Ameraucana bred to SOP

[Alaskan]

I hope this is the right place to post and ask. I purchased pure ameraucana eggs from a local Hatcher. Nice lady. She has been breeding bbs ameraucana for awhile but newer to it. She always had results with her hatches that indicate pure bred. She recently bred the blue roo to a maran hen to try at olive eggers. All babies came out with straight combs instead of the pea combs she consistently got just this week and caused concern. My ameraucana are due to hatch tomorrow. Should these be culled/sold from the breeding program and should I start over? Does this indicate the roo is not pure bred? I am new to this but enjoy learning genetics and want to work with breeding bbs ameraucana.

Interesting!

I would want to see photos of the Blue Ameraucana male that she used over the Marans.

It could just be that she has one or 2 that are not homozygous for pea comb, and the rest of the flock are homozygous for Pea comb.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, if in all other ways they look good.

But realize that any "funky" pea combs are probably only heterozygous for pea comb.

Keep that in mind, and you can get them out of your breeding program without too much trouble.

 

[kurby22]

I hope this is the right place to post and ask. I purchased pure ameraucana eggs from a local Hatcher. Nice lady. She has been breeding bbs ameraucana for awhile but newer to it. She always had results with her hatches that indicate pure bred. She recently bred the blue roo to a maran hen to try at olive eggers. All babies came out with straight combs instead of the pea combs she consistently got just this week and caused concern. My ameraucana are due to hatch tomorrow. Should these be culled/sold from the breeding program and should I start over? Does this indicate the roo is not pure bred? I am new to this but enjoy learning genetics and want to work with breeding bbs ameraucana.

I saw that you posted in the genetics thread and I answered there before seeing this I agree with @Alaskan and don’t think I’d cull/sell any until you see how they develop. I also agree it would be nice to see a picture of the roo in question. They won’t be considered not true Ameraucanas if they meet the visible SOP for Ameraucana…so I’d see how they grow out and how good the pea combs are first and confirmation to meet SOP

 

[LKWolfram]

I saw that you posted in the genetics thread and I answered there before seeing this I agree with @Alaskan and don’t think I’d cull/sell any until you see how they develop. I also agree it would be nice to see a picture of the roo in question. They won’t be considered not true Ameraucanas if they meet the visible SOP for Ameraucana…so I’d see how they grow out and how good the pea combs are first and confirmation to meet SOP

I just replied back to you on the genetics thread! You had some great insight. I wasn’t sure where to post, so I posted here and on the genetic one. I do have pics of the roo. Since the roo is not my bird, is it okay to post the pictures I have from the seller of the rooster?

 

[LKWolfram]

I just asked her permission. She said it was okay to post the rooster. Here is the rooster from our discussion.

 

[Amer]

I just asked her permission. She said it was okay to post the rooster. Here is the rooster from our discussion.

It does look like it’s heterozygous for single comb.

 

[LKWolfram]

It does look like it’s heterozygous for single comb.

What are the physical appearances of it that you see that indicate it looking like a heterozygous for a single comb? Just so I know when looking at the parent pictures in the future. I know I read a tight pea comb with three distinctive marks in a row is what to look for, if I remember correctly. But pea combs look all similar to me until I get more experience with them. I’m researching a lot but new and learning. Also, would this make the babies I have not a good option for the breeding program since that is the father above, even if the mother is a pure ameraucana from a different line?

 

[Floof]

What are the physical appearances of it that you see that indicate it looking like a heterozygous for a single comb? Just so I know when looking at the parent pictures in the future. I know I read a tight pea comb with three distinctive marks in a row is what to look for, if I remember correctly. But pea combs look all similar to me until I get more experience with them. I’m researching a lot but new and learning. Also, would this make the babies I have not a good option for the breeding program since that is the father above, even if the mother is a pure ameraucana from a different line?

Heterozygous combs, in this case 1 copy of pea and 1 copy of straight, bred to a homozygous pea comb female would mean that about half your babies will also be Heterozygous and half will be pure for pea comb. Grow them out and then cull out your wonky combs. We can help you sort who has what when the time comes

 

[LKWolfram]

Heterozygous combs, in this case 1 copy of pea and 1 copy of straight, bred to a homozygous pea comb female would mean that about half your babies will also be Heterozygous and half will be pure for pea comb. Grow them out and then cull out your wonky combs. We can help you sort who has what when the time comes

So you do think it’s worth waiting to see which babies have the pure looking pea comb, indicating they would be a P/P ( going by the punnet square P/P and P/p for parent line up) and still a candidate for a SOP breeding program? That actually made me really happy today, thank you. I would love for the help for sorting when the time comes. How many weeks on average is a good definite to be at to asses the pea comb accurately? Everyone on here has been so nice. I really love this forum.

I also read that looking for the most poofy muff area on day old hatchlings could possibly indicate a good Mb/Mb homozygous of that baby over the others? I was going to record notes and take pictures of each bird (leg band for identification) to keep an accurate account for best quality. Although they all look poofy to me with their cheeks. I guess practice will make it easier to identify in time!

Is it also worth showing pictures of the babies once they are okay to come out of the incubator or does babies not really show indicators for good breeding accurately yet?

 

[Alaskan]

It does look like it’s heterozygous for single comb.

Heterozygous combs, in this case 1 copy of pea and 1 copy of straight, bred to a homozygous pea comb female would mean that about half your babies will also be Heterozygous and half will be pure for pea comb. Grow them out and then cull out your wonky combs. We can help you sort who has what when the time comes

X2 on both.

It is easy to manage/work around since once you know what you are looking for it is easy to see.

So an excellent specimen with a heterozygous pea comb (so Pp) might be worth using in breeding, until you have more birds and can be more selective.

And yes, cheek fluff is easy to see at hatch... I must say, I have never super stared at combs at hatch... so not sure there....

 

[LKWolfram]

X2 on both.

It is easy to manage/work around since once you know what you are looking for it is easy to see.

So an excellent specimen with a heterozygous pea comb (so Pp) might be worth using in breeding, until you have more birds and can be more selective.

And yes, cheek fluff is easy to see at hatch... I must say, I have never super stared at combs at hatch... so not sure there....

What about the leg color at birth for assessing quality of breeding to SOP? It looks slate grey to me, but areas look lighter in spots too. Is this something that is concerning or is that normal and they even out to a slate grey as they grow? Here is examples of the legs of what I mean. I know my Ayam Cemani babies legs darkened as they grew, but wasn’t sure what it meant with ameraucana. The tips of the toes seem lighter to me but I’m inexperienced.