Breeding to the SOP - Serious discussion about Ameraucanas, including project colors such as splash,

[Wappoke]

Is autosomal red plus the homozygous Bl gene what causes splash wheaten to end up with red in their breast when their sires have no breast leakage? Or is that just one possible cause?


One possible explanation. The male offspring inherited a restrictor from the female that is causing the red color. If the males were silver you may not notice the color change in the breast. The single restrictor gene does not work well on the female, but will appear as red tips or red areas
on a male that is gold.

I did not see autosomal red on my males but did see it on my females backs. I have produced silver females that express a lot of red. see above picture. The female should be white and not red.

 

[Saris]

Is autosomal red plus the homozygous Bl gene what causes splash wheaten to end up with red in their breast when their sires have no breast leakage? Or is that just one possible cause?


One possible explanation. The male offspring inherited a restrictor from the female that is causing the red color. If the males were silver you may not notice the color change in the breast. The single restrictor gene does not work well on the female, but will appear as red tips or red areas
on a male that is gold.

I did not see autosomal red on my males but did see it on my females backs. I have produced silver females that express a lot of red. see above picture. The female should be white and not red.

So it's showing up since Wheatens are on gold?

So to get a Splash Wheaten with no red in the chest I would need to start with a Dark Blue Wheaten male that is clean breasted and do single mating to Blue Wheaten and Splash Wheaten hens and look for ones that make sons without red in the breast?

Because he has the red in his breast he will pass it down to all his babies right?

 

[Wappoke]

So it's showing up since Wheatens are on gold?

So to get a Splash Wheaten with no red in the chest I would need to start with a Dark Blue Wheaten male that is clean breasted and do single mating to Blue Wheaten and Splash Wheaten hens and look for ones that make sons without red in the breast?

Because he has the red in his breast he will pass it down to all his babies right?

I see the red you are talking about on his breast. If he was black on his breast (like a standard wheaten/ black breasted red) you would not see the red. The black pigments would cover the red.

I was thinking he had red tips on the feathers- that would be a restrictor causing the red tips. I have not dealt with this problem in the past. If he was silver and not gold he would not show the red. But he would also be an almost white bird.

I have not read any research on the subject or nor have I worked with splash wheatens.

I do not know if this will work but if I was faced with the problem I would breed my lightest colored female to your best looking male and see what happens. Pick a female that has the lightest wheaten color in the hackles etc. Do not worry about the color of the tail or flight fathers. They can be a dark gray.

I am hoping that the female may carry a modifier of the gold allele that may reduce the red color in the male or she may have a wheaten allele that is down regulated for the expression of red pigments. The amount of red pigment a bird produces is determined by the amount of tyrosinase in the cells and the type of E locus allele the bird carries. Low levels of tyrosinase favor red pigment production and high levels favor black pigment production. As you can see, it is complicated.

in males I produced the autosomal red showed in wings and shoulders. It was much brighter red color than normal.

 

[Chicken5555]

I read some where that you can predict the strength of a Blue's lacing by looking at the shade of a chick's down. The write-up said that darker blue chicks typically have better lacing. What are your thoughts and do any of you have any experience with this? Thanks.

 

[Wappoke]

I worked with lacing a short while and only did enough crosses to see if my results supported the published findings of Carefoot or Campo & Alvarez concerning lacing in blues. Chick down was not the result I was examining. So I have to say no experience.

If I remember correctly Hutt studied the relationship between the length of down and the genetic makeup of a chick. He concluded that extended black chicks have shorter down than other E locus black chicks. He also learned that chicks that were extended black had shorter down than chicks that were black and barred.

Down length could be something you may want to pay attention to,


In order to have a black lace on a blue feather the bird must be homozygous for melanotic and the pattern gene. Both of these genes add black to a feather, it may be that the two genes also work to add more black to the down of a chick. This would produce a darker down. This my hypothetical explanation.

 

[Braxton Brigade]

Hi, everybody!

Glad to see that there is a SOP discussion for the AMS now.
My name is Lacie, I have a group of Paul Smith BBS Ameraucanas.
I was wondering if anyone was interested in helping me evaluate a few.
The reason I am seeking several peoples opinions is just to confirm that my birds are worth breeding and hopefully worth showing eventually.

I am trying hard to establish a proper breeding program so I can honor the breeds that I am working with.
I have already grown out 10 AMS, they are mostly blacks, though 2 in the bunch are a splash and a blue.
My group consists of 4 cockerels and 6 pullets, though I already know a few are destined to live out their lives in the layer flock.
I mainly want everyones opinion on just 3 of my blacks.

 

[Saris]

Hi, everybody!

Glad to see that there is a SOP discussion for the AMS now.
My name is Lacie, I have a group of Paul Smith BBS Ameraucanas.
I was wondering if anyone was interested in helping me evaluate a few.
The reason I am seeking several peoples opinions is just to confirm that my birds are worth breeding and hopefully worth showing eventually.

I am trying hard to establish a proper breeding program so I can honor the breeds that I am working with.
I have already grown out 10 AMS, they are mostly blacks, though 2 in the bunch are a splash and a blue.
My group consists of 4 cockerels and 6 pullets, though I already know a few are destined to live out their lives in the layer flock.
I mainly want everyones opinion on just 3 of my blacks.

Hey, that's my name too!!!!! (it's even spelled the same)

 

[Braxton Brigade]

Hey, that's my name too!!!!! (it's even spelled the same)

Most people on here just refer to me as "Braxton" lol. That's pretty crazy though.

 

[Braxton Brigade]

Coq #1 Any opinions are welcome, let me know what you see.







He and the rest of his siblings are 22 weeks old, they are a bit on the small size for their age.

 

[samouw]

Coq #1 Any opinions are welcome, let me know what you see.







He and the rest of his siblings are 22 weeks old, they are a bit on the small size for their age.

May I ask why you want evaluations at this age? Normally, I won't start evaluating until 6-8 months, later for cockerels. For the best critiques, a full side profile shot is best.