Best hatchery to order Ameraucanas?

[Bean1028]

Is this the 1st time? If not, why did you chose this breed cross?

Is/are your cuckoo maran the same size as the BO? I know that our 2 hatchery cuckoo maran hens were pretty big girls, but not as large as our FBCM (both blacks & blues) from breeder stock. I'm curious what colors your crosses will hatch out. Would you be able to tell pure BOs from the crosses?

Yes it is!! We weren't going to hatch any out, but ended up letting go of our Buff Orpington roo...and he was a sweetheart. My daughters favorite hens are the 2 Orps we have left...and if this is our last chance to hatch another Poppy (cinn/orp)...

Our one Marans is just slightly larger than our Orpingtons, the other is slightly smaller. We love the Marans eggs!

As far as what we're currently hatching we'll probably aim to keep some orpingtons & some cinnamon cross & sell the rest as barnyard mixes. We may need to wait until they start feathering out before we sell any yellow chicks!! I believe our cinn/orp had a red tint to her yellow when she hatched. Luckily enough we have a person who is taking at least 6 of our chicks, and we know them well enough that if needed we can swap birds in the future if needed.

 

[Bean1028]

Is this the 1st time? If not, why did you chose this breed cross?

Is/are your cuckoo maran the same size as the BO? I know that our 2 hatchery cuckoo maran hens were pretty big girls, but not as large as our FBCM (both blacks & blues) from breeder stock. I'm curious what colors your crosses will hatch out. Would you be able to tell pure BOs from the crosses?

Oh yes, I honestly have no clue if we'll be able to tell the difference in the birds, which is why we're going to be selling them as barnyard mixes. The ones we keep will just be going into our layer flock, which we don't intend to hatch from...this is just a test run for us. My aim was to rely on broody hens...but they have not gone broody yet, so here we are lol.

 

[Bean1028]

Is this the 1st time? If not, why did you chose this breed cross?

Is/are your cuckoo maran the same size as the BO? I know that our 2 hatchery cuckoo maran hens were pretty big girls, but not as large as our FBCM (both blacks & blues) from breeder stock. I'm curious what colors your crosses will hatch out. Would you be able to tell pure BOs from the crosses?

Update!! Day 19 started at 9pm, and at 10pm we spotted a pecking hole!! So excited & nervous lol. Oh, and the chickens decided to make it easy to spot the difference for us (or so it seems for now). Out of 18 eggs, only 8 were fertilized. 1/6 Orpington eggs (wow!), 1/4 Cinnamon eggs & 6/8 Marans!! The strangest part is the Orpingtons & Cinnamon we're the only girls he was even "allowed" on! The Marans wouldn't let him on her until the last 2 weeks we had him. Guess my girls didn't really like him as much as we thought! Will update with pics once they're hatched )

 

[Bean1028]

Also, back to the original topic...
We purchased some BBS from a breeder here in Georgia. Will be posting pics when we pick them up (very soon God willing bc I don't know how much longer I can wait!!) Also...next purchase will be White Ameraucanas from Cackle! That'll be next year tho...way too many chicks this year & will have 28 more under our belts again...from last week to any day now Like honestly, how does that even happen? We sold 12 (15 weeks-15months) to reduce our numbers & to make room for a couple (10) Ameraucana chicks...and now we've just more than doubled what we let go of! Chicken math is clearly winning here

 

[SourRoses]

Also, back to the original topic...
We purchased some BBS from a breeder here in Georgia. Will be posting pics when we pick them up (very soon God willing bc I don't know how much longer I can wait!!) Also...next purchase will be White Ameraucanas from Cackle! That'll be next year tho...way too many chicks this year & will have 28 more under our belts again...from last week to any day now Like honestly, how does that even happen? We sold 12 (15 weeks-15months) to reduce our numbers & to make room for a couple (10) Ameraucana chicks...and now we've just more than doubled what we let go of! Chicken math is clearly winning here

The only way to really get a handle on the math is to hatch more so that you have more unique and/or perfect chickens to compare the others to, that helps the decision process.
You know, fall is a great time for hatching here in the south. Their brooder temperature is easier to manage without getting too hot, and they could be ready to lay by the spring. It also helps make sure you keep hard to source lines going. I made the mistake of not hatching enough pure Ameraucanas, and lost my promising Am cockerel in December when we moved. So only project chicks for me (just as well, space wise).

 

[Bean1028]

The only way to really get a handle on the math is to hatch more so that you have more unique and/or perfect chickens to compare the others to, that helps the decision process.
You know, fall is a great time for hatching here in the south. Their brooder temperature is easier to manage without getting too hot, and they could be ready to lay by the spring. It also helps make sure you keep hard to source lines going. I made the mistake of not hatching enough pure Ameraucanas, and lost my promising Am cockerel in December when we moved. So only project chicks for me (just as well, space wise).

Thanks for the advice! Definitely something to consider. I'm sorry about your roo. We unexpectedly lost our Ameraucana roo recently, exactly 1 week after we got rid of our Buff Orpington rooster...but may have just hatched out one of his babies an hour ago!! I have absolutely no idea how this happened..he was never in with our Orpingtons (the egg that just hatched), but somehow from what 100% should have been a BO x BO we have a black chick...

I am LOVING hatching down here in the South! Granted I never hatched eggs anywhere else I've lived, but I watched Oak Abodes video on why it's better to hatch in the late summer/fall...and I couldn't agree more. And she made so much sense with having no feathers when it's warmest out & growing their feathers in as it cools down vs no feathers when it's coldest to feathering out as it warms up. No more winter/early spring hatching here!! (Honestly, that's probably a lie. I have 2 black amer hens I am dying to hatch from!) Our chicks from Jan to April stayed inside the first few weeks, but from mid May to now all the chicks have stayed outside...and I love it!!

 

[Bean1028]

Is this the 1st time? If not, why did you chose this breed cross?

Is/are your cuckoo maran the same size as the BO? I know that our 2 hatchery cuckoo maran hens were pretty big girls, but not as large as our FBCM (both blacks & blues) from breeder stock. I'm curious what colors your crosses will hatch out. Would you be able to tell pure BOs from the crosses?

Here they are! Out of 18 eggs, only 8 were fertile, and only 5 hatched...2 days early at that! We had 1 Buff Orpington x Buff Orpington...no clue how she hatched out chocolate! The other 4 are our Buff Orpington x Cuckoo Marans...hubby is hooked, wants to hatch more already
Now give me the bad news...all the blondes are roos, aren't they? Just asking, bc the mom is Cuckoo...so all her sons should have the barring & any daughters shouldn't bc their Dad was Buff, correct?

 

[Sharenhod]

We are buying more Ameraucanas...yay!!! I have tried to find a local breeder, but I do not like certain things about all of them (ie EEs, or splashes have brown feathers) and am considering purchasing them online. The first flock we did purchase semi local, and they're a mess. The second flock my husband ordered from McMurray, and along with the fact that most of them are looking like roos, they're all EEs. Third times a charm, right?!? Tia!!

Only order Ameraucanas from Cackle Hatchery. They are a favorite breed of the owner and pens are separated by color and bred to standard of perfection. No other hatchery does this.

 

[Sharenhod]

Thank you!

Also, silver and white

 

[paintedChix]

Personally, you are better off getting from a breeder. Better quality birds, breeders concentrate on retaining & improving egg color, bad dispositions & aggressiveness is usually culled - not by selling to unsuspecting buyers.

My worst aggressive roosters were EEs (different hatcheries) & Ameraucana from Cackle. Also Ameraucana can be difficult to sex, so question accuracy...

Some of my nicest roosters (11) were Ameraucana/Brahma crosses & purebred Self Blues (Lavender) from a local breeder.