How do I get my black Ameraucana beetle black?

[Amelise]

Just from a brief once over of breeders' discussions about this, it looks like breeds with yellow skin are more prone to having the brass-colored iridescence. Maybe that's what she meant by this?

ohh! Thanks, that clears it up a bit. I bet that's what she meant. My girlie has white skin (of course) and shes mostly green sheen with a little bit of purple.

 

[nuthatched]

Really? Harmful? I thought that was like gamebird levels of feed. Iv'e heard of people that like up to 30% for their showbirds.

27% and upwards can damage the kidneys. Most people don't make sure what their doing is safe, they just want results. 20% is fine. I feed gamebird layer if there's nothing else and for a while last year it was, but I prefer 18%-20%.

 

[Amelise]

20% is more than sufficient, why do you want 24%? 24% is getting close to harmful levels.

That's nice to know! So I don't need to worry about supplements for their molt with a 20% protein feed.

 

[MysteryChicken]

That's so weird! So it was during poultry showmanship last week with my black amer hen and I told the lady I was showing to that greenish black was preferred. She said it was beetle black and said something about how beetle black is affected by the diet (amount of protein?) and she said something about the pigments in their legs and feet. She said she wasn't the expert but there was a man there that knew all about that kind of stuff here.

That's pretty much all the details I retained because there was just so much going on at the time.

Maybe she was a bit misinformed? It's little bit confusing. Either way I went into it already thinking it was genetic but after that I questioned myself.

I seem to have lost a very informative article. It no longer comes up in my searches.

But I have found others explaining what makes iridescence within bird feathers, not chickens specifically though.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8691833/

 

[nuthatched]

That's nice to know! So I don't need to worry about supplements for their molt with a 20% protein feed.

Not at all. If you were feeding 15%-16% protein, yes, but you're fine where they are.