True Ameraucanas?

[aart]

who wants Ameraucanas, not easter eggers. I like having a breed in almost all of my animals. I also always want blue or blue-green eggs, which is why I chose the ameraucana breed,

Nothing wrong with that..but then you should only buy from folks who are keeping the strains pure....and not messing with BBS, or any other funky cross.
Am's should never lay greenish eggs.

One of the first, and most disappointing, things I learned when I started researching chickens is that one can call a bird anything but it might not be so....it is rampant from hatcheries to 'backyard breeders'.
I wanted pure Am's and pure BCM's...hard to find and expensive...so I settled for local CCL's and motley BCM's for my olive egger project. Still looking for a 'strong blue' layers as the CCL's didn't quite deliver.

 

[townchicks]

I think those are pretty eggs. However, if you want pure ameraucanas then you should consider all of the birds that you got from that breeder as suspect, even the cockerels. Just getting rid of the one green egg layer is not going to cut it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

So really, you're saying her "Mottling project" was just throwing together some colors, not breeding ameraucanas true. Well shit

Not just thrown together but planned. That's how you create new breeds or new colors for current breeds. You have to introduce the new genetics some way. Then through generations of planned breeding you correct conformation, colors, and all the other traits that make them Ameraucanas or whatever breed you are working on.

The mottled gene is a known gene, present in many breeds. It's also a recessive gene which can be a pain as you can't see it unless the bird is pure for it. You have to make sure you don't lose it as you correct back to breed requirements. You can't just continue breeding back to pure Ameraucana. I don't know which mottled bird she used to introduce that gene but it can take a lot of generations to get back to what is considered pure Ameraucana. I can't remember how many generations they have to breed true to be considered purebred. I think with chickens it is five generations.

Another aspect of breeding "pure" Ameraucanas or any other breed is that even championship lines of show winners don't always produce pure show quality birds. Even when experienced breeders carefully select which male breeds with which female a large percentage have flaws to keep them from being show quality. It will vary by the quality of the parent flock and the ability of the breeder but a common number I see on here from experienced show quality breeders is that only 1 out of 10 chicks is true show quality. They have to hatch a lot of chicks and raise them to an age where those traits show up so they can select the best. That's the maintenance phase. When you are developing you need to hatch a lot more.

Some show quality breeders select for all the traits in the SOP, including egg shell color. Some however only select for the traits the judge sees. If a breeder has to choose between a hen that lays the right egg shell color versus one that has better conformation, they may choose conformation. That is more important to winning a ribbon. If you go to the chicken heritage sites you often see statements that a breed is threatened although a lot of different people are showing that breed. It's the traits that the judge doesn't see that makes the difference between heritage and show quality. Most Ameraucana breeders that are willing to sell to you will have chickens that lay acceptably blue eggs, they do have their reputations at risk. Don't take this to mean that a breeder that is unwilling to sell to you is hiding something. Many breeders are really passionate about their birds. They may not want to sell to a competitor or they may not think your breeding abilities are capable of maintaining the breed.

For your stated goals I'd suggest you decide which approved color/pattern you want and find out who is winning ribbons with them. Try to get a breeding trio from them, it won't be cheap and they may just refuse. A breeding trio is a male and two females. A lot of people would be happy with the breeder's rejects as they would be really close but don't claim them to be from that breeder's line, that could hurt their reputation. As you want to sell the chicks, as soon as you select one of the breeders they become your line. The breeder has no control over which chickens you select to breed.

I don't see anything wrong with your goals, but I'd suggest you try showing your chickens so you get a better idea of traits you need to select for when you start developing your line.

Good luck!

 

[aart]

I'd suggest you try showing your chickens

'Showing' can be as arbitrary a term as 'breeder'.
Shower and buyer beware....
.... thoroughly vet your sources of info, breeders, and show judges.

 

[Just Rosie]

Thank you guys so much for the information! I live in georgia, and I've found a total of 2 or 3 breeders, including the original breeder I purchased from, and none of them sell adult birds or pullets/cockerels unfortunately.
I think at least attending shows would be a great thing because I can learn what the breed standard is better, and hopefully meet some people who could connect me with breeders .
I guess my plan will be to get some chicks from Paul Smith, hes apparently a very well known breeder of ameraucanas in TX, get my breeding trio or more from those chicks, and then cull the problem hen and possibly the others if the new chickens are much better conformationally.
This was all really good information and I truly appreciate it!