Sept. 3, 2012

Kiwi

At 6 weeks, the Araucana babies are all alive and thriving.  Gender is becoming apparent for some of them:  Kiwi and Raven are certainly male, and I think Oriole is too.  Some colors are obvious to me, but others aren’t.  The genetics behind the different colors is challenging too.  Five of them were striped as chicks which indicates they are wild type (e+) based, but they are all so different from each other that it’s still a puzzle.

Raven

Oriole and Wren 

Oriole, who started out with brick red and black down, is now feathered in a dark wild type pattern with a lighter pattern on his breast.  His light, patterned tuft contrasts nicely with his darker body.  His breeder has indicated that he was produced from a black x black-breasted red cross, so we shall see what he becomes.

Oriole at 3 weeks

Kestrel

Kestrel, who started out with dark stripes on a rufous background has turned beautifully golden.  The breeder says this one is black-breasted red, but I’m not so sure--the color looks more buff to me.  Unfortunately, Kestrel has several strikes against becoming a breeding bird, with his clean face, short back and yellow legs.

Kestrel and Bunting

The black chicks lingered on Craig’s List long enough for Jet and Onyx to start crowing.  I set them up with Ebony in the new mobile coop because they were starting to chase poor Coral and the older hens around.  It seemed there was always a commotion surrounding them, and after they were moved, things did quiet down a lot.

Ebony, Jet, and Onyx

They spent one day happily enough in their new quarters, showing off for the hens spending the day in the spa while I worked on the fence.  That evening, one by one, they flew over their fence to go back to the main coop.  Next time I try this, wings will be clipped!  By the next day all 4 were sold, destined to become urban chickens, crowing notwithstanding.  I offered to take them back if there were problems, but apparently all is well.

Meanwhile, Clucky has become broody once more, so at the risk of becoming truly overcrowded, I have ordered 6 more Araucana eggs from another bloodline to arrive this week.