ACA National Champion and Reserve

AOSB, Large Fowl Black Pullet by

Amanda Cambre

ACA National Champion and Best of

Breed, Bantam Black Hen by

Telah Ferguson

In This Issue General Information and Officers p. 2 Introducing Our New President p. 3-4 2013 National Meet p. 5-6 Treasurers Report p. 6 National Meet Placings p. 7 Candidates for the Show Committee p. 8

The Blue Egg Clucker Quarterly News from the Araucana Club of America

Spring, 2014 Volume 20, No. 1

2

The Blue Egg Clucker is published four times a year: Spring (March), Summer (June), Fall

(September) and Winter (December).

Club Volunteers:

President Lanae Cash 2231 East Hill Road Willits, California 95490 cashsblueeggs@gmail.com

Secretary Fritz Ludwig 207 Pickens Drive Pendleton, SC 29670-9727 secretary@araucana.net

Treasurer Joyce Ludwig treasurer@araucana.net

Historian Nancy Utterback 11683 North 600 West Frankton, IN 46044 leeutterback@hotmail.com

Newsletter Editor Rosalyn Upson Handbook Editor rosalyn.upson@gmail.com

Webmaster Shannon Wilson shannon@dieflyranch.com

Forum Mod Karen Liguori 4841 Clear Creek Road Placerville, CA 95667

ACA Standards Terry Reeder Representative P.O. Box 928 Aptos, CA 95001 mapuches@jps.net

Show Committee Cindy Smith Telah Ferguson Lanae Cash

President Emeritus Cathy Brunson 6598 Fairview Dr. King George, VA csbrunson@earthlink.net

ACA MISSION STATEMENT

The Club's Mission is the promotion of the Araucana Fowl as described in the APA's and ABA's Standards of Perfection through breeding, exhibition, and distribution of information

Disclaimer Articles and opinions that appear in the Blue Egg Clucker do not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the Araucana Club of America, or its officers. Nor does publication of said articles constitute an endorsement of views which they may express. Accuracy of all material is the sole responsibility of the authors. Appearance of an advertisement in the newsletter does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement by the newsletter or the Araucana Club of America

Membership Information: Dues are $20.00 for one year with delivery by mail, or $20.00 for two years with electronic email delivery. When renewing your membership, either use PayPal at the club website or mail your dues to:

Fritz Ludwig Araucana Club of America

207 Pickens Drive Pendleton, SC 29670-9727

Important Web Links

Araucana Club of America www.araucana.net/

ACA Forum www.araucana.net/forum

American Bantam Association www.bantamclub.com/

American Poultry Association www.amerpoultryassn.com/

3

Lanae Cash is Our New President

Hello, my name is Lanae Cash. It is a complete honor to be elected President of the Araucana Club of America. I am filled with excitement and ideas for the club and hope to implement quite a few of them this year with everyones help and input. The first item of business proposed by the club officers has been to update our website with the help of website designer Shannon Wilson.Hopefully you are enjoying the new website and we encourage any feedback you would like to give us. Every newsletter I will talk about my thoughts and hopes for our club and any changes that have been made along the way. Lets work together to make this first year together a memorable one. For now I thought I would take a moment to tell you a little about myself. I live in a small town in Northern California with my amazing husband and our super smart teenage son. We have two children and two grandchildren. My husband and I own a small farm where I raise Araucana chickens and he raises tractors, black Ford pickups and heavy equipment. At least I believe that is what he is doing as they seem to be multiplying. However we all need a hobby and he doesnt complain about mine. I am fortunate to live in a town where the majority of my immediate and extended family reside. They are all a source of love, pride, and no small amount of amusement to me. Families give you love, guidance and a hard time all in equal measure. I worked as a floorcovering sales person for 13 years and rose to the elite position of top percent in sales for the entire US, however it didnt come with a title or a raise. I have to say my absolute favorite titles to date are in order of appearance Wife, Mother, and Momma ( Grandma) I think Grandma is my favorite so far. At this point you may be wondering how I came to have Araucana. Let me tell you a story that is most likely familiar to each of you. I learned about the Araucana, as I think most of us have, thru misinformation. I was given a flock of 72 chickens. Well actually I was given them with the caveat that I had to catch them. How exciting. So with a lot of optimism, my mother (whom is a great encouragement to me in all my crazy schemes) and I arrived to pick up, I mean catch

4

my chickens. No, net did we remember to bring. Seriously, how hard could it be to catch a chicken? Lets just say it was the longest, dirtiest day of our lives to date. You should have visions in your head of two women past their youth tripping over chickens, not so dainty feet, and each other. But, I got my chickens. Several days later I started noticing blue eggs in the nest boxes. I had never seen or heard of blue eggs before, so I had to find out where they came from. The lady I got the chickens from said they were Araucana chickens and I could pick them up at the farm store. Awesome! I trotted down to the farm store and there they were cute as can be with their puffy little cheeks. I bought five adorable pullets. Quite a few months down the road I started noticing that my new girls were laying but it didnt seem like I was getting five more blue eggs, so I separated them out and guess what. I found that I was getting brown eggs, green eggs and a blue egg. I wasnt totally thrilled because I didnt buy birds for brown eggs, so I started doing research and found out what an Araucana is, and the rest is history as they say. Yes, the rest is history, but as most of you have learned as you started down the road to owning this fabulous breed of chicken, they can be difficult to find and obtain. When I started looking for Araucana Egg Bid was still up and running. SIGH! What a fabulous website. I would spend hours a day it seemed like, watching birds being bid on. I was able to buy a few birds thru that site and still wish it was available, although my husband feels nothing but relief as acquiring this breed can be a time consuming and expensive process. I have had Araucana for about 7 years now and have been showing for the last 3 years. I am working on 3 color varieties of Araucana all in large fowl, the Black Breasted Red, Golden Duckwing, and Silver Duckwing. I sometimes ask myself what my favorite color is and I am not sure. I know that the Silver Duckwing hens of any breed have been what I always think of as the perfect chicken color. With that being said, there is nothing more stunning to me that a Golden Duckwing rooster strutting around the yard with the sun making his feathers glow. However the simple soft color of the BBR wheaten hens just takes my breath away and makes me want to squeeze them tight. So do I have a favorite color? As I look back over my long and difficult road to finding and buying Araucana, one of my goals for this year is to make the Araucana Club more visible to the general public. I would like to encourage members to show their birds. Get them out there in the public eye. Let people know what this funny looking chicken is, and help them fall in love with it just as I have. I would also like to see the clubs membership grow. We current sit at just under 150 members. When you look at the Facebook Araucana site there are over 1100 members. Making the ACA more relevant to people and give them a reason to join will remain a club priority. So with the help of all the club members, lets make this year remarkable in the Araucana Community. We welcome your ideas and ask that you post them all on the Araucana Club Website Forum for Members Only. I sent out an email to every current member asking them to join the forum, if you have not, please let me know and I can help you get started. That will be the place where we can discuss real changes to the future of the Araucana and the board and I look forward to your input.

5

2013 National Meet by Rosalyn Upson

The Club held its National Meet January 18 and 19 at the Northeastern Poultry Congress Show in West Springfield MA. It was also the venue for the 2013 American Poultry Association National Meet, so it was a major show with a great turnout. We had five adult breeders exhibiting: Telah Ferguson, Amanda Cambre, Cindy Mansell, Mary Wase and Ann Charles. There were also two juniors, Amandas daughter Angela Tuttle, and Kara Day. There were a total of 37 Araucanas, 8 Bantam and 29 LargeFowl.

From left to right, Angela Tuttle (Amandas daughter), Amanda Cambre, Telah Ferguson,

Cindy Mansell and Kara Day (junior)

Amanda Cambres Black Pullet was our ACA Large Fowl National Champion and went on to Champion Row at the show, taking Reserve Champion AOSB! That was quite an accomplishment! Telah Fergusons Black Hen was our ACA Bantam National Champion. Those two birds grace the cover of this newsletter. Reserve ACA National Champion Large Fowl also went to Telah with a Black Cock , and Reserve Champion ACA Bantam went to Mary Wase with a Black Cock.

Telahs LF Black Cock, Reserve National Champion

Mary Wases Bantam Black Cock, Reserve National Champion

Junior Member Angela Tuttle won Best of Breed with a LF Black Breasted Red Pullet

In Best of Variety, Large Fowl, Amanda Cambre had a Black Pullet and Golden

6

Duckwing Pullet, Cindy Mansell had an AOV Birchen Pullet, and Telah Ferguson had an AOV Cock. In Best of Variety, Bantam,Telah Ferguson had BV with a Black Hen and Mary Wase with a Black Breasted Red Cock.

Cindy Mansells LF Golden Duckwing Cock Took 1st

With the two junior members, Angela Tuttle had Best of Breed with a LF Black Breasted Red Pullet and Best of Variety with a LF Red Cockerel. Kara Day had Best of Breed with a Bantam Black Breasted Red Cock.

Junior Kara Day Took Best of Breed With Her Bantam Golden Duckwing Cock

Congratulations to all who showed!And a special thanks to Telah, who made the arrangements for our National Meet, and provided the report on the placings on the following page as well as the pictures here and on the Forum!

The 2014 ACA National Meet will be held at the Ohio National in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov 7-9. This will be the venue of the 100th Anniversary of the American Bantam Association and their National Meet. So it should be pretty special!

2013 Financial Statement

National Meet Placings

Exhibitioner Age/Sex Color LF/Bantam Placing

Telah Ferguson (95) Pullet Blk LF 4 Telah Ferguson (95) Pullet Blk LF No Place Telah Ferguson (95) Pullet Blk LF No Place Telah Ferguson (95) Pullet Blk LF 5 Telah Ferguson (95) Cockerel Blk LF 1 Telah Ferguson (95) Cockerel Blk LF 2 Telah Ferguson (95) Hen Blk LF 1 Telah Ferguson (95) Hen Blk LF No Place Telah Ferguson (95) Hen Blk LF 4 Telah Ferguson (95) Hen Blk LF No Place Telah Ferguson (95) Hen Blk Bantam 1 BB BV Telah Ferguson (95) Cock Blk Bantam 2 Telah Ferguson (95) Cock Blk LF 2 Telah Ferguson (95) Cock Blk LF 1 RB RV Telah Ferguson (95) Cock AOV LF 1 BV Telah Ferguson (95) Cock AOV LF 2 Mary Wase (271) Cock BBR Bantam 1 BV Mary Wase (271) Cock Blk Bantam 1 RB Ann Charles (296) Pullet Blk LF 2 Ann Charles (296) Hen BBR Bantam No Place Cindy Mansell (343) Pullet Blk LF 5 Cindy Mansell (343) Pullet Blk LF 3 Cindy Mansell (343) Pullet AOV Birchen LF 1 BV Cindy Mansell (343) Hen Blk LF 3 Cindy Mansell (343) Hen Blk LF 2 Cindy Mansell (343) Hen Blk LF 5

Cindy Mansell (343) Cock Golden Duckwing LF 1

Amanda Cambre (360) Pullet Golden Duckwing LF 1 BV

Amanda Cambre (360) Pullet Blk LF 1 BB BV Reserve Champion A.O.S.B

Angela Tuttle (361jr) Pullet BBR LF 1 BB Angela Tuttle (361jr) Cockerel Red LF 1 BV Kara Day (217jr) Cock BBR Bantam 1 BB BV

8

Candidates for Show Committee

Amanda Cambre

My name is Amanda Cambre. I would like to be considered for the ACA Show Committee. I am a wife, mother of five, business owner, avian enthusiast and poultry exhibitor. I have owned Araucanas for the past five years and have shown them for the past two years. I have exhibited horses and livestock my entire life. I am knowledgeable of the interworking of clubs, organizations and shows. I feel I would be an asset to the Show Committee because I am eager, dedicated and extremely focused to helping this breed improve and grow. I will be attending many, many shows throughout this coming year to promote this lovely breed.

Ann Charles

My name is Ann Charles and I own SkyBlueEgg Araucana. I currently live In Winnfield, Louisiana. I was born, and grew up in California, but moved south and have been a resident of either Louisiana or Arkansas for the last 22 years. I have raised poultry since theearly 1980's, but my passion for Araucana began in 2004. I have been breeding and exhibiting Araucana for ten years now. During that time I have bred, raised and/or exhibited 4

National Champion or Reserve National Champion Araucana. Currently I publish the free online poultry publication: Exhibition Poultry Magazine, and am the American Poultry Association representative for the state of Louisiana. I am a wife of 15 years to my infinitely patient and supportive husband, Andrew. I am also a former ACA club officer. I was previously a member of the ACA Show Committee, but I resigned from that position about 5 years ago due to time constraints. I feel that I once again have the time and energy to make a contribution to the Show Committee. I ask for your consideration as an ACA Show Committee member.

Cindy Mansell

I have been breeding Araucanas for over 5 years now, and been showing them for 4 years. I love showing my birds and have done well. I live in Waterloo, NY and have lived here almost all of my life. For a brief time of 4 years I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada.I have worked as an office Manager of two Veterinary Hospitals, and left only due to the deaths of each doctor. I have been in the Veterinary field for over 30 years. I also have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. My husband of 26 years (Mark) loves to show our Turkeys. We have Royal Palms and Bourbon Reds and for the last two years we have had the Champion and Reserve Champion turkey and the Northeastern Poultry show.I breed mostly black Araucanas but have been working on mottled for the last 2 years.Thank you for your time.

Since we have three candidates and two positions, you will vote for the two candidates of your choice. You can email your votes to our club Secretary, Fritz Ludwig, secretary@araucana.net with Show Committee Vote in the subject line. Or you can mail your vote to Fritz at 207 Pickens Dr, Pendleton, SC 29670. The deadline is April 15.