The Araucana is a old, purebred chicken from South America that lays blue eggs. They have short rump feathers and muffs on their cheeks. The Ameraucana is mixture of the Araucana and other breeds. They also have muffs, but some have fluffy beards, too. They have normal chicken tails. They have an infinite number of feather patterns and colors. They’re sometimes called Easter Eggers because their colorful eggs look dyed. Some lay blue eggs, but others have the brown egg gene, as well, and so lay a range, from olive to turquoise. You never know what you’re going to get when you order Ameraucanas from the hatchery. I got four in my box from McMurray. I’m keeping two.
Beatrix is a classic Ameraucana. She is gorgeous.
Beatrix has the loveliest caramel-colored feathers, with black lacings. Her muff is fluffy and sets off her attractive dark eyes. She’s also aloof, which is a typical Ameraucana trait. I hope that her eggs are as pretty as she is.
Her sister, Owly, is not typical at all. From early on as a chick, she looked ahead and she looked up. Here she is at two weeks. You can see how she got her name. Notice the flock behind her.
A few weeks later, here is Owly, again the forward one of the group.
And here she is two weeks ago. Looking up.
Owly is a clown. I really don’t care what color eggs she lays.
Hmmm…maybe Owly knows something we don’t know. If alien spacecraft appear in the sky later on, we’ll know she’s onto something.
So much fun getting to know the new chicks. What a great journey it is. I love Owly.
Yes, I agree, Owly is a hoot ;)
AGGH. Great pun :)
Oh Terry, what a beautiful hen Beatrix is. She definitely had to have a sophisticated name. I’ve watched her and Owly from the beginning. Beatrix’s beauty and Owly’s personality stood out. If I ever got an Ameracauna, there is no way she could be as pretty as Beatrix. She would be a great book or calendar cover. :o)
Oh YES! Can’t wait for the 2014 HENCAM CALENDAR! How will you ever decide what photos to include!
It will be hard, and I have photos that haven’t been put on the blog!
I have a chicken that looks just like Owly
Have to post twice today. I can’t resist. My favorite pics are, the one Steve did with Mr. Grumpy and his bride, Pip and Caper winking and sticking the tongue out, and now Beatrix. But I agree, their are so many beautiful pictures of Little Pond, Terry will have her work cut out for her.
Beatrix is a beauty!
Owley is also the one that perches on the top of your hanging feeder in 5:20 a.m. to get food because everyone else has crowded her out. She does an impressive imitation of a duck while leaning nearly vertical into the top of the feeder. ;) She doesn’t always do it, but it’s funny when she does. I suspect Owley of being one of those chickens that thinks outside the normal realm of chickendom. ;)
I’ve missed that behavior, but it doesn’t surprise me.
I suppose Owly is definitely a girl?? My Araucana chicks did this, too. They turned out to be boys. Scanning for overhead predators is apparently why the do it.
My cousin told me that in the ‘old days’ a chicken keeper would throw his cap across the pen over the heads of a flock of young birds (like a frisbee!) to gauge the number of roosters. Those who looked up, were males…
I tend to look for all the other signs to appear! (Thicker legs, bigger comb, narrower neck feathers and of course ‘Cock-a-doodle-do’ in the early hours! ;-))
Owly looks very much like my EE Henny Penny who won the “Most Beautiful Chicken in the World” contest where I got her as a chick. She is a beautiful chicken if I do say so myself and lays lovely sky blue eggs. The only difference between her and Owly is that Henny has very dark legs. One of our EEs was a rooster and all the signs were there around 6 weeks…bigger comb, thicker legs, and loved jumping on top the others. By 8 weeks he was testing out his crow. He was a gorgeous bird too. Beatrix is stunning.
There’s a lot of “old wive’s tales” about how to tell a rooster apart early on. They’re pretty much all totally inaccurate. Owly is definitely a girl. And she looks up. There’s always one in a crowd…
Perhaps she’s just hoping to play frisbee?!
Oh, dear. Can one have too many favorites? Buffy and Agatha have been my favorites since I first found your blog, now I have to add Beatrix to the pair. Decisions, decisions, can I just love them all?
Absolutely, love them all!
Ok, thank you – I love them all!
Or maybe Owly is watching to see if the sky is falling down!
Could be :)
Beatrix and Owly are so typically the same but different, aren’t they? They’re both beautiful in their own way. I’ve always thought Owly looks as if she has a couple of extra vertebrae in her neck. She makes it look so long! I love them all, but Buffy’s still my favorite. she’s the girl with nine lives, the underdog, and she just keeps ticking.
I adopted 6 ee’s from the co-op this spring. They came from Ideal Hatchery. One of them is all white. I was concerned that it might be a “meatie” but the attendant said, because of her muffs, she certainly is an easter egger. You know how mixed up those tubs of chicks can get in a farm store! She is the top chick of that bunch.
Dear Lord Terry, just had my fist snake encounter. A medium-sized rat snake was at our building that has my brooder in it. It was as though he was just laying there listening to our 4 week old chicks. I had to chase him off. My dog just sat there and watched him and yawned. Thank God there’s no way to the chicks. Our run is 1 inch by 1/2 inch very strong gauge mesh. Do you think I messed up by not getting the 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch. Do you know if chickens draw snakes in? We’ve lived here for twenty years and have seen one small zipper snake and one huge rat snake at the creek. Been to doctor with blood pressure problems and I’m sure it’s wild now. I am terrified of snakes of any kind. Checked hencam archives and didn’t see much on snakes so I feel certain you’ve not had a problem with them. Do you have any suggestions?
I believe that a large rat snake will eat eggs and small chicks. OTOH, a full-grown chicken will eat a baby snake. I don’t think that the snake can get into your run, but I’m not familiar with rat snakes. Make sure there’s no overhanging branches for it to climb up and in and keep brush and leaves and woodpiles away from the coop so there’s nowhere for it to hide. I think you and your chicks will be fine!
Thanks Terry, will do all above.
A bunny in the hutch! I just teared up with joy.
Me too!
Maybe she heard a rumor that the sky is falling. ;)
Beatrix is really stunning! And I think we have an Owly in our flock. A total clown. My son named her Rexie. She’s a Faverolle and when she was little, with her non existent tail, she reminded him of a dinosaur. :)