NH Homesteader- turkeys!

[farmerjan]

Got a large dog crate or somehting that you can put feed into tomorrow and see if you can tempt her to go in it to eat. Like right up along the fence where the other chickens are??? How about a large havahart trap with feed in it in a little trail right over the pan that she will have to step on to reach it? Then just act like you are not interested in her. Till she goes in the dog crate or better yet in the havahart trap...

 

[farmerjan]

Countryboy, we are thinking alike....

 

[CntryBoy777]

Ya beat me typing...

 

[NH homesteader]

We have good fencing and only let them free range when they know where home is. This doesn't present itself as a problem very often. I feed and take care of the birds, but am very bad at catching escapees. And while I would happily freeze my behind off looking for an escaped goat I will not be outside all night trying to catch a chicken. Sorry chicken.

 

[NH homesteader]

I considered havahart but ours is a bit small!

 

[Bruce]

Can you leave the door to the run open after locking all the other girls in the coop???
I know too late for that question now.

@farmerjan Yes, prior to the actual development of the APA Araucana and APA Ameraucana, all blue laying chickens that had the S.A. background were all called Araucana. One of the men who developed the Ameraucana breed ( I THINK! it was Jerry Stenger) posted on BYC info to the effect that the Araucana of the '60s was already different from the blue layers that were brought in from S.A. due to crossing. I can't find the post or I would link it. I guess anything that laid a blue egg was called an Araucana. There was definitely no standard. They were ALL mutts that happened to have the blue egg gene.

The group that started selectively breeding blue egg laying chickens for rumpless, tufted and not bearded or muffed got their line reproducing reliably before the group working on the tailed, muffed and bearded birds. As such when the APA accepted them they got to choose that name and went with Araucana. Frankly I see allowing that as a failure on the part of the APA since the birds they were derived from were already called Araucana even though there was no breed standard for them. From that point on the Araucana (of old) AKA Easter Egg chicken and the APA Araucana chicken were not the same thing at all even though they shared a name.

The other group got their lines up to reliably reproducing and when the APA accepted them, they needed a name and came up with Ameraucana. Note that these are AMERICAN PA standards. The English, Australian, etc standard recognises both tailed and rumpless Ameraucanas as a single breed.

It is unlikely that anyone is going to cross a modern day APA Araucana with an APA Ameraucana to make an Easter Egger. For one thing there are very few Araucana chickens. If anyone intentionally creates an EE from an APA Ameraucana it is either by crossing it with another breed or because they only have to breed true 50% of the time and any offspring of an APA Ameraucana pairing that didn't meet the APA SOP would be, at best, a "non standard" Ameraucana. I think any honest Ameraucana breeder would sell those as EEs because they probably won't breed true to the Ameraucana SOP.

http://www.grit.com/animals/araucan...live-egger-rainbow-layer-whats-the-difference

MMcM is running fast and loose with their claim that their EEs are crosses of Araucana and Ameraucana. I guess if you choose to think that they are using the PRE APA Araucana, it could be true. BUT! I don't think anyone is calling the descendents of those Araucana by that name any more, they are using EE. I still see it as an intentional misrepresentation by the hatcheries and I still don't understand why they lie about it.

To cut to the chase:
If you buy it from a farm store, it IS an EE no matter what name they use
If you buy it from almost every big hatchery, it IS an EE no matter what name they use
If you buy it from eBay, 99% it IS an EE
If it is sold without an APA color being specified, it IS an EE.
There ARE breeders on BYC that have true APA SOP Ameraucana

 

[Latestarter]

As for that loose chicken... I'd say give her two - three days and then .22 for soup. Better you eat her than the coyotes. Feeding them (coyotes) will just invite them back.

 

[NH homesteader]

I doubt it will be coyotes. It'd be a fox or weasel. The coyotes don't bother us. Too much activity and too many lights. And whenever they get too close for comfort, either we or our neighbors shoot off enough rounds to keep them away. We had a fisher last year, that was a major problem.

 

[NH homesteader]

Escape hen is still in the front yard. I brought her some food and warm water and left her alone. She hasn't gone for it yet. One of my Dominique crosses got out of her fence. Way easier to deal with, once I distracted the roo. He is very friendly until you mess with his hens.

Very big drama in our town/school district over taxes. Very stressful. Lots of anger, accusations... People from the next town over keep telling us if we don't like our taxes, move. Thanks, how neighborly. Also how does one sell their house when no one wants to pay our taxes? Many for sale signs here.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Geeze, what a mess....