I found a pic of a bantam araucana roo who looks nearly identical in color to my guy. It's here:

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Byzantine.html

I've asked his owner what color he is. Would you guys call this duckwing? Or what?

 

[amazondoc]

Ahhhh, I found several pictures of a "blue-buff" pullet here:

http://www.araucanasonline.com/page2.html

That might explain the blue in my "buff" girls.....