I think the photo above says it all about the
niche Ameraucanas have in the chicken world — they join Salmon Faverolles as
being favorite chicken pets.  Here’s what two of our readers
had to say:



“We have six hens:
two Rhode Island Reds, two Black Sex Links, and recently we added
two Americaunas, which are still pullets at this point. We love
the Americaunas because they are so playful and loving with
children, but mostly because of their WHISKERS*.*”  — Kaat



“I like Easter
Egger/ Americaunas.  The ones I have have such a gentle
temperament (except when the babies hatch — then they are fierce
protectors!). They are good layers, too.



“I love the little
beards, ear tufts & their green legs.  I also like 
getting their green eggs.  For where we live (in Virginia),
they are well suited for our climate.” — Darla



You’ve probably heard of Ameraucanas even if
you don’t know the name — this is one of the breeds that lays
blue eggs (as well as green ones and a range of other
colors).  If you want to be a stickler, most blue-egg-layers
in the U.S. aren’t actually pure breeds and should be called
“Easter Eggers.”  True Ameraucanas (a hard-to-spell word
built by merging “American” and “Araucana”) have green legs and
yellow soles to their feet.  The Araucana is even less common
here, being another blue-egg-layer, this time with darker legs,
black or white soles, and the distinct lack of a tail.



But most folks don’t
particularly care whether their bird is an Ameraucana, an
Araucana, or an Easter Egger.  They simply enjoy the unique
eggs, already colored for Easter.

Right on schedule,
our last set of broilers started expanding their horizons on their
one-month birthday.  Rather than hiding out under the
raspberries and peach tree by their brooder, the bold leader
brought his fellows under our trailer and up to the front garden
(and porch).



I figured mulch would get flung around
shortly, so Mark and I put the brooder back onto the yellow wagon
and dragged it to the forest garden, then ran a bit of temporary
fencing between
their new and old pastures.  This
spring, I had less luck with this maneuver, but I think the issue
then was that I let the chicks get too big and bold before trying
to fence them in.  Currently, our chicks seem to be behaving,
even though I didn’t even make a full circle out of the fence, so
they could just walk the long way around and go back to their old
stomping grounds.

I need to remember to
strike when the iron first gets hot in the future, because it’s
handy to be able to move broilers around through temporary
pastures without worrying about them flying the coop. 
Hopefully this last set of broilers will behave for at least a
month before we have to shut them into a real pasture.