Help with breeding BBS Ameraucanas

[caseebeths]

I have 2 pens for my Ameraucanas. I have a blue roo and a black roo with 9 BBS hens. The blues have real pretty lacing. What is the best color combos to keep in each pen to continue breeding the best colors and keep the good lacing?
Are blacks valuable to keep in the breeding pens? So how should I breed them together?
I appreciate any advice!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

The blacks are valuable if you want any more blacks, or if your blue starts becoming too diluted. They are also useful if they have other good or balancing qualities, such with the muffs or skin or back length/slope, etc. For instance if you have a pullet that is off in conformation in some way and the male's qualities are in the other direction and could balance out the offspring, that would be a decent pairing. Are you breeding for SOP/Show quality?

 

[caseebeths]

Ok thank you. I have decided to put a blue roo in one pen and my black roo in another. I want to keep a breeding for SOP/Show quality as much as possible.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

In that case I suggest you post pics of everyone on the Ameraucana thread so they can be critiqued and you can better decide which pullet to pair with which male.

 

[LKWolfram]

The blacks are valuable if you want any more blacks, or if your blue starts becoming too diluted. They are also useful if they have other good or balancing qualities, such with the muffs or skin or back length/slope, etc. For instance if you have a pullet that is off in conformation in some way and the male's qualities are in the other direction and could balance out the offspring, that would be a decent pairing. Are you breeding for SOP/Show quality?

How do you know if the blue is becoming diluted? I have bbs F1 amercauna eggs in the incubator. I’m new to try my hand at selective breeding in general, but I know there is more with the bbs than the other genes. Is blue becoming diluted meaning it goes lighter in shading?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

How do you know if the blue is becoming diluted? I have bbs F1 amercauna eggs in the incubator. I’m new to try my hand at selective breeding in general, but I know there is more with the bbs than the other genes. Is blue becoming diluted meaning it goes lighter in shading?

Blues vary in shades, some are so dark they look black, others look lavender almost. So maybe diluted is closer to lavender? I wouldn't know 100%

 

[LKWolfram]

Blues vary in shades, some are so dark they look black, others look lavender almost. So maybe diluted is closer to lavender? I wouldn't know 100%

That makes total sense. Thank you for your quick reply on such an old thread! I would assume if the blue gets to lavender shades over time and you wanted dark, you would breed the black back in. Not sure if that’s correct, but in my head the logic seems sound! Thank you

 

[JacinLarkwell]

That makes total sense. Thank you for your quick reply on such an old thread! I would assume if the blue gets to lavender shades over time and you wanted dark, you would breed the black back in. Not sure if that’s correct, but in my head the logic seems sound! Thank you

A lot of what I've skimmed (again, don't breed BBS seriously so it's not something I'm familiar with a lot), recommends breeding Blacks to splash and then Blacks to blues to return a good darkness. Blue to blue seens like it will get a lot of darks and lights and not much medium

 

[LKWolfram]

A lot of what I've skimmed (again, don't breed BBS seriously so it's not something I'm familiar with a lot), recommends breeding Blacks to splash and then Blacks to blues to return a good darkness. Blue to blue seens like it will get a lot of darks and lights and not much medium

I am doing it for a pet project which hopefully I can sell some eggs or babies to help with food and coop cost. If that doesn’t happen, that’s okay, it’s really for enjoyment. I saved your comments in my notes app for future resources. Thank you so much