Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Sylvester017]

John, I agree. I do throw BBS around, and I am a novice, but I admit that is a lazy way of typing "I have black, blue, and splash Ameraucanas". It's not the correct term for each individual bird, but most people understand what it means

@DnDFarm - I know what B/B/S means and use the term myself -- probably because we know these 3 color varieties can be mixed in the same pen for breeding if you wished to. I don't breed but certainly know that B/B/S is not a breed

. But again these dialogues do help to clarify things for those that are still learning.

 

[abbevilleoz]

That's exactly what I'm waiting to see. If AbbevilleOz will post some pictures, he has some that are about 9 weeks old. That's why I want chicks from the black rooster so badly. He's over 3 light blue hens and a splash. All blues coming from that splash rooster are that dark. If it helps lacing, that's wonderful. If they are too dark, I'm going to pick my best blue rooster and try again

Last week:

I think that's Wally.

 

[marchick]

So what shade of blue should we be aiming for? My blues are no where near that dark!

 

[bruceha2000]

Quote:
If it doesn't breed true AT LEAST 50% of the time, it isn't an Ameraucana. That one threw me but then I found out it is true for all APA breeds. Seems to me that you should be able to expect something "pure/standard" would have to breed true a lot more than 50%, like maybe 90%+ ... but I don't make the rules and there is probably a good reason for the 50% number.

 

[FowlStuff]

If it doesn't breed true AT LEAST 50% of the time, it isn't an Ameraucana. That one threw me but then I found out it is true for all APA breeds. Seems to me that you should be able to expect something "pure/standard" would have to breed true a lot more than 50%, like maybe 90%+ ... but I don't make the rules and there is probably a good reason for the 50% number.

The 50% of the time applies to varieties like blue and blue wheaten. If you breed blue to blue, theoretically 1/2 or 50% of the chicks will be blue. Blue wouldn't be considered a variety without that rule/exception. I don't like varieties that don't breed true 100% of the time and gave up on blue and blue wheaten years ago, when I came up with lavender. It is similar, but breeds true. Also, note a variety doesn't have to be an APA/ABA accepted variety to be a variety...so lavender Ameraucanas are real Ameraucanas, not Easter Eggers as some will tell you.

 

[tigercreek]

So what shade of blue should we be aiming for? My blues are no where near that dark!

the shade doesn't matter...you should be looking for an even shade all over the bird, with a black lacing around the edge...dark is my preference...seems to show better contrast to the lacing..

 

[aksammie]

What kind of rooster do i have?

 

[DnDFarm]

So what shade of blue should we be aiming for? My blues are no where near that dark!

Honestly, I'm trying to figure that out myself. As John likes to point out, I'm a novice fancier rookie This is my first year mating these birds, and all I know is that my hens are light, with weak edging. That's why I'm using black, in hopes of darkening the blue and giving a more pronounced edging. Oz's chicks are showing strong edging, I just hope that as they age they aren't so dark that the edging blends in with the rest of the feather. That's why I'm really curious to see Susan's blues when they start filling out. It looks like we have the two extremes, and one may be better than the other, or the optimum may lie in the middle. That's the great thing about this forum. We can compare and share information

 

[FowlStuff]

Honestly, I'm trying to figure that out myself. As John likes to point out, I'm a novice fancier rookie

This is my first year mating these birds, and all I know is that my hens are light, with weak edging. That's why I'm using black, in hopes of darkening the blue and giving a more pronounced edging. Oz's chicks are showing strong edging, I just hope that as they age they aren't so dark that the edging blends in with the rest of the feather. That's why I'm really curious to see Susan's blues when they start filling out. It looks like we have the two extremes, and one may be better than the other, or the optimum may lie in the middle. That's the great thing about this forum. We can compare and share information

That is another big problem with blue...They are supposed to have "lacing", yet most are satisfied with whatever edging they can get, plus you have breeders that perpetuate the problem by breeding their blues and blacks together as if they are the same variety.
There are some bantam blue Ameraucanas with pretty good lacing and one of more breeders trying to do it right with LF blue.




Edited By Staff

 

[tigercreek]

Honestly, I'm trying to figure that out myself. As John likes to point out, I'm a novice fancier rookie

This is my first year mating these birds, and all I know is that my hens are light, with weak edging. That's why I'm using black, in hopes of darkening the blue and giving a more pronounced edging. Oz's chicks are showing strong edging, I just hope that as they age they aren't so dark that the edging blends in with the rest of the feather. That's why I'm really curious to see Susan's blues when they start filling out. It looks like we have the two extremes, and one may be better than the other, or the optimum may lie in the middle. That's the great thing about this forum. We can compare and share information

Breeding to black will not affect the 'lacing' much....it may help to reduce the dilution by the blue gene, but to get true lacing, you need the pattern gene, and probably Co..this is Andalusian blue lacing