Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Hinotori]

 
What are you asking about?  Blues?

Thanks..this is interesting, but I mean about they only have to breed true 50% of the time....one of the breeders posted the link a while back....

All chicken breeds must breed true 50 percent of the time.

 

[jerryse]

All chicken breeds must breed true 50 percent of the time.

Newbies need to know that rule is to allow for traits that can only breed true 50% of the time .Like blue or ear tufts . That is as good as the genes allow .

 

[JackieandChicks]

All chicken breeds must breed true 50 percent of the time.

So I have these really pretty EE pullets with dark legs (not green, more black or dark slate) with heavy beards that if I crossed my black Amerucana roo with, and I get to-type birds, the ones that meet the standard will be Amerucana? (The pullets most likely have Amerucana in them anyway). The offspring should breed 50% true when bred to Amerucanas.

Do I understand that right?

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

So I have these really pretty EE pullets with dark legs (not green, more black or dark slate) with heavy beards that if I crossed my black Amerucana roo with, and I get to-type birds, the ones that meet the standard will be Amerucana? (The pullets most likely have Amerucana in them anyway). The offspring should breed 50% true when bred to Amerucanas.

Do I understand that right?

X2 on this question (thanks JackieandChicks). I have the same situation, and already plan to breed two of my EE's to an Ameraucana roo.

 

[jerryse]

So I have these really pretty EE pullets with dark legs (not green, more black or dark slate) with heavy beards that if I crossed my black Amerucana roo with, and I get to-type birds, the ones that meet the standard will be Amerucana? (The pullets most likely have Amerucana in them anyway). The offspring should breed 50% true when bred to Amerucanas.

Do I understand that right?

It really is not as simple as it sounds . So no you really do not understand that right . Let me try to explain it . I am one of the original breeders that helped create this breed . So I have done this many times . Many have shown such birds without anyone able to detect them so in that sense yes it is true . The problem is many traits are recessive and take generations to eliminate the unwanted traits .So these (pure) birds are not pure yet . In 5 generations you have some decent birds that breed mostly true and in 10 generations with constant selection you should have them breeding pure . This is not the answer you wanted but it is true. Take yellow skin and legs . This is a recessive trait so in the first cross it is no longer visible . All the first generation are carrying 1 copy of the gene . So you breed these back to purebreds . They look good but 50% carry the gene for yellow skin . Which ones are the carriers ? Test breeding is a pain but necessary for weeding out this gene . These are not ready to release to the public . Now 1 trait is not so bad to eliminate . However there are other traits to eliminate . So the more traits you have the more complex the task . So with EE you may pick up yellow skin , 1 blue egg gene , 1 beard gene , Columbian , partridge . autosomal red, wrong tail angle and type. When bred together these traits may show up again . Again the 50% rule is so genetic traits that can do no better can be accepted into the standard . Yes breeding up is a well known and useful tool in animal breeding . It takes time and patience to get them breeding true . This is why it is not recommended for beginners. A bunch of these mixed purebreds released to the public would do a lot of harm to the breed and disappoint the new breeder .

 

[speckledhen]

You would be utterly amazed at how many generations down the line a hidden gene will pop up, like those yellow legs or even a barring gene.

 

[Hinotori]

All chicken breeds must breed true 50 percent of the time.

Newbies need to know that rule is to allow for traits that can only breed true 50% of the time .Like blue or ear tufts . That is as good as the genes allow .

Sorry, I just made you have to explain it fully. I am on the phone and couldn't go into details. It seemed last time that some had the mistaken idea that it only applied to ameraucana.

 

[Hinotori]

It really should be that birds have to breed true 100% of the time except for specific dose related traits. Correct?

 

[CackleJoy]

I have an absolutely lovely black AM roo with some leakage. The leakage didn't show up until he was about 6 months old and is in his mantle. He in no way resembles an actual EE but I'm hoping/planning to get him replaced asap. Meanwhile I'm still breeding him with my BBS girls. I won't sell offspring as possible SOP, just nice pets/egg layers.

My question is this, will his leakage show up in all the (black) offspring? This question is just so I can tell the people who buy the chicks (if they are wanting to use them for 4H) what to expect.

My camera is broken otherwise I'd just take a picture.

I appreciate any information. My only other black birds are 100% English Orps and they are young yet.

 

[WendyF]

Wow I AM impressed, they even correctly labeled their EE's!!!

Is this what you ordered @WendyF ? If so then Speckledhen is correct (of course LOL) they ARE Ameraucanas!

Yes, that's my girl. So should I post pics here when I get her to get opinions on her quality as she grows?