Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[CackleJoy]

Yes but it is a challenge . Barring interferes with black pigment in the legs also . Hens are easier as they have 1 copy of barring ( hemizygous ) . Double barred males are harder to get slate . Spotted legs are the norm at first . Just keep going back to black or lavender . I have messaged with nicalandia on here about this and there is a genetic break that can occur to allow slate . I believe I have that now . Until then save the best colored legs for breeders . Barred rock often have a black wash over the yellow . This will enhance any slate you get on the inner layer of skin . It takes large numbers to sort it out . No need to keep them all till adult . Cull heavily when you can . I believe the genetic break is already out there in barred birds so the odds are better than I was told . My best male at first turned to spotted legs at 6 months . His son kept the slate but lightened with some spots . I checked skin layer colors on some cull cockerels this year when I butchered them . Surprise was the spotted inner layer was light slate also . Each generation is getting better leg color .

Thank you for the information and encouragement! I didn't know about the barring interfering with the slate legs. I shall exercise patience and determination

It's pretty easy to find a home for EE's in some-ones backyard flock so I will be comfortable selling the pullets. Butchering is harder for me. But if I knew I could learn about breeding progress that way it might be easier.

 

[megshenhut]

cockerel

Pullet


These are project lavender cuckoo . I thought I would share my progress . I will post on the project thread also .

Jerry, I have 2 lavender cuckoo cockerels that I got from you this spring. They both have single combs. One has really nice barring, but I am not sure what to do with them. I have black and lavender ameraucanas already. Any suggestions of what I could breed them to, to further the project or does the single comb throw it all out the door?

 

[jerryse]

Jerry, I have 2 lavender cuckoo cockerels that I got from you this spring. They both have single combs. One has really nice barring, but I am not sure what to do with them. I have black and lavender ameraucanas already. Any suggestions of what I could breed them to, to further the project or does the single comb throw it all out the door?

Breed to black . Lavender is black first . 1 copy of lavender is black split for lavender 2 copies is lavender . You may only get 50% with barring as they likely have 1 barring gene . Breed the cuckoo back to lavender to get lavender cuckoo .

 

[MrsBachbach]

Here is a picture of a splash Ameraucana pullet my little broody Silkie hatched for me about two months old. She is a lot lighter than the pictures suggest--she is almost snow white with pale splashes. It is very pretty. Her legs are not really slate--they arealmost blue. Their blueness doesn't show in the picture, probably because they picked up the yellow tones from the camera flash and the floor. What color is considered "ideal" for splash? Since splash is a white, I wonder if the lighter color is more correct? What breeds allow splash varieties? I want to look up the description of splash in the SOP for a breeds that recognize the color.

I think the legs are beautiful! I tend to like more splashes of blue in my splashes.

 

[dstokely]

I think the legs are beautiful! I tend to like more splashes of blue in my splashes.

Mine got splashier as they got older. I do love them. That may be what I concentrate on....who knows. Still not sure about my black hen/roo. 19wks old and still no crowing. My little blue wheaten roo
has become amorous with my sweet little Dominique's that have just begun laying.

 

[jajeanpierre]

My 6-month old Ameraucanas are just starting to lay. Two of five pullets have given me eggs. One little blue has given me three small eggs (38/39 grams) in the past four days. There must have some brown-egg layers behind her because her eggs are quite green--I would put them at about C12 on the chart.

The other pullet has laid one larger paler but bluer egg, 51 grams and D3 on the chart.

Will the green egg layer get more blue, or will she always lay a green egg? Will the pale blue get deeper? I know they fade after they've laid a few eggs, but the blue is paler than I expected for a first egg.

The group of 12 silly 6-month-old pullets and cockerels are playing 'King of the Castle' in a grove of live oak, each trying to out do each other. They are flying/climbing/jumping up to about 15 feet, stomping around on top of the parrot cages, crowing away with their pathetic raspy crows. Some land very hard coming down. It seems one of the newly laying pullets must have had a hard landing as the egg was forming--it was fractured all around but had healed. I hope it didn't cause any internal problems--she has only laid the one egg a few days ago.

How do you breed for really deep blue eggs with no yellow in them? Do you just only breed from hens that lay good-colored eggs and cock birds that hatched from good-colored eggs? Can you feed to get good blue? I know that one of my hens started laying a very richly colored egg, but was laying 5 or 6 a week for months and months. By the time she stopped and went broody, the eggs were so light you couldn't tell they were blue unless you put them on a white piece of paper.

 

[megshenhut]

Breed to black . Lavender is black first . 1 copy of lavender is black split for lavender 2 copies is lavender . You may only get 50% with barring as they likely have 1 barring gene . Breed the cuckoo back to lavender to get lavender cuckoo .

Thanks for the info. What part will the single comb play in this?

 

[jerryse]

Thanks for the info. What part will the single comb play in this?

Well pea is dominant . So all the males will have tall pea combs . All will carry single comb .

 

[Boulla]

My man of the coop!!!

 

[flynntheduck]

Does anyone know if the Ameraucana's sold by ideal are actually true Ameraucanas or EEs? I ordered one from them and haven't gotten her yet to post pics. Thanks!