It was all I could think about when I first got chickens....mainly orpingtons, but after having some, I find I'm not drawn to them like I thought I would be. My husband and sons call them the gray birds. Mine were pretty for awhile, but their feathers turned brownish as time passed and they looked dirty all the time. All I can think about now is how to get a true blue egg. Don't know if I'll ever get one. All I've gotten are green, even expensive ones I recently bought.
I was shortly obsessed with Lavender when seeing some photos of some Orps but later learned the photos I saw were photoshopped (birds saturation was heightened to make them look more purple) and that the birds were not the same Orpingtons we have in the US. Big difference between English Orps of good quality and, umm, most Lav Orps in the US today.
Sorry but pinched squirrel tails, droopy wing carriage, lacking overall body, and/or light weights just don't cut it.
Still do think a steely gray male is awesome though in Ameraucanas. Some of them look like titanium.
The lavender is pretty I am sure but just does not appeal to me. I will take a solid blue over lavender any day. Guess thats why there are so many different color chickens... something for everyone! lol
I think the lavender is pretty, but I don't want all lavender chickens. I guess that is why I like my Easter Eggers so much such colorful vareity.
I have 2 lavender "Ameraucana" (quotes because they are not offically recognized color by APA), male and female and I am currently trying to build up my lavenders, but will eventually mix with my EE's.
I'm too ignorant to know what is wrong with this blue wheaten. If this is a Ramey reject, what kind of roos does he have in his breeding pens?! He told me the Buff he was giving away hatched out of a very blue egg.....maybe I should've taken him too! There was a spectacular black araucana roo in one of the cages, but he wasn't going to part with him. I would've taken him. Now to resist the temptation of getting chicks when he starts hatching them......somebody, just stop me!
I hatched 4 backyard EE chicks today!!! OMG I am so excited about these little muttsky chicks! I think because they are my first creations of my very own. Imagine when I start actually hatching my marans and ameraucanas!!
No, just a golden (silver and gold genes both) duckwing with Columbian. Possibly Wheaten with columbian too. Or half and half. In fact if he's less yellow than pictured he may just be a sun-bleached silver duckwing/wheaten with Columbian.
Thank you for starting this thread and the information on EEs-- somehow it is another one that I can not find enough info. on.
What is the name of the color on this guy? Is it an official color in chicken color patterns/names? :O) If he were to be bred to a white EE (light bluish-green eggs and green legs) what is the likely outcome? Or is there just no way to tell until chicks hatch, hens grow up and lay eggs. e.g. Are slate legs dominant?
Also, I heard that Ameraucanas were derived from Easter Eggers. I think it was in an article by a past president of the Ameracuna Breeder's Association. At what point is an EE an Ameraucana? Or is it never? There are no pedigrees in chickens in general as there are in horses like race horses and registered cattle, are there? If an EE were to have a correct Ameraucana color, slate legs, pea comb and lay blue eggs--does that make it an Ameraucana? Sorry for all the ignorance I am presenting...but I do find it all quite fascinating.
Also Illia, (if you read this) the idea of line breeding, if I understand correctly, and if done correctly as you say, doesn't weaken the offspring? (for fertility and 'fecundity' for example). I was just reading something about this in Gail Damerow's book Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens and she said that the less desirable genetic traits wouldn't show up until the third generation of line breeding. (If I am remembering it correctly)
Here is another picture of the guy I'm wondering about his color name.... Thanks again for any information. I'm not breeding, or a breeder, or showing, etc. I have the chickens for eggs, and the enjoyment, but I would be curious to know the answers. Thanks! I think cockerel is about 5-months old in the pictures.
It was all I could think about when I first got chickens....mainly orpingtons, but after having some, I find I'm not drawn to them like I thought I would be. My husband and sons call them the gray birds. Mine were pretty for awhile, but their feathers turned brownish as time passed and they looked dirty all the time. All I can think about now is how to get a true blue egg. Don't know if I'll ever get one. All I've gotten are green, even expensive ones I recently bought.
