Ameraucana with a speckled sussex pattern?

[BookWorm243]

I was talking with a friend about how I love the ameraucana breed and they like the coloring of a speckled sussex and it brought up this question. Has anyone ever thought about trying to create a speckled ameraucana? Is it possible?

 

[TK Poultry]

There is a mottled Ameraucana project that a few people are working on. They are just black mottled though. I thought about doing a black mottled bantam project using a Mottle d'Anver.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Why don't you look into Russian Orloffs? They are a large, fascinating breed with beards and muffs and a spangled/speckled pattern. They mostly tend to lay a light brown or tinted egg. Great birds!

 

[TK Poultry]

I wouldn't cross anything that has yellow skin or lays a brown egg unless I really had to because its so hard to breed out. I would wait until the Mottleds are more available and then try to developed a speckled from there. You would have to create a more mille fleur type because speckled is just the Mille Fleur with the mahogany gene. but you would have to have mottled and then a more maghogany colored chicken to get that. I would cross a mottled Ameraucana with a speckled sussex that way you would only have to worry about egg color but alot of project colors have that problem

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
I wasn't suggesting a cross, I was suggesting a substitute! LOL.

A Tolbunt Polish would be a good cross for creating a speckled-LOOKING Ameraucana, but they're rare as hens teeth so good luck with that. The pattern on the Tolbunt Polish appears similar but is a combination of lacing and mottling...nevertheless, you get a tri-color pattern on a mahogany base so it's pretty close. Plus you'd have the dark legs, possibly the beard, and the white egg shell to avoid too much interference with the blue egg gene.

I guess it boils down to WHY you like Ameraucanas. If it's the puffy faces like it is with me, I find the Orloffs to be the best of both worlds. (I like puffy faces and eye-popping patterns.) If it's the blue eggs, you'd have to create your own.

 

[BookWorm243]

Thanks everyone for the responses! Does anyone have pictures of the mottled Ameraucana?

 

[Illia]

Quote:
I wasn't suggesting a cross, I was suggesting a substitute! LOL.

A Tolbunt Polish would be a good cross for creating a speckled-LOOKING Ameraucana, but they're rare as hens teeth so good luck with that. The pattern on the Tolbunt Polish appears similar but is a combination of lacing and mottling...nevertheless, you get a tri-color pattern on a mahogany base so it's pretty close. Plus you'd have the dark legs, possibly the beard, and the white egg shell to avoid too much interference with the blue egg gene.

I guess it boils down to WHY you like Ameraucanas. If it's the puffy faces like it is with me, I find the Orloffs to be the best of both worlds. (I like puffy faces and eye-popping patterns.) If it's the blue eggs, you'd have to create your own.

True, any brown egg layer or yellow legged/yellow skinned bird is a bad idea.


Tolbunt Polish are an interesting thought, and yes, the beard will stay, the blue eggs will not be harmed (granted you're using a blue egg laying Ameraucana parent) and the body is relatively close, closer in fact in both body and weight than many other breed options out there. The crest is easy to eliminate, too. Personally I'd much rather see the lacing on a Tolbunt color in Ameraucanas than your run of the mill "spangled" mottled or Mille Fleur color. The lacing just adds to the amazing elegance, plus they have the darker reddish brown instead of a normal orange brown color. I don't think it is mahogany in play though.

I agree though. If you like the winter face and the mottling, why not just go with Orloffs? Or D'Anvers? Or D'Uccles? And Easter Eggers are an easier thing to go with too.

In fact, take lacing for example. Have a Silver Laced Wyandotte, cross it with a silver duckwing or even golden duckwing Easter Egger and you get a VERY pretty green egg layer.

 

[Mahonri]

Wow...I've been breeding blue egg laying polish (EEs)... now I'm going to have to get some tolbunts to create some speckled Ameraucanas......

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Do you have pictures? I would love to see those birds!

 

[BookWorm243]

Quote:
Do you have pictures? I would love to see those birds!

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