Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[SteveH]

pips&peeps :

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Jeb, I think Tony is mixed variety ameraucana or an easter egger. Splashes don't look like that. Sorry.....

Thanks for being honest with the Jeb , Jean . I'll bet that chick will be a gorgeous patterned bird , but not an Ameraucana approoved variety . I love EEs because they can be bred for any characteristic I like ; but someday soon I want to start a flock of Amerauanas and there are so many people with mixed varieties or breeds that's its almost scarry to start looking for breeding stock .​

 

[Kansaseq]

Yes, thank you, because I was a bit confused, didn't think Ams had the chipmunk/racing stripes.
I'm up to 10 chicks so far, 1 blue, 1black, 8 splash (I think).

 

[dak]

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The problem is that when Ameraucanas lavender [ or any other breed ] is crossed with blue you are mixing one color [ lavender ] that always breeds true with another [ blue ] that breeds true only 50% of the time . I believe blue Ameraucanas are expected to have a dark quill and darker edging to each feather which lavender works against ; lavender should breed true 100% of the time with one even hue of feathers [ possibly with some occassional unwanted bleed to be culled ] and 2 visually lavender but mixed with blue will produce 25% splash . I would not be very happy to buy a pair of Ameraucanas sold as lavender that sported splash culls 25% of the time . IMHO lavender [ which still hasn't been approoved as a variety anyway ] should be used on blacks only unless somebody has a project in mind , like say isabels , and sellers/buyers should be aware that all other crosses will not work to breed lavender Ameraucanas . Of course the other crosses make beautiful EEs !

No... 2 lavenders that carry the blue gene will not produce splash. All offspring will be lavender. If you have a bird homozygous for lavender ( 2 copies of the gene) whether it would have been black, blue, or splash without the lavender genes, will be diluted into a lavender.

A single copy of the lavender gene, which results in a heterozygous bird, would be a "split". These birds would be visually (phenotype) black, or blue, or splash, but silently carry the gene. dak

 

[verycherry]

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Are you certain they'd be Lavender? I mean, I understand that two doses of Lav always dilutes black, but I'm just questioning because there isn't any significant (visual) black on a splash bird. Would the chicks be Lavender Splash? ...or would the base black color still dilute evenly to Lavender as if the 2 doses of blue weren't there?

I don't really like the idea of crossing to an other color than black either, unless like Steve said, a it's a project with a specific goal like Lavender Wheaten. Using blue CAN be done, but I think only by a reputable breeder who keeps good records and sells extras as culls only. I don't want it floating around in my birds. Just seems safer and less complicated to stick with solid black for a solid Lavender breeding project.

 

[dak]

I'm not saying they'll look identical to a diluted black, but what pigment there is will be diluted. I don't think you can come up with a separate color "name" for a diluted black, a diluted blue and a diluted splash. They are all in the same color "family". Now once you start diluting the buffs, the wheatens, the brown reds..... that's another story. A dilution gene exists in many species. Dog, cats, horses. Once again just my opinion, but I have more than a casual education in biology , genetics, and physiology.

I have black, blue, splash, black/lav splits and lavs now, maybe in the next year or two we'll see what comes of a splash bred to lav then the resulting offspring bred together. Until then it's an educated guess based on how dilution works in other breeds and species. dak

 

[CRYSTALCREEK]

Don't know if anyone is interested in an update, but here are the lavs at 4 weeks of age during their awkward adolescent stage.

Believe this one's a pullet

This one seems cockerel to me

 

[kathyinmo]

I love updates! Lovely pictures, and cute birds!

Keep updating along the way!

 

[verycherry]

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Awwwww, thanks for sharing. Very cute teenagers! I think your guesses are probably right, a pullet and a cockerel.

 

[SteveH]

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Very nice ! My guess is that they're a pair also .

 

[SteveH]

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If your saying two copies of blue and two copies of lavender in one bird is splash but lavender splash then I can understand how that would be . I'm new and inexperienced at breeding chickens but like learning as much as possible before I jump in the water

. It will be nice if you share your findings if you cross two known blue/lavenders , but identifying a blue/lavender would be difficult for somebody like myself .