Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[chicken stalker]

YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I FINALLY got an egg from my Lavender Wheaten Splits...Let the 2012 breeding begin!!!

 

[Goose and Fig]

CowgirlJules-
If they are lavender splits, don't worry about it. The offspring aren't going to be split, so just keep track of who the moms are in case you ever want to move on to a lav project with them.
And the black can't be split to blue- but she can make about 50% blues with a blue roo.

Great idea for the OEs and EEs

 

[Goose and Fig]

YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I FINALLY got an egg from my Lavender Wheaten Splits...Let the 2012 breeding begin!!!

Woo hoo- congrats! If I end up with a good lav cuckoo roo I will have to get some of those eggs and try for something crele!

My wheaties just started up again too. The days are finally getting long enough for those picky girls!

 

[pips&peeps]

Off topic question but I have one of my Silver Amer. roos in with some Leghorn hens. We hatched some of the eggs and I thought I would be making some EEs. All of the chicks came out with a straight comb

I thought that I had read that the Pea comb was dominant? They had not been seperated for very long before collecting but I thought I would get aleast one with a pea comb. Am I just unlucky or am I missing something?

The pea comb is "incompletely" dominant, which means not all the time. With my project chocolates crossed to orpingtons, I haven't gotten one with a single comb, so not so good pea combs, but all pea combs.

 

[nicalandia]

The pea comb is "incompletely" dominant, which means not all the time. With my project chocolates crossed to orpingtons, I haven't gotten one with a single comb, so not so good pea combs, but all pea combs.

what it realy means is the the Pea comb bird used was Heterozygous for Pea comb(P/p+)... and chances were(small but it did happened) that all birds could come out sigle comb.

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote: So yes, you can still get a pea combed bird from a heterozygous bird. (quoted from Genetics of the Fowl, F. B. Hunt)

 

[Reyvaughn]

My Peachick lined Wheatens are laying! One egg two days ago and THREE today! YAY!

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote:

So yes, you can still get a pea combed bird from a heterozygous bird. (quoted from Genetics of the Fowl, F. B. Hunt)

Also- you are using blacks which are more of an established color. The lavenders that I am using are still a work in progress, hence more likely to have some single combs pop up. I don't know so much about the silvers, but thinking they might be somewhere in between with the odds.

 

[CRYSTALCREEK]

Quote:

Do tell more about this slow feather thing.... Mine that are growing out are 3-4weeks and I see three that still have most of the down and no tail feathers. Should I mark those to cull to the EE pen?

Still learning myself. I'm better at telling the girls than the boys. At five days, if you stretch out the wing, there are two rows of feathers all the way up and down the wing that are quite long. Same chick will show about an inch of tail growth at day 12. They have good wing coverage when viewed in normal, walking around stance from the side, at about a week. Slow females will have the same length feathers from the tip of the wing to the first joint, but nothing after (I think). I believe fast males will show two rows of short, fat feathers all along the entire wing at 5 days. If you have no tails at 3-4 weeks you probably have slow feather (I think). The genetic name for it is "K", while fast is "k". It is sex linked. Males slow are KK(homozygous) or Kk (heterozygous), while males fast are designated (kk). Females can only be (K) slow or (k) fast, since they only get one copy. A slow female will still produce all fast female offspring if bred to a fast male, since she doesn't contribute to her female offspring, only the male does. Since slow is dominant, we can breed it out pretty easily once we understand how it works. Slow specimens are still useful in a breeding program if you understand how it works, and how to weed out future chicks that are slow (or for me, select female chicks that are fast--seems to be the easiest thing to do). Even a heterozygous slow Kk male can produce 50% fast offspring so long as the females used are fast.

I cannot tell my fast from slow birds apart once they are grown. My slow male has a phenomenal tail this year, it just takes a little longer to get it. I have not experienced any difference in the health of slow vs. fast chicks in 3 years of working with both. One breeder on ABC pointed out that it has been "proven" that the K gene is associated with "increased susceptibility to Marek's", I have not researched this claim. My desire to eliminate it stems from not liking boys that go for months without a tail. I believe also it could help with fretting, but not sure on that one yet.

 

[Christie Rhae]

I am trying to refine my eye with my Ameraucanas. Can someone please talk to me about tail carriage? I know it is hard to tell from pics cuz they could have been in a funny position so I am going to post three pics of the same cockerel. He is 6 months old.





Does his tail have too sharp of a transition? He has a little bit of black fluff at the base and I have read about people not wanting that but I am not sure if they are talking about the white fluff on wheaten roosters or if it is undesirable for all rooster tails. It kinda seems like a 45 degree angle but I am just not sure because everything I know is from the internet not first hand and sometimes it is hard to figure it out. His beard and muffs are smaller than his brother that a dog got to.

There are so many things to consider that to keep from feeling overwhelmed I am trying to focus on just a couple things at a time. I am thinking I may not even breed ameraucanas this year even though they are my first love. I just don't know if I have a decent enough of a starter flock. I have 3 black pullets that to me seem small. Of course they are only 5 months so they will get bigger I am sure. I also have 5 cockerels that are 5 months but I cannot tell what their tail carriage will be because they were a victim of Princess Twilight. She loved to pluck tail feathers.

(ignore the blue rock on the right hand side of the pic)



I have chicks coming from John Blehm this spring. So I might be waiting till they grow up before I even decide to breed any Ameraucanas. Not saying I won't make some easter eggers this year for my layer pen.