Ameraucana? Or Imposter!?

[ChickenWisperer]

Quote:
The breeder is lying through their teeth - apparently knowing full well that her birds are poorly bred. Even if they are split, that doesn't mean they should have any leakage of color at all. They are just poorly bred, or not actually pure AM's to begin with. I would still call them EE's.

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

Quote:
The breeder is lying through their teeth - apparently knowing full well that her birds are poorly bred. Even if they are split, that doesn't mean they should have any leakage of color at all. They are just poorly bred, or not actually pure AM's to begin with. I would still call them EE's.

If it's true that she's never gotten birds like this before, then she wouldn't think her birds were poorly bred. I breed rabbits, and though I try to only buy the best lines and cull the lesser animals, I still have anomalies that crop up now and again. I think though sometimes we try to head off every corner, with such a wide array of genetics it can sometiems be impossible. Its seems like this thread could be argued many different ways and in the end I dont know what to believe. I appreciate all of your input and maybe future breedings will turn up more answers for me.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

From what I understand, leakage this severe isn't something that pops up every now and then - that is recurring, genetic problem that has to be "bred out". If that's true, then many more of the offspring should come up with this kind of severe leakage. I've seen alot of birds with great conformation, but the color was horrible.

I wouldn't use them in your breeding pen, unless you are just having them for the eggs, not to sell show birds.

They are still super cute, to standard or not. Good luck with your birds!

 

[cluckcluck42]

Here is a picture of of my funky looking cockeral, who hatched from Blue and Black Ameraucana eggs. Some of the other birds have gold coming through, but for the most part they are true to the standards of the breed. The seller of the eggs these birds hatched from did not have any EE's in their breeding pens, but undesireable colour characteristics can pop up. Keep the best of the breed and cull the bad.

As for your birds, I really wonder if they were mixed with something because their markings are very pronounced. They are very gorgeous birds though and I think you're lucky to have em no matter what they are

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
The breeder is lying through their teeth - apparently knowing full well that her birds are poorly bred. Even if they are split, that doesn't mean they should have any leakage of color at all. They are just poorly bred, or not actually pure AM's to begin with. I would still call them EE's.

I disagree, the breeder is probably telling the truth. Some of the lavender lines are very newly crossed and in particular one line I know of has the silver and red leakage problem. (I had birds last year with lots of silver leakage in my L/S birds and I also had birds with crests too.)

Lavender dilutes black, so parent birds that appear to be black could have offspring that show underlying colors that were once covered by the black modifiers.

Hope that doesn't confuse anyone.

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

Quote:
A few of my roos have similar markings like this...only maybe 2 plus my 2 adult roosters I already had. They have the light cream coming in aruond the wings like this, but not that rusty color. Just a few flecks. Most of the roos I got are beautiful. My 2 original roos infact are so funky! Blue bellies, cream around the wings, and neck, black head and tail. ridiculous. We've been producing EE's with them, and wow we've got some reaaallly pretty looking birds from them. Pictured below is a rooster we call 'Arizona'' as he reminded me of the desert...he's blue and orange and fiery red!

I am lucky, I find them rather unique. I didn't get them to start producing show birds, but to breed ameraucanas to sell to my community, as the demand for green/blue egg layers around here is very high. I like to hatch and sell, and the profit helps pay off my feed bills.