Question about Ameraucana genetics!

[TheYoungV]

I purchased four straight run black Ameraucanas in April and unfortunately all four turned out to be roos.

I plan on keeping one and am trying to rehome the rest. I really had my heart set on some black Ameraucana hens, even if just one... The only hens I got were the sexed Easter Egger pullets and even one of them turned out to be a roo. They're very pretty, though, and I love them! However, I still really want some black Ameraucana hens.

I recently found someone near me through the Ameraucana Alliance who breeds Blue, Lavender, Silver, Buff and Black Ameraucanas... So cool! I don't know that I would want to get into breeding in the future but I'd like to know what possibilities there would be with crossing one of my black Ameraucana roos with any of the above varieties. Could someone shed some light? I would definitely love a Lavender and a Blue hen.

I found the following on another thread:

Black roo x Black hen= 100% black

Black x Blue = 50% black 50% blue

Blue x Blue = 25% black 50% blue 25% splash

Splash x Splash = 100% splash

Splash x Blue = 50% splash 50% blue

Splash x Black = 100% blue



So what about:

Black x Buff?

Black x Lavender?

Black x Silver?


Thanks in advance!

 

[TheYoungV]

Anyone?

 

[Chicken5555]

Hi. I'll try to answer your question.
There are eight recognized Ameraucana colors. I haven't memorized them though.

Lavender (self blue) is a 'project color' right now which means breeders are working on getting it accepted.

The color blue is actually black with one diluter gene. Splash is also black, but it's color is caused by two diluter genes.

Silver is rare and far between. It would be difficult to find real silver Ameraucanas.

Wheaten Ameraucanas are the color of wheat (not the same as buff). blue wheaten and splash wheaten are in the same color family as wheaten.

Buff Ameraucana is, well, buff color lol.

Because each variety has different color genes, any time you mix the varieties the offspring will not match one of the eight accepted varieties. If the color is 'wrong' for an Ameraucana then the bird is an easter egger.

I hope that makes sense. Good luck on your search.

 

[donrae]

Black x buff is going to give a bird that usually has buff on the front and black on the back. You can search pics of something like a buff Orpington rooster over a barred Rock hen---the hens are what your hens will look like. Or an Aussie x Orpington, same thing genetically.

Black x lavander will give you black. Some will be split to lav (split meaning they carry the recessive gene).

Black x silver will give basically black birds with silver leakage.

The buff and silver cross birds won't be any "color", they'll be mixed color and thus EEs.

 

[TheYoungV]

Black x buff is going to give a bird that usually has buff on the front and black on the back. You can search pics of something like a buff Orpington rooster over a barred Rock hen---the hens are what your hens will look like. Or an Aussie x Orpington, same thing genetically.

Black x lavander will give you black. Some will be split to lav (split meaning they carry the recessive gene).

Black x silver will give basically black birds with silver leakage.

The buff and silver cross birds won't be any "color", they'll be mixed color and thus EEs.

Thank you!!! I may just go with a couple of blues for now. Would be great if she had a Splash but I don't think she does. Seems like keeping it to Blue/Black/Splash seems like the safer choice if I ever want to try breeding. On the other hand, I feel like I really want to get a Lavender anyway...

Question. Let's just say I decide to get a Lav....

What would be the result of:

Black (split to lav) x Lav ?

Black (split to lav) x Blue ? Would it be 50% black and 50% blue?

 

[Chicken5555]

Thank you!!! I may just go with a couple of blues for now. Would be great if she had a Splash but I don't think she does. Seems like keeping it to Blue/Black/Splash seems like the safer choice if I ever want to try breeding. On the other hand, I feel like I really want to get a Lavender anyway...

Question. Let's just say I decide to get a Lav....

What would be the result of:

Black (split to lav) x Lav ?

Black (split to lav) x Blue ? Would it be 50% black and 50% blue?

Black (split to lavender) x Lavender = 50/50 Black/Lavender
The Black/split will give the gene for black to half of it's offspring and it will give the gene for lavender to the other half of it's offspring. The lavender will give the lavender gene to all of it's offspring. So (long story short) half the chicks from this crossing will be lavender/lavender and the other half will be black(split to lavender).

Not sure about the other crossing.

 

[dheltzel]

I purchased four straight run black Ameraucanas in April and unfortunately all four turned out to be roos.

I plan on keeping one and am trying to rehome the rest. I really had my heart set on some Ameraucana hens, even if just one... The only hens I got were the sexed EE pullets and even one of them turned out to be a roo. They're very pretty, though, and I love them. However, I still really want some Ameraucana hens.

I recently found someone near me through the Ameraucana Alliance who breeds Blue, Lavender, Silver, Buff and Black Ameraucanas... So cool! I don't know that I would want to get into breeding in the future but I'd like to know what possibilities there would be with crossing one of my black Ameraucana roos with any of the above varieties. Could someone shed some light? I would definitely love a Lavender and a Blue hen.

I found the following on another thread:

Black roo x Black hen= 100% black

Black x Blue = 50% black 50% blue

Blue x Blue = 25% black 50% blue 25% splash

Splash x Splash = 100% splash

Splash x Blue = 50% splash 50% blue

Splash x Black = 100% blue



So what about:

Black x Buff?

Black x Lavender?

Black x Silver?


Thanks in advance!

If you are interested in breeding Ams, the best thing you can do is to join the Ameraucana Alliance and order some chicks from John Blehm. Just get your order in early to be sure you get what you want, he sells out fast (even now is not too early). Remember that about 50% will be cockerels and you will need to order 25 (or 50). Pick what colors you like best, not necessarily ones that will be a good genetic match to the black you are keeping, because you will have plenty of males to use in your breeding program. You might be able to sell any surplus pairs locally to make back some of your investment, or sell their chicks locally to people that don't want the bother of ordering by mail.

I have blacks, lavenders and silvers from John and they are the best Ams I have ever owned. They grow noticeably faster and bigger than my old strain of BBS Ams. I hope they lay better too, but even if they are just on par with the old ones, it has been a huge upgrade for my flock. Like many people, I get pleasure from owning "the best", and I love these birds. The silvers are neat because they are sexable at a much younger age, I expect them to be very popular as started pullets. But the lavenders are what is causing a big stir around here, everyone that has seen my birds wants to be on the waiting list for a few chicks next spring.

 

[TheYoungV]

Black (split to lavender) x Lavender = 50/50 Black/Lavender 
The Black/split will give the gene for black to half of it's offspring and it will give the gene for lavender to the other half of it's offspring. The lavender will give the lavender gene to all of it's offspring. So (long story short) half the chicks from this crossing will be lavender/lavender and the other half will be black(split to lavender).


Not sure about the other crossing.

Thank you so much! Great to know!!!

If you are interested in breeding Ams, the best thing you can do is to join the Ameraucana Alliance and order some chicks from John Blehm. Just get your order in early to be sure you get what you want, he sells out fast (even now is not too early). Remember that about 50% will be cockerels and you will need to order 25 (or 50). Pick what colors you like best, not necessarily ones that will be a good genetic match to the black you are keeping, because you will have plenty of males to use in your breeding program. You might be able to sell any surplus pairs locally to make back some of your investment, or sell their chicks locally to people that don't want the bother of ordering by mail.

I have blacks, lavenders and silvers from John and they are the best Ams I have ever owned. They grow noticeably faster and bigger than my old strain of BBS Ams. I hope they lay better too, but even if they are just on par with the old ones, it has been a huge upgrade for my flock. Like many people, I get pleasure from owning "the best", and I love these birds. The silvers are neat because they are sexable at a much younger age, I expect them to be very popular as started pullets. But the lavenders are what is causing a big stir around here, everyone that has seen my birds wants to be on the waiting list for a few chicks next spring.

Thanks for the advice. That sounds very tempting! I would love to see photos of your Ameraucanas! How many did you order and how many pullets and cockerels did you end up with? I worry what we would do with all the roosters we'd end up with! We're having such a hard time rehoming the ones we have now. We don't have the heart to end their lives and one of them recently attacked my little girl What do you do with the ones you can't sell?

 

[junebuggena]

Black (split to lav) x Blue ? Would it be 50% black and 50% blue?

Lavender and Blue are two different genes, and birds carrying Lavender should not be bred into Blue lines. Never, ever should be done. Makes it impossible in further generations to tell which bird is splash and which is Lavender. It also messes with the edging that Blues are supposed to have.

[COLOR=333333]Black x Buff? [/COLOR]


[COLOR=333333]Black x Silver? [/COLOR]

These crosses would result in Easter Eggers. It doesn't matter that both the parents are Ameraucana. The color/pattern genes are completely unrelated and will produce birds that don't meet any standard for color/pattern and they will not breed true.

 

[TheYoungV]

Lavender and Blue are two different genes, and birds carrying Lavender should not be bred into Blue lines. Never, ever should be done. Makes it impossible in further generations to tell which bird is splash and which is Lavender. It also messes with the edging that Blues are supposed to have.
These crosses would result in Easter Eggers. It doesn't matter that both the parents are Ameraucana. The color/pattern genes are completely unrelated and will produce birds that don't meet any standard for color/pattern and they will not breed true.

So it probably wouldn't be a good idea to have both a Lavender and a Blue hen if I plan on keeping them and their offspring all together... Guess I need to decide which of the two I really want more. Thank you.