Lavender Ameraucana Breeders .... UNITE

[pamperedamber]

Here is my Lavender. He is 16 weeks. Can't wait to see if his feathers get better. This spring he will get his own ladies and pen.

 

[Shawneegyrl]

I am looking for some ameraucana's to add to my flock. I have a choice between blue,black,splash and lavender. Is there a difference between them besides feather color?

Yes. Blues don't breed true and lavenders generally lack good feather quality.
Consider joining the Ameraucana Alliance and get into all pros and cons.

gbartha,

I highly recommend visiting the Ameraucana Alliance website and forum. You can read and learn so much from other posts and the bonus if you join is asking questions and getting answers from some of the country's finest breeders, many of whom were instrumental in the development and acceptance of Ameraucanas by the ABA and APA.

 

[samouw]

[COLOR=333333]Yes.  Blues don't breed true and lavenders generally lack good feather quality.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]Consider joining the Ameraucana Alliance and get into all pros and cons.  [/COLOR]


[COLOR=333333]gbartha,[/COLOR]

[COLOR=333333]I highly recommend visiting the Ameraucana Alliance website and forum. You can read and learn so much from other posts and the bonus if you join is asking questions and getting answers  from some of the country's finest breeders, many of whom were instrumental in the development and acceptance of Ameraucanas by the ABA and APA.[/COLOR]

Blues do breed true or they would never have been accepted into the APA or the ABA, in any breed. The rule is that they must breed true at least 50%, which they do.

There are a lot of excellent resources for valid information about Ameraucanas in general, and lavenders in particular. The Ameraucana Breeders Club has petitioned the APA for acceptance of the lavender variety, aka Self blue, and the five member breeding team breeders that head that effort are all serious and experienced breeders of the variety. There are also several good resources on Facebook.

Any time a breeder tells me "join my club or you can't buy my birds", I grab my pocketbook and head in the other direction.

 

[samouw]

I am looking for some ameraucana's to add to my flock. I have a choice between blue,black,splash and lavender. Is there a difference between them besides feather color?

Black is probably the most stable, and most readily available, of all the 8 accepted varieties of Ameraucana, with blue and splash following behind. Lavender is not yet an APA/ABA accepted variety, per my post above, but is in process. Splash is next on the list for the Ameraucana Breeders Club to petition the APA for acceptance.

If I had to do it over again, I'd start out with a solid color, most likely black. I started with wheaten/blue wheaten and while I love their temperament, they have their challenges. I wouldn't recommend just starting out with a "project" color, like lavender. While I don't have lavender, aka self-blue, I know that you will want to have access to a good line of blacks to breed back into your self-blue from time to time to fix various challenges within the self-blue variety, such as feather quality as already mentioned.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Well said, @samouw I must admit frustration at how much I hear it repeated that blue doesn't breed true... I just don't understand where that is coming from...

@gbartha if you are just adding a layer or 2 to your mixed flock, just pick what you like the most... if you are wanting to breed, then I advise researching Ameraucanas, their varieties and breeding different colors first and talk to experienced breeders, no matter their affiliation with any club or lack thereof...

I do agree with Susan that black would be a better start to begin with than most any other varieties... and I do have self-blues/aka lavenders... I adore them and they are gorgeous when bred properly, but not a variety I would recommend starting with at all... besides the unique difficulties with the lavender color, the standards that many hold for Ameraucanas can be disappointing when looking at the lavender variety...

 

[samouw]

Well said, @samouw I must admit frustration at how much I hear it repeated that blue doesn't breed true... I just don't understand where that is coming from...

Good question! A simple exercise with the Punnet Square would prove that blue x blue breeds true....



Since blue is the result of a dilute gene that is dominant, only one copy is necessary for the chick to be blue. If both copies are the dominant version (BlBl), then the chick will be splash and if both copies are recessive (blbl), then the dilute gene has no impact whatever black is present (eg, black in all black birds, black breast/tail/partial wings in wheatens).

When you breed any heterozygous dominant (Blbl = blue) to the same heterozygous dominant, then you will get, statistically, 25% homozygous recessive (blbl = black), 25% homozygous dominant (BlBl = splash) and 50% heterozygous dominant, just like the parents - Blbl = blue.

 

[gbartha]

Thanks everyone! I ended up ordering a dozen lavender hatching eggs for april. There is a local breeder who has a very good rep. I do not plan to breed in the next 5 years, but may do so once kids are a bit older. We only have half an acre of land. Of the 12, I will be keeping 3 and selling the rest.

 

[samouw]

Thanks everyone! I ended up ordering a dozen lavender hatching eggs for april. There is a local breeder who has a very good rep. I do not plan to breed in the next 5 years, but may do so once kids are a bit older. We only have half an acre of land. Of the 12, I will be keeping 3 and selling the rest.

Good luck with your new birds. Hope all goes well with them.

 

[samouw]

I ordered from Once in a blue moon. But they are LF. Her pictures are so gorgeous. But I really want to focus on bantams. What to do...

I saw a couple of her LF self-blue hens at the Dixie Classic and was very impressed! Excellent type and color. I think you'll be very happy with those.

 

[FowlStuff]

Well said, @samouw I must admit frustration at how much I hear it repeated that blue doesn't breed blue chicken breeds truetrue... I just don't understand where that is coming from...

Jen,

Please don't get frustrated, but the fact is that blue (Bl) chickens don't breed true. You can qualify it and say that they theoretically breed true 50% of the time or that they don't breed true 1//2 the time, but since they don't breed true (as in always) then they don't breed true (according to the definition). A simple Punnet Square will prove it.
Here are just a few sites that address the subject...

Quote:https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=BAMS
Quote:https://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-breeding/genetics-blue-birds/
Quote:https://www.purelypoultry.com/blue-andalusian-chickens-p-534.html
Quote:http://www.sedgwickcommon.co.uk/sedgwick_breeding.htm
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