Cuckoo Ameraucanas

[bryngyld]

Anyone interested in helping develop the cuckoo variety of Ameraucana?

 

[bryngyld]

That would be true Ameraucana with muffs, beard, slate legs, etc.

 

[bryngyld]

oh yeah... I have large fowl only so far.

 

[klf73]

this has been discussed before....what the "wall" seems to be, the legs won't ever be slate because of the barring gene. What has your experience been with this?

 

[TK Poultry]

Anne Foley tried this once. She sent me an email with the results. She was really close to a slate leg but couldn't achieve a true slate leg because of the barring. I would be very interested in working on Cuckoo and Lavender Cuckoo but I just don't think its possible. AND to get them into the standard you would have to get the ABC to make an exception on the legs which I am doubtful would happen.

 

[rancher hicks]

So this is what I've got. She must be a cross between my lavender Amer roo and a CM hen. She does have the yellow legs but there is some black on them like the marans and she does have the single comb. The only other Cuckoo hens I have are the Dominiques which have the Rose comb.

These are the best pics I could get. She is young yet and I intend to cross her back to the father and go from there. I don't understand the genetics of it all but then I expect the developers of the older breeds didn't either. I only have the Amer roo and no cuckoo barred roos so he has to be the father. I do have three EE hens but like i said with no cuckoo barred roo I doubt the Del roos could have fathered her by an EE hen. I do have some EE/Del crossings and they all have the Del feather pattern but have the whiskers. A green/blue egg has a Del pattern chick.

I also intend to throw the lav amer roos with the CM hens again and see what happens and the Dominique hens too.

 

[tgrlily]

Quote:
Wheaten Ameraucanas have a lighter leg color than all the other varieties. Is that achievable/acceptable?

I have a white male who carries barring. I put him over Wheaten hens & have been hatching to see if I get anything I can work with. The chicks legs are all either the color of the Wheatens or definite slate. I haven't gotten a clearly barred chick though.

 

[TK Poultry]

Even if the parents have slate legs inacting that gene will make all of the difference! Its something about the dermis color which inhibits the slate coloring. We would have to get an exemption from the ABC to proceed with the admission process. Other breeds have made those exceptions to leg color. Like the orpingtons. They have white skin and legs, but the BBS have white skin and slate legs. We would have to get the white-ish legs and white skin accepted but when they decided to create the Ameraucana in the 1970's they all agreed slate legs were a must, therefore no sitting ABC president will budge and even consider making this a topic because of that. We could just make the variety and keep them seperate for years....

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
I'm not sure what you mean by "inacting that gene". I was also wondering if once the line was developed the APA would allow a different standard for the Barred Ameraucana Breed. They might just consider it another breed like the White Rhode Island Red. From what I've learned the two are not related. A consistent breeding of Barred Ameraucanas could have a different standard than other types and colors.

So tgrlily what do you think of my EE? What Ameracuana do you have that has the barring gene? Is it a roo?

 

[tgrlily]

Quote:
I'm not sure what you mean by "inacting that gene". I was also wondering if once the line was developed the APA would allow a different standard for the Barred Ameraucana Breed. They might just consider it another breed like the White Rhode Island Red. From what I've learned the two are not related. A consistent breeding of Barred Ameraucanas could have a different standard than other types and colors.

So tgrlily what do you think of my EE? What Ameracuana do you have that has the barring gene? Is it a roo?

I like her! Gandalf, my big white Ameraucana rooster carries the barring gene.

Is your girl old enough to lay? Since he has one (hidden)copy of barring & she is barred, we can set them up on a date if you'd like! He's in the back coop with White & Wheaten girls -- plenty of room for guests.