EE/Ameraucana frustration

[pips&peeps]

An Amearaucana only needs to breed true 50% of the time to be considered pure.

Say what!!!

Isn't this akin to breeding a Greyhound to a Greyhound and half the pups look like Greyhounds and the other half have short legs, long hair, wrong ear set, and feathered tails, but since half the offspring are correct, the parents are breeding true and are still therefore considered purebred Greyhounds? We'll just call the wrong half Easter Eggers.

(FWIW - if I was in the market for a purebred Greyhound and someone sent me hatching eggs from their purebred Greyhounds and I hatched out chicks with short legs, long hair, wrong ear set, and feathered tails, I would be one really PO'd customer.)

This statement mostly applies to color variety; as I stated for the color blue.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

An Amearaucana only needs to breed true 50% of the time to be considered pure.

Say what!!!

Isn't this akin to breeding a Greyhound to a Greyhound and half the pups look like Greyhounds and the other half have short legs, long hair, wrong ear set, and feathered tails, but since half the offspring are correct, the parents are breeding true and are still therefore considered purebred Greyhounds? We'll just call the wrong half Easter Eggers.

(FWIW - if I was in the market for a purebred Greyhound and someone sent me hatching eggs from their purebred Greyhounds and I hatched out chicks with short legs, long hair, wrong ear set, and feathered tails, I would be one really PO'd customer.)

"Ameraucanas" are less than 100 years old - and have only been recognized since the 1980s. A VERY new breed. Anyone interested in working with this breed has to be prepared for some "non-sense" in the off-spring. (You would also pay a BIG boat-load of money for a purebred Greyhound - especially a breeder. Not so much for Ameraucana hatching eggs.)

 

[EweSheep]

Interesting thread of the ongoing debate of BREED vs COLOR. All I can think of QH and Paints. If the Paint has a QH type, you can call it a Pinto QH however the QH association do not accept pinto colors. Color discrimination? I would say yes to the AQHA but they have their own reason of doing so. They should be breed discrimination...how many QH out there that has NO TB lines, or coming from an old foundation line? Not very many.

I remember I got an email from one of the oldest ABC breeder whose name escaped me now, said that his first flock was from Marti' Poultry a very long time ago and he had to perfect it for at least four to five generations to get the CONSISENCY, TYPE, TRAITS without ANY wild colors coming in to have his Ameraucana bantams in the truest form. It was done before the ABC came into place.

To me it makes sense as we as responsible breeders if we are creating "Calico Ameraucanas" or NON standard Ameraucanas, we should list them as so that the father was from a wheaten stock and mother was of blue stock, and the chicks should have uniform consisency being passed down from their parents of their conformation, pea combs, eye color, skin color, leg color and blue egg trait.

If I can remember right about the origin of the Araucanas, I dont think the original flock was set in a certain color. WE created the division of colors by creating it from a certain color and keeping the consisency of THAT color, and type to call it an Ameraucana.

Believe it or not, there are people trying to develop White Welsummers, it created alot of hositility amoung us because no one would know it is exactly a Welsummer which it is known for their color, disposition and egg color. Sure I would LOVE to have a Blue Wheaton Welsummer but it will never happen to be accepted in the APA. It would be so hard to prove a white bird is a Welsummer unless a DNA has been done on the breeder's flock and carry on the generations forward to prove they were of white specimens or "throwbacks" of White Welsummers. A breeder in Britian had a strange white Welsummer but the continueation of that line disappeared and I have NO idea if there are any White Welummers nor should it be called as such. We want to keep the tradition, the trademark of the Welsummer pure. After all after a hundred of years, the Welsummer has been kept going but Brown Leghorn blood has been introduced to produce MORE eggs for their production by the hatcheries that the Welsummer suffered a setback for a little while here in the US. For our Welsummer fanciers that WANT to produce a different color of Welsummers, they can go ahead but like the rest of you have been saying, they will get flack and harder to be accepted. A white Welsummer would be harder to judge, covering up more flaws that the Brown Partridge Welsummers. For a newbie "White Welsummers", if he didnt do his homework, he would be caught up with the "fads" of colors and eventually down the line, those white birds would fade in time of history unless you got alot of funds, time, and commitment to back those white birds up to prosperity to be accepted in the APA.

One of these days I will have my own blue wheaton EEs to have the BESt of both worlds, the Welsummer and Ameraucana. And it will be a pet project and would be sold as Olive Eggers or Easter Eggers.

 

[LBrake]

Question for you Ameraucana breeders. Is it possible for two purebred Ameraucana with muffs and beards to produce offspring that don't have muffs and beards?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Question for you Ameraucana breeders. Is it possible for two purebred Ameraucana with muffs and beards to produce offspring that don't have muffs and beards?

I'm interested in knowing as well. Since muffs and beards are dominant, then IN GENERAL it would be possible, if both parents are heterozygous for beards and muffs but with PUREBRED Ameraucanas I would think that would not be the case.

 

[lomine]

Some folks on the Ameraucana thread have discussed that in the past. It apparently does happen. They all say not to use a beard/muff-less bird in a breeding program, even it is perfect otherwise. I guess it's hard to breed out in future generations. Why it happens I can't say; I don't understand the specific genetics.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I suppose this is similar to how I ended up with some yellow skin birds from a flock of mixed Ameracaunas. I knew I would end up essentially with EEs since they would not be "true" in respect to color, but I was surprised by the yellow, and he has yet to figure out which two or more are carrying that since it was a lot of birds running together and was a matter of chance.