and I am so happy!!!!!! Been doing the Happy Dance all day.
I shipped 6 Ringed Teal Juvies to Ma in exchange for 8 all Tufted Araucana. They arrived yesterday
1 has Awesome!!! Tufts, 3 have small tufts, 2 have nice tufts, and 1 has 1 side Awesome Tuft. 2 are tailed and the rest rumpless
Check out the Earrings on this gal
This message was edited Oct 20, 2010 7:31 PM
young roo
SDW Roo
some of the ladies and the young roo
I don't know what to call this color. most of them are splashes
the young splash hen
That first picture is funny, she looks like Princess Leia from Star Wars.
Pretty birds!
smedgekles, she does look like Princess Leia! =D
Maybe there is a roo that looks like Luke Skywalker in her future.
Wow!!!! They are gorgeous birds!!! I never thought about Shipping birds!! Did you have any problem with the shipping and just how did you "Pack " them??
you ship express mail when temps are 85 or below (is better) but not freezing, put some pine shavings in the bottom of a Approved shipping box with Bio filters. Put a container of Gro Gel and some chopped fruit & veggies for them to munch and have them at P.O. when they tell you. Generally between 3 & 4 p.m. Sometimes with smaller P.O.'s it takes 2 days instead of 1 to arrive. Also be aware of the weight limit allowed for the box. Don't pack them in like sardines. leave them adequate room to lay down
Everyone is talking about "Grow Gel"???? How would I find info on this ?
No wonder you are doing the happy dance. :) Congrats.
it's for sale on line all over. I do not know about local Feed Store. Mine does have it
I ordered Grow Gel from Randall Burkey along with my feeders and waterers.
http://www.randallburkey.com/
Great trade!
I googled it and found the R&B site..read up on it!! Whooo maybe I ought to order some too! I think sometimes that I might go a little over board on my Chicks but I love them so much!! Nothing is too good for them!
I know I go over board with my chicks. I want them to have the best start I can give them
I'd say you got a great trade too! Her earings are beautiful!
From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucana
"When the Araucana was first introduced to breeders worldwide, in the mid-20th century, it was quickly realized that the genetics that produced tufts and rumpless also caused chick mortality.[4] As it turns out, two copies of the gene causes nearly 100% mortality shortly before hatching. One copy causes about 20% mortality. The tufted gene is dominant however. Because no living araucana possesses two copies of the tufted gene, breeding any two tufted birds leads to half of the resulting brood being tufted with one copy of the gene, a quarter being clean faced with no copy of the gene, and a quarter of the brood dead in the shell having received two copies of the gene."
Isn't that weird? A gene that cause the chicks to die before being born. Who ever heard of such a thing? Makes me think about my own illness, lupus. There are genetic markers for lupus, yet not everyone with these genes acquires lupus, it takes "triggers" to produce it. The triggers are stress, overexposure to sunlight, and toxic chemicals. All three of which I had. I lived with an alcoholic stepfather, we went to the lake all the time, and lived in a town surrounded by petroleum plants. There you have it, lupus.
Genetics give us wonderful things and also troubling things, but who would think it would cause babies to die before hatching?
I got all tufted because everything I had was non tufted. I also got a few tailed roo because if you keep breeding rumpless to rumpless they end up with no spine
Sorry about the Lupus. That is some bad stuff. Have a friend with it and her brother died from it at 20 yrs old
It's worse on men. 9 out of 10 of us are women and the few men that have it really seem to be much worse than the women for some reason. I've known several that have died. Mine was really tough on me when I was young and didn't know what it was. The doctors thought I was imagining my symptoms. Anyway, the older I get the more I know what my limits are. If I cross the line and do too much or go out in the sunshine, I know I will suffer. So, I'm not that bad really, I just can't do much work. They say the lupus destroys the nerves to my muscles, which I suppose makes me weak. Anyway, not to worry, I am doing fine, but thanks for your comment. :)
