| The Ameraucana expert requested side view photos of the chickens. But none of my 4 1/2 month old Ameraucanas wanted to cooperate. So I chased them around a bit, snapping photos as best I could to get good shots of their tail feathers:
Angel, the lavender Ameraucana
Rose, the black Ameraucana
The blue Ameraucana, Daisy, is almost certainly a hen, so I didn't bother snapping pics of her. Rose, on the other hand, needs to be renamed Ross. The dead giveaways are his gorgeous curved tail feathers. The expert told me that roosters' "tail feathers are not only longer, but also curved. Their saddle feathers and hackle feathers are pointed, not rounded like pullets." I had to look up these terms. Saddle feathers are on the back of the chicken. Hackle feathers are on the neck.
That just leaves Angel, who is as much of a gender blender as the character of the same name in Rent. Perhaps a trained eye could look at him or her and tell the sex easily, but my pictures were not clear enough for the expert to tell. I think Angel's a rooster, because he's a little asshole. He's definitely the most aggressive of the bunch. Both birds are now up on Craigslist.
As sad as I am that Rose is really Ross... I'm happy that my roommate said OK to getting a duck! So one of these days a Muscovy duck will be added to my illegal collection of poultry in their undisclosed location. And after I get back from Bolivia and the weather cools down a little, we are going to let our broody girl Victoria incubate some eggs and hatch chicks. I think we're going to give her Ameraucana eggs to have another go at raising a black Ameraucana hen. She'll be so happy! |
