Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[pips&peeps]

So it looks like your white birds are mostly based on birchen.... would make sense since you would want them to carry silver and not gold.

 

[BuffyGRL]

sorry edited...duplicate post

 

[jerryse]

Jerry, I can't remember.... is it best to have the lavenders based on birchen or extended black?

I remember the best blacks should be based on extended black (better green sheen)and gold and the best blues would be birchen and silver. (prevents the reddish brown leakage)

I can't remember either.I have both and have not gone to one only yet.Still lots of work to be done on these.

 

[pips&peeps]

I'm thinking birchen..... because extended black would carry gold and if there was leakage it would be diluted to blonde or yellow. If you have silver leakage, I don't think you would see it and I don't think the lavender gene affects silver....

Too bad the genetics gurus don't hang out here.

 

[pips&peeps]

A few pics of my silvers:

This is what your typical silver hen looks like:



This is what my second generation bred to black look like:



Here is a pullet that has retained to many black melanizers from the black line:



I still have to work on the shafting.................

Here is the cockerel(in the background) I will be using next year. He's enormous.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Here is the cockerel(in the background) I will be using next year. He's enormous.

Speaking of enormous - maybe your blacks have something to do with it? Both of the Black boys I have from you are BIG boys at 8 weeks. Most impressive.

 

[jerryse]

Nice looking birds.Thanks for sharing.

 

[DMRippy]

I think your whites are carrying the barring gene based on the dots on the heads of your chicks. I bet you have two cockerels and pullet.

I thought the same thing!

 

[CRYSTALCREEK]

My interest in the topic has to do with how extended the black ends up being. I have somebody out there in my pens producing chicks with white primaries and they don't always black out by the time the adult plumage is in as it is supposed to. The tips may end up being white on the largest wing primaries, and possibly the adjacent feathers as well. Last season I saw chicks with two primaries white at hatch, this season, I'm getting a few with up to four primaries in the wing white at hatch (or shortly thereafter). As you would expect, they have pinker feet. It is not a problem in the black feathered chicks, as it is easy to see. The lavs you have to look a little closer. I also see varying amounts of white extending back from the beak onto the head which is yellow down at hatch of course. So far, no white on heads of any adult birds. I wondered what all that was about. I think I need to figure out who is producing the white and cull her.

I'm wondering if I should be keeping anything with that much white or if that should be another thing I'm automatically culling away from at hatch.

Here's a pic; the one on her right knee almost solid black, the one on her left knee, a lot of yellow down, and down on the ground one with even more yellow down. I also have some that the light colored bellies look more silver versus yellow. I was wondering what the difference could be. Looking at this picture, this batch looked more silver.



You can see pretty clearly the yellow down in one of these lav chicks...

 

[CRYSTALCREEK]

Yellow




Silver