I'm working on my flock of "real" Ameraucana's (I have EE too) I finally have a pen of halfway decent stuff, I swear, I had the worlds worst luck last year, I couldn't hatch anything to save my life, and I lost 3/4 of what I DID hatch to either predators, or they just plain ole dropped dead. I finally locked up the nicest stuff, I feel bad that they don't get to run around, but nothing ate them this winter either!
I have a pair of Split Blacks from Chicken Stalker (A fox ate both of my Lavs), and a pair of Blues from a breeder at Ohio Nationals.
I have a couple things I hatched out that made it, but there was stuff in the BBS that was NOT BBS! Most of the correctly colored stuff died, or got eaten, of course! I do have one blue that isn't bad, but I have a splash that is really runty. Probably not going to keep that either. If I had known that to get a decent pen I would have to start with like 50 chicks, I would have just ordered a couple batches of chicks instead of trying to hatch eggs!
I also have a pair of whites in the pen. I know, its not ideal, but its what I have that lived! I plan to get rid of the whites for a different color once I can find a pair of BBS layers to swap them out with!
Is it going to mess up my blues/splashes that my Black Roo carries Lav? I'd rather have a different Roo, but my other two options both turned out to NOT be blues, but some EE color.
Should I leave the whites in the pen, or just put them with the EE Roo for auction stuff?
Lastly, should I work on body type and worry about egg color later? Some of them really don't lay a very blue egg, I was kinda disappointed that the beautiful typy birds I got in OH lay a lovely green egg!
How do I "fix" egg color?
I have to laugh, because one of my Mutt EE lays a large, lovely BLUE egg, exactly what I want the real stuff to lay!
I had a bator full, and only got three live chicks. I swear, I cannot hatch anything!