Buff Ameraucanas

Yes! Besides a lot of new chicks, we also purchased a new color variety of Ameraucana. I must really say, I'm getting quite the addiction to Ameraucanas. Why? Because they're good sized, lay good sized eggs, and they're very sweet, friendly, and laid back. Unlike Araucanas, cockerels get along better, and unlike Araucanas, they're not practically bantam sized. But still, I do love Araucanas as well!

Anyway, here's my new pair. I got them from a well respected breeder, Jean Ribbeck. (Known well as Pips&peeps from BYC) They're Buff Ameraucanas. A very rare color, and sadly also very underrated. Because most Buffs lay a poor egg color and the color in general is rare, they're rarely spoken of. If anyone mentions the color, it is usually another misinformed owner of a typical Easter Egger. (Who of course is NOT buff colored)

The pair are in quarantine right now, so the photos aren't the best. . .

The evening sun just feeds to his gorgeous golden glow!



The two. . . Perhaps two in love?



. . . Or a pullet who thinks beards are tasty. . .




Now that we're done with that excitement for the night, let's take a very brief tour on how others are doing..

First, our Tolbunt Polish are still growing! This here is Spike, my frizzled cockerel.





And this is Bowie, my Smooth cockerel.






Looking out at some girls free ranging. . .





Her secret hidey hole.



Searchin' the tree trunks. . .



Our colorful Blue Wheaten Marans cockerel. . .



Crowing. . .



Sultan, our "White Wheaten" crowing. . .



Our Wheaten Marans crowing . . .



Even Bowie crowing!



And at last, here's a little sample of all the egg colors we've been getting. Isn't the purple looking one just awesome?

Picture Story 2: Tolbunt BOYS

Well, it has been 4 months now, and yes, you heard it. . . My frizzled Tolbunt Polish "pullet" is now a cockerel. For 4 months I've thought him to be a girl, named him Pink (after the artist) then suddenly found that my actually tricky-to-sex frizzle is a boy. So, he's now Spike (after the vamphire.) As for the other cockerel, he's still named Bowie.

Here's the two lounging side by side while it pours rain just beyond their covered porch.



Here's Bowie, the handsome "smooth feathered" cockerel. Just look at that patterning!!



And here's Spike, my crazy feathered but still beautiful "frizzled" cockerel.



And if you're wondering - Yes, I'm keeping them BOTH. They're in a separate run from everyone else, all to their own pampered selves, with my Silver Laced Polish hen, Oscura. I will still be working on this color, even if I don't have a female Tolbunt. I'm also on the look for a gold laced Polish hen. One girl and two boys is just too much for the girl to handle. Also, Silver Laced is NOT the best thing to use in improving Tolbunts.

So far, both are in excellent health. The frizzled is much more friendly than the smooth, and will come to call. They get along, although the frizzled is a little more dominant, despite his lack of physical maturity compared to the smooth, and noone has tried mating with the Silver Laced hen yet. Really cannot wait until I get some fertile eggs from them to hatch!!

Here's one last photo . . Or two. . . I can't get enough of them!!

Picture Story 1 : Tolbunts

My Tolbunt Polish finally hatched!! They actually hatched a week ago, but anyway. . . Here's a little picture story of how it went. I only got 2 chicks out of 4 eggs left.

First, the Easter Eggers come out (Polish x Easter Egger)



Next, the first Polish







Then the last Tolbunt Polish:



And then, the two all dried up:








Right now they already have tail and wing feathers, and are working on shoulder feathers. One is a female and frizzle. The other is male and smooth feathered.

More on the farm to come later when my batteries recharge.

The Tolbunt eggs and the Araucanas

Both of them have gone through some hardships this past week. .

First the Tolbunt Polish eggs. These eggs are VERY expensive and much worth the money, plus I've had an excellent fertility rate of 50%. . . But I suddenly lost an egg. After perhaps a very dangerous routine of candling and photographing an egg each day. it died. . . The fetus lost its veining, movement, and became an odd dark blob. It has not developed since then. So, now I have 5 developing and fertile eggs. . . And only 10 days left until they all hatch.







Next there's the Araucanas. On Monday I decided to move my younger Araucanas, Ameraucanas, and Marans in with the main flock. Well, things of course did not go well, but that always happens when you introduce chickens with each other - especially young and older. But the real problem as that the Araucanas were just worryingly tiny, not really growing much, and getting more and more scared each day. So, finally, I decided to move them and only them back to their original play-place, so they can have peace. When I moved them, I tallied everyone down to make sure I had them all, then watched them chirp, run, scratch, and settle happily again. It took so much stress off of us both.





(more pics added in a couple hours)

All about the EGGS.

Eggs. They're the biggest subject of production on this farm to date. And before we go on with a proper tour of all the chickens who create them, we start with the egg. . .

These here are the eggs we just put in the incubator 14 days ago. It's a huge, grand assortment of dark chocolate, orange, pink, green, white, light brown, and khaki green eggs. All these eggs will of course hatch in 7 more days, and the chicks from them will grow up and give as a grand supply more of the very same types of eggs they hatched from.

For those curious, the orange and dark brown ones come from a breed called Marans. The pink ones come from Jersey Giants. The green ones come from Ameraucanas, and although Ameraucanas should not lay "green" eggs, but rather a blue-green color, they can vary based on the age of the chicken and the quality of it. The white eggs come from our own Crested Polish, the three huge light brown ones come from our own Easter Egger (crossbred chicken commonly sold under false claim as an Ameraucana) and the last row of khaki green eggs are also from true Ameraucanas.



All these eggs, over the last 14 days, have no been "culled" (any non developed ones removed) down to any that are fertile and developing. We have plenty Ameraucana, Jersey Giant, and Marans eggs left - But only one Polish. When they hatch, that chick sure will stand out!

The black circles marked on the eggs are to show which are fertile. After 10 days of being in the incubator, any egg not marked with a circle is removed to prevent rotting or exploding.



Aren't they all just beautiful?

Now, customers who buy our eating eggs won't see jewels like these until July or up to September. Then, we'll be selling "rainbow specialty" dozens. So, what our customers actually will be getting for the next two to three months are these, various shades of brown, pink, and white:



By July, we'll be getting these in the basket as well as blue:





Yes, the eggs will be this gorgeous! These here are "preserved" examples of some Marans eggs we hatched - They're a gorgeous, really dark chocolate type of color, but when comparing them to the popular Cadbury Egg - They're much bigger and richer in color!

Then, a month after those come around, we'll be getting even more chocolate eggs, blue eggs, and some green eggs. A month after that, come September, we'll also have an abundance of pink eggs and green eggs as well, with of course even more chocolate brown eggs available.

Here's an example of the green eggs available in September.



And finally, here's something we'll be offering as well: Tri-sample rainbows of color. Of course, there will be more color than this example, but that's because we have yet to get blue eggs to show off.



Of course, during holidays like Independence Day, Easter, Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, and Valentine's Day - We'll have specialty cartons of certain color combinations. Here's a sample of "White Chocolate & Milk Chocolate" - It's a way to show even light Marans eggs and normal white eggs and how combining just the right colors can compliment each other perfectly. Normally white eggs are a common sight, and lighter "orange" Marans eggs are not desired to breeders, even us - But they're great for the colorful beauty in a carton of eating eggs!



In three months once most of my chicks are mature, I'll get a post up that is all about the breeds that create all these fascinating egg colors, and even some of my future projects on some NEW egg colors!