Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[2seth2]

Just wondering what you guys thought of this rooster... I only have a few true Ameraucanas, but he's helping me make some really nice OEs at the moment.

from what i understand his tail is set to high , but other wise he looks great

 

[heatherscooby77]

Well, I see nobody has tackled this question. That is because it is a hard one to answer. Parentage does matter. Some of the stuff you are reading about is project colors, or the improvement of existing varieties. The lacing project is about improving the blue variety to make it closer to what is described in the SOP.

Now here is where it get into opinions..............................my opinions can change..............................

When you are trying to improve an existing color I want to use the best individuals that I can find. So I am finding the best laced or edging I can find. Then I am hatching some other breeds: Orpingtons, Blue Andalusians, Black Australorps, Sumatras, and some others. They of course are all black, blue, or splash. I am eliminating the ones that have basic faults, then my only other focus is on color. Then I will breed my best AM to these other breeds. The result will be technically EE. They might look just like an AM, but they would not breed true. So then you take the best colored chicks and breed them to your best AMs again. There is hundreds if not thousands of ways to go about this improvement. Someone might chose to only use one breed???? If the resulting chicks from these experiments fits the SOP, technically it can be shown. If you sell the chicks/chickens/eggs, you have to be honest and say what there parentage is. The buyer might want to continue what you are trying to do, or they will not buy your product. When the chickens from this project start breeding true, and have wonderful lacing, that is when I will say that you don't have to tell your buyers that it is a project bird. Of course it might take 5, 10, or 20 years, but I am in it for the long haul. That is just the short end of the stick, there is a lot more but I don't want to bore people who are not interested. I could talk about skin color, leg color, beak color, egg color.............................

One more thing, I think a chicken is more genetically complex then most people realize. I used to raise Clydesdale horses, Jack Russells, Rex rabbits, and Boer goats. It was easier in my opinion to make the babies of these animals better then there parents. My goal remains the same, but how I get there can change.

So here is my question about chicken breeds in general and ameraucana specifically. Parentage doesn't matter as long as the result meets sop right ? I ask because I was reading about a lacing project and there was talk of bringing. In a different breed to bring in the lace gene. But as long as the resulting babies eet maeraucana standards the it is an amerauacana and can be labelled as uscb? Assuming of course that the coloring a d breed qualities stay consistent with breeding of those chickens specifically.
Let's say I breed 2 Easter egger together and get a breed standard ameraucana. Is this chicken now for all intents and pirposes an ameraucana?
With dogs of course there are pedigrees. I ask because I don't want to look stupid when trying to decipher an ee vs an am.

 

[chicknadventure]

Thank you! Ok now I feel better prepared for deciphering the difference that makes sense.

 

[ashandvine]

And even worse, the seller claimed she got her stock from pips&peeps and peachick

. I guess I should've known that if there was no seller feedback, it was probably too good to be true. This is the second time I have tried to get a true ameraucana, and ended up with an ee. I'm about to give up on obtaining this breed. Very frustrating.

I have Ams, Splash, BK and Lav. I plan to breed BBS in the spring. I also MIGHT have lav chicks any day. Broody is...difficult. PM me. Incidentally, my lav, while pure had a tail set too high for standard but my splash is true to type. A few pics in here have beautiful birds but their types are off the 45 degree and they are still Ams. A pic of one of my wet/bearded splash girls:

 

[jerryse]

I have my first Blue wheaten ameraucana, and I'm wondering if someone can tell me what is going on with these spots on her legs (i.e. is this normal?). It is the only chick that hatched, so I have nothing to compare to.

She has black spots on her legs, like an Ancona. This side of her beak is yellow, but the other side has black.





I'm hoping this is just some kind of off-coloring that happens occasionally, not some strange fungus or something. She is 8 weeks old now, but 7 weeks in the photo.
I appreciate any feedback. I don't recall seeing these spots on other people's photos of Ameraucanas.

I will take a guess at explaining what may have caused this.Spotting of slate legs is seen in the presence of mottling,barring and pied.No signs of mottling and barring are seen.Pied can look like splash.There are 2 kinds of pied.Recessive as in the exchanger leghorn pattern and dominate as in erminett.Not to be confused with ermine which resembles the columbian pattern.Based on this I would say this bird is blue with erminett gene.You only need 1 copy of a dominate gene to see the effect.It could also be splash with erminett.Only other guess is a mutation.I have found the erminett gene in some araucana.

 

[pips&peeps]

Got my first eggs from my project chocolate bantams yesterday. They were light green, but not to where you were seeing brown. I'm pretty pleased with them.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Got my first eggs from my project chocolate bantams yesterday. They were light green, but not to where you were seeing brown. I'm pretty pleased with them.

Congratulations, Jean!!

 

[Ksane]

intransitive verb

1 a: to eat into something
b: to affect something as if by gnawing or biting : grate

2
a: wear, corrode b: chafe c: fray 1
So this is interesting. Fretting isn't those slightly darker thin lines around the neck then like the other poster stated? I bet this is what you're talking about then. This Lavender boy is 9 wks and his feathers look almost shredded like Silkie feathers. I thought one of the others was doing it to him but I never saw them. Is this fretting?
I wonder why something important like this isn't common knowledge with Ameraucana breeders?
Good thing I'm not a breeder, even I can tell this is poor feather quality. Is it just a problem with Lavenders?

 

[pips&peeps]

Yes, that to my knowledge is fretting; the poor feather quality. From what I understand it is common in all lavender birds.

I don't exactly know what causes the ticking in the birds. It may be something to do with black modifiers that keep those black hackles black......

I've sent an e-mail to a couple of the genetic gurus that hang around BYC.

 

[littlecritters]

Well, I see nobody has tackled this question.  That is because it is a hard one to answer.  Parentage does matter.  Some of the stuff you are reading about is project colors, or the improvement of existing varieties.  The lacing project is about improving the blue variety to make it closer to what is described in the SOP. 

Now here is where it get into opinions..............................my opinions can change..............................

When you are trying to improve an existing color I want to use the best individuals that I can find.  So I am finding the best laced or edging I can find.  Then I am hatching some other breeds: Orpingtons, Blue Andalusians, Black Australorps, Sumatras, and some others.  They of course are all black, blue, or splash.  I am eliminating the ones that have basic faults, then my only other focus is on color.  Then I will breed my best AM to these other breeds.  The result will be technically EE.  They might look just like an AM, but they would not breed true.  So then you take the best colored chicks and breed them to your best AMs again.  There is hundreds if not thousands of ways to go about this improvement.  Someone might chose to only use one breed????  If the resulting chicks from these experiments fits the SOP, technically it can be shown.  If you sell the chicks/chickens/eggs, you have to be honest and say what there parentage is.  The buyer might want to continue what you are trying to do, or they will not buy your product.  When the chickens from this project start breeding true, and have wonderful lacing, that is when I will say that you don't have to tell your buyers that it is a project bird.  Of course it might take 5, 10, or 20 years, but I am in it for the long haul.  That is just the short end of the stick, there is a lot more but I don't want to bore people who are not interested.  I could talk about skin color, leg color, beak color, egg color.............................

One more thing, I think a chicken is more genetically complex then most people realize.  I used to raise Clydesdale horses, Jack Russells, Rex rabbits, and Boer goats.  It was easier in my opinion to make the babies of these animals better then there parents.  My goal remains the same, but how I get there can change.

Thanks for your input, very helpful! Tina