Ameraucana Chick Color vs. Adult Plumage

[Criskin]

This is probably going to sound completely amateurish, but I'm curious. Does an Ameraucana chick's color give any indication of its adult plumage? A friend of my FIL sent me some eggs from his Ameraucana flock. I haven't gotten to see the parent stock but almost all of the eggs were fertile and I have a flock of multi-colored and adorable little chicks in the brooder. I'd love to know what they will look like as adults. Is that possible or will I just have to wait and see?

 

[Chris09]

Does an Ameraucana chick's color give any indication of its adult plumage?

Yes. As long as they are true Amerucana's and was of the same color. like black to black or silver to silver etc.
If your friend got them from a hatchery or crossed colors then I would say no.. For the most part
You can go to this link and see pictures of chicks and adults..
http://www.ameraucana.org/scrapbook.html

Chris​

 

[cottagegarden]

If they are chicks from pure Ameraucana you can see chick photos at www.ameraucana.org
Those chick colors would look similar to other breeds of chickens of Standard colors like blue, black, splash, yellow for buff, yellow for white, etc.
If they are from Ameraucanas of different colors running together or hatchery Ameraucanas they would most likely
have "chipmunk" type markings and feather out into a "wild type"
if you look through here there are chick and adult photos of both the pures and the mixed EEs.
www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=128806&p=1

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Chick down gives indications of the genes present in a bird, regardless of whether it is a purebred of any breed or some mix. However, there are a lot of very similar looking down characteristics that indicate different things

One thing I like about Genetics of Chicken Colours is that it has fairly good photos and paintings of the chick down for different genes.

 

[Criskin]

Thanks for the links and information! They were very informative. I do have a small problem, though...how can you tell the Black from the Brown Red as chicks? Their pictures look identical. Is there something I'm missing that can differentiate?

 

[LeBlackbird]

Quote:
Brown reds will be almost all black, but blacks will have a white bib

 

[Criskin]

From what I understand, the parent flock was multi-colored and free ranges together. They called them Ameraucanas but I supposed it is safer to just assume they are EEs. From what I can tell (thanks to everyone's help!) I have quite a few blacks, a buff and a silver and maybe a couple of wild types. There are three different chipmunk patterns (see the picture below) so I'm assuming that one is silver and the others will have the wild type coloring? I thought I'd also post a pic of all of them...although there are 4 black/splash jersey giants and a Rock/Orp mutt (she is the one on the far left looking at the camera) mixed in.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Looks like one wild-type (it also has the eyeliner stripe), one that is probably e^b, and I haven't a clue on the yellow chick with stripes. The black chicks with white spots on their heads will be barred.

 

[plantmgr]

Quote:
My chipmunk colored EE chicks turned into the auburn partridge color. They are very pretty. I also have some white and black mixes of many kinds. White with black, black with white, etc. They started out kind of silver colored with black stripes as chicks. My favorite is a white pullet with black outlines. Her wings and tail and hackles are outlined kind of like a Brahma. She looks like someone painted her!. I love my EEs. It's like a rainbow in the yard! Can't wait for eggs!

I would like to hear of examples of what one of the previous people posting meant by the down color indicating the genes. That sounds interesting.

 

[plantmgr]

Quote:
this is the post I was referring to.