Blue/Splash Wheatens - Post Pics?

[Omniskies]

Do you raise Blue Wheatens? I'm really wanting to see pictures of Splash hens, roos and chicks. Mostly Ameraucanas, but any breed will do.

Also, if you breed a Splash Wheaten x Splash Wheaten will it breed true? Do you have to add blue or black regularly to keep the color balanced?

Thanks

 

[Tailfeathers]

Hi,

I breed true Wheaten/Blue Wheaten & hopefully soon Splash Wheaten Ameraucanas. They all lay blue eggs. I'm on the Breeders List at www.ameraucana.org . You can see pictures of the Blue Wheaten and you can also see pics of my birds on my website. There is a link to my website on my BYC page.

I see you raise Pilgrim geese. I have one gander (I lost the female as a gosling) and am wanting to get one or two more females (gooses? geese?) LOL. Anyways, where did you get your Pilgrims from? I was thinking about getting my next Pilgrims from the Ashbrook Stock that Dave Holderread has however if you're looking for some BW Ameraucanas, maybe we could work something out?

God Bless,

 

[Omniskies]

Sorry to hear about your Pilgrim. We had a lot of problems when starting out, too. It seems Pilgrims are a tastier breed than virtually anything else and when we had losses the predators would ignore the Embdens and Africans in favor of our Pilgrims. Now we're keeping them in a completely closed pen. We might try to let them free range again in a pasture this spring if we have a LGD.

I'm buying some of Holderread's goslings this spring to add to the flock. Right now I have Pilgrims out of Superior Farms' stock in Oklahoma and a line that was purchased from a breeder in Michigan.

I do have one gander from Metzer Hatchery that I'll be trying out this year. He's a beautiful bird, but I was not at all impressed with how Metzer's Pilgrims looked as day-olds (the males and females were too similar in color for my liking). I'm waiting to see how his offspring turn out before deciding what to do.

As far as Blue Wheatens go, I have an Easter Egger rooster I'm pretty sure is a Splash Wheaten. I've been obsessed with this color for ages and would really like to raise a flock of them. I don't think Splash Wheaten is recognized by the APA and finding anyone who knows anything about this color has been nigh unto impossible. If you plan on raising them then I'd love to get a dozen eggs from you.

People keep saying Wheaten/Blue Wheaten. Are the genetics different on Blue Wheatens than plain blues? Do you still get Splash Wheatens when you breed bluexblue or blackxblue? Does Splash breed true if you breed splashxsplash?

I have some Blue/Black Ameraucana eggs in the incubator that originally came from Paul Smith's flock. Once they hatch out I'm thinking about selling them and sticking with Wheaten/Blue/Splash Wheaten (mostly Splash

.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Hi Again,

I just remembered that I forgot to answer one of your questions in my last post. Here are the genetics for Wheaten/Blue Wheaten:

Wheaten x Wheaten = 100% Wheaten
Wheaten x Blue Wheaten = 50% Wheaten & 50% Blue Wheaten
Wheaten x Splash Wheaten = 100% Blue Wheaten
Blue Wheaten x Blue Wheaten= 50% Blue Wheaten, 25% Wheaten, 25% Splash Wheaten
Splash Wheaten x Splash Wheaten = 100& Splash Wheaten
Splash Wheaten x Blue Wheaten = 50% Splash Wheaten & 50% Blue Wheaten

Yes, the genetics for Wheatens/Blue Wheatens are totally different than "plain blues". Blues are a derivative of Blacks. Yes, Splash breeds true if you breed SplashxSplash but keep in mind that a Splash is different than a Splash Wheaten. See the above.

No, Splash is not an APA recognized variety for Ameraucana and I don't think for any other breed. Probably never will be. See the various posts and comments on the Forum at the above Club website.

I've been exchanging emails recently with Paul. He is where I got all my birds from. At least one of the lines that Paul has and sent me came from Barbara Campbell.

With regard to Metzer or any other hatchery, I won't buy birds from any hatchery every again. I couldn't get any Welsummers from a breeder last year so I decided that I'd try three different hatcheries because all the Welsummers in the USA came from Lowell Barber anyway. Well, I have been sorely disappointed in what I wound up with and have had to cull 80% of the hatchery birds. The Welsummers - like the Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucana - still need a lot of work but what I wound up with was ridiculous. It costs the same to feed a good bird from a breeder as it does to feed a hatchery bird, so I will only go with breeders from now on.

Best wishes with your Pilgrims and your Ameraucanas. I'd really encourage you to join the ABC if you plan to stay with Ameraucanas. They are a great bunch of people and you'll find them tremendously helpful.

God Bless,

 

[Omniskies]

Believe me, I can't agree with you more. I'm going with breeder eggs all of this year. I don't mind hatchery birds if I want to play around with something silly or as a utility bird, but for anything serious I want breeder stock. It's also been difficult finding Pilgrims whose parents weren't hatchery stock. Right now I'm still slowly piecing together the Pilgrims I like the most and culling the rest. I had collected well over a few dozen (hatching eggs, goslings, and long drives for adults...) and picked my favorite ten to winter over. I'm hoping to double the flock by this time next year with another "best of" batch. I'm looking forward to what I get from Holderread (hurrah SQ!).

I've already joined the ABC forum. I'm going to wait until I'm seriously involved in Ameraucanas before spending money to join a group. I used to be involved in a lot of rabbit specialty clubs and found that all I was doing was paying to say I was part of something until I finally got into showing. Once I'm ready for that with my birds I'll have to join a solid group for Missouri breeders, Ameraucanas, Dorkings and Faverolles.

Thanks for all of your help with the genetics. Now I know what eggs to get. This is just a fun side project. One that has been a helluva lot harder than my Red Ameraucanas