Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[DMRippy]

New to this great breed but most people have one rooster with 2 or 3 hens/pen. Gold based blacks have a beetle green sheen and silver based have a purple sheen. I think both are used in BBS - maybe someone can tell us?

I have not hear that about silver being purple.... I have not seen that myself. Purple usually means mahogany is present but I have not confirmed that. I have seen birds with both green and purple sheen. Green is good purple is not.

Not with my Ams yet but I am starting to run 2 roos with 6 pullets/hens. Trying to make sure fertility is as high as I can get it.

 

[chicken farmer2]

I had someone that know a lot about this tell me that, he told me this awhile ago so I may not be correct but she said something like there two copies of that gene and all blue and splash have two copy of silver and only black coming from blue line have the one silver and one gold genes but the black coming from multi generations of blacks only have gold gene have better coloring is this right??

 

[chicken farmer2]

So for around 6-10 hens I should have two Roos

 

[DMRippy]

I had someone that know a lot about this tell me that, he told me this awhile ago so I may not be correct but she said something like there two copies of that gene and all blue and splash have two copy of silver and only black coming from blue line have the one silver and one gold genes but the black coming from multi generations of blacks only have gold gene have better coloring is this right??

Not sure any of that is correct. Silver would EXPRESS and you would see it on Blue and Black Birds, maybe even Splash. Cockerels can have either one copy or 2 and pullets can only have 1. It is a sex link trait like barring.

The best blues are based on SILVER. That does not mean they carry silver really but they came from birds that were silver (sex link traits can be eliminated). With the genetics of Blue you will get splash and BLACK. The blacks can express that green sheen too but usually they are culled from a breeding program because they came from blues (silver based)

Example..... I am making Blue Plymouth Rocks and I can use a Roo with Silver expressing as I can cull for that but ALL the chicks will be silver based, not gold. I am also using Barred Rocks as they too are silver based not gold.... they are NOT silver though. Chicks from a sex link cross with barred rocks don't express silver, they can but don't usually.

 

[chicken farmer2]

Alright so I got a quad of Ameraucana 1 blue roo a black hen that came from blue breeding and then 2 blacks that are gold based should I make two breeding pens or one

 

[hotlipshens]

I have not hear that about silver being purple....

I could easily be mistaken Chicken color genetics is so much more complicated than any other species I've dealt with and I still need to learn so much.

I have some blacks which are from black to black for a number of generations...one chick had some gold leakage and they all have the beetle green sheen. I've only kept the pullets for their eggs. My blues and splashes are from Paul Smith. I'm hoping to breed blue to blue to have blacks I might be able to use for BBS. I thought I read on the ABC forum that those blacks might have the purple sheen...green being red/gold based and purple being NOT red/gold based and probably assumed silver. My impression was the learned folks there didn't think it mattered much for BBS and that black prob isn't needed to keep lacing anyway but it is all so new to me. Would love to learn anything you wouldn't mind teaching me!

 

[DMRippy]

Alright so I got a quad of Ameraucana 1 blue roo a black hen that came from blue breeding and then 2 blacks that are gold based should I make two breeding pens or one

Quote: I will answer 2 questions.

First post ) Good breeders do NOT mix blacks form a BBS pen in with Black x Black birds. The best blacks come from a black pen.

Second post ) Blue to blue give the best blues. That is not to say you can't get good blues from other crosses. MOST breeders only use the blues. Blacks can be used to darken the blue, splash can be used to lighten the blue. Most Ams don't have lacing or edging..... Not many breeds do have it..... just another thing to work on in blues. The genetics in blues are DIFFERENT than blacks.

I don't want to spark a debate..... just sharing NORMAL breeding of BBS and Blacks.... to each his own.

 

[hotlipshens]

Thanks DMRippy! Tradition is usually rooted in reason...doing things "the old way" often avoids unforeseen problems. Would you mind telling me the basic differences...not trying to start any debates, just trying to learn.

 

[samouw]

Quick question for the genetics experts out there. I posted earlier about the lack of muffs/beards in some of my chicks this spring and now I'm starting to plan my next year's breeding program. I'm culling the cock in that pen (as he carries only a single copy of the gene for muffs/beards and have culled a couple of my hens. I know that some of the chicks I'm growing out for breeding will also have single genes, even though I'm trying to be pretty tough on culling anything that looks like it might only have a single gene. But, just in case I miss one (or two ), let me make sure I understand the genetics behind muffs/beards.

First - I'm guessing it is a dominant trait? So, if M stands for muffs/beards, then either MM or Mm would display some muffs/beards, but mm would not? A single gene cock bred to a single gene hen would look like this:

M m
M MM Mm
m Mm mm

So, I would end up with 25% with the correct pairing of the dominant gene, 50% with only a single copy, and 25% with no muffs/beards, correct?

 

[Shaffer]

samouw,
You should test mate all you cock birds for sure to a bird that has no muffs and beards. You can use any breed hen to do this. One hen to one cock bird and hatch at least 10 eggs. This will expose the ones that are only carrying one gene for muffs and beards and give you at least a cock bird that is pure to use. You can do the same with the hens but if you have 10 hens it would be a large task to do so.