Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[AZBootsie]

Very smart!! So basically I would just be breeding my blue with the lav (which is actually a black in disguise) to get my own blacks to start the project?? I should get 50% blues and 50% blacks then....right??

and the blacks would already have 1 rec lav gene!! Is this right??

WOW and then I could start a second project with the blue f1s and make B/B/Ss!!

 

[chickendales]

Quote:
that when u run in to problems when u tring get splash out blue split

 

[AZBootsie]

Yeah since my lav Roo is who needs improvement, it wouldn't be so smart to use the blue f1s for much of anything except pretty egg layers.

 

[Illia]

I don't know what you just said chickendales

Blue x Lavender - select BLACK splits and go from there, yes.

Selecting blues will be an issue, because down the road your Lavenders may hide the blue, then from there you'll get random Lavenders throwing random pale Splash carriers, and from what I've heard, even blues alter the Lavender color.



Also, NEVER use Lavender to work on a BBS project. The Lavender being recessive will haunt you

 

[chickendales]

Quote:
take those blue split back to black splits
and u get blue, black, lavenders

 

[admhotel]

I have been wondering if anybody has tried to develop a Silver Blue line of Ameraucana. I hatched out a few BBS earlier in the year and didn't end up with any roo, I do have acouple silvers that I got from Jean that I was thinking about putting over the blue hens and see what I get.

Any thoughts, advise, warnings about this??

 

[Muggsmagee]

Quote:
Laymans terms: The problem with using blue is that it is an eumelanin diluter as is the lav gene. By using the dominant black from the start to breed your lavs to, you avoid competition between the lav and blue genes and the wonky feathering (splash) that will pop up unwanted down the road in your project lavender breeding program.

Remember that when you breed pure colored blacks (or blues) back to lavs, the resulting chicks should NOT be considered (or sold as) true blacks nor blues.

You also should not introduce Lav or split lav (visually black or blue) into your BBS breeding program.

To avoid headache down the road, it is MUCH easier to start with a simple plan of Black to Lavender to create splits. And using those splits to breed back to lavender. Remember, that blues vary greatly in color and can be darkened by melanizers up to flat black...which visually could be indecipherable to an actual black. And sometimes you can get a blue that is so light gray that it can appear lavender. Keep in mind Blue Ameraucanas (a gray dilution of black) tend to lack the dark lacing in their feathers that they SHOULD have, making the blues sometimes difficult to spot when feathers appear on the opposite ends of their color spectrum (very light gray to extremely dark/almost black). Do you see the potential for confusion and frustration in a breeding program by using Blue Ameraucanas to create Lavender Splits?

Not all Lavender Ameraucana breeders, but most, are using pure black to breed the lavs back to. It is a simple, effective, practical plan. If you search out eggs or birds for your Lav project, be sure to ask about parent stock, what colors were used to create Splits (some breeders have introduced both recessive and dominant white, which is okay [though Dominant White would be the same as using Blue because it is an incomplete dominant], but it is always beneficial to know what genes have been introduced into your stock). And if you are in the pursuit of Black Ams, make sure they are pure black, and not split...so you don't accidentally introduce unwanted genes in your BBS program.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

In this hypothetical situation, one could *dispose* of the 'blue split' chicks at hatch and only keep the black splits.

 

[chickendales]

im going to be breeding my lavender male to 4 females next year a lavender a wheaton silver and a black just to play around

 

[Goose and Fig]

I should have f1 lav cuckoos soon. I am expecting green eggs, but its a start.