How high quality are these Ameraucanas?

[Sir Sacabambaspis]

I'm glad this was the right site because I was skeptical when I saw how perfect the photos were. I hope these turn out to be as nice as they look!

Yeah, I've seen it happen from time to time with rare breeds. Me too!

I don't know if farm animal scamming as prevalent in Europe (I'm sure it is because scamming on the internet is so easy) but I always have to do image searches and research before meeting with people and I never give a deposit until I see the animal first. Better safe than sorry!

It only generally happens with crazy rare breeds, like silkie crosses being sold as cemani and stuff

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Honestly, me too, I'm still kinda new to the whole breeding to the SOP thing!

You could always get him tested for blue egg genes if you're worried about egg color!

Thanks, Sir, but he has a lovely pea comb which is genetically tied to the blue egg gene so I'm confident about that. And that's about ALL I do know about chicken genetics, lol! All my pullets also have pea combs!

 

[NatJ]

Thanks, Sir, but he has a lovely pea comb which is genetically tied to the blue egg gene so I'm confident about that. And that's about ALL I do know about chicken genetics, lol! All my pullets also have pea combs!

Pea comb and blue egg are caused by genes that are linked (close together on the chromosome), so they tend to be inherited together. But they can be linked in any combination:
pea comb/blue egg (Ameraucana, Araucana)
pea comb/not-blue egg (Brahma, Buckeye, Chantecler)
not-pea comb/blue egg (Cream Legbar)
not-pea comb/not-blue egg (all the breeds that lay white or brown eggs and have single, rose, or duplex combs)

I once had an Easter Egger hen that had two pea comb genes. One was linked to blue egg, one to not-blue egg. I raised several generations of descendants from her, crossed with various single-comb roosters that had no blue egg genes. One line kept the linkage of pea comb/blue egg. The other kept the linkage of pea comb/not-blue egg. My hen was a nice example of when a chicken has two genes for pea comb, but not two genes for blue eggs.

If the blue egg gene is really important to you, I would get a genetic test to be sure about what your cockerel has, no matter how pretty his comb looks.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Pea comb and blue egg are caused by genes that are linked (close together on the chromosome), so they tend to be inherited together. But they can be linked in any combination:
pea comb/blue egg (Ameraucana, Araucana)
pea comb/not-blue egg (Brahma, Buckeye, Chantecler)
not-pea comb/blue egg (Cream Legbar)
not-pea comb/not-blue egg (all the breeds that lay white or brown eggs and have single, rose, or duplex combs)

I once had an Easter Egger hen that had two pea comb genes. One was linked to blue egg, one to not-blue egg. I raised several generations of descendants from her, crossed with various single-comb roosters that had no blue egg genes. One line kept the linkage of pea comb/blue egg. The other kept the linkage of pea comb/not-blue egg. My hen was a nice example of when a chicken has two genes for pea comb, but not two genes for blue eggs.

If the blue egg gene is really important to you, I would get a genetic test to be sure about what your cockerel has, no matter how pretty his comb looks.

Thank you. Even though he is a purebred Ameraucana?

 

[NatJ]

Thank you. Even though he is a purebred Ameraucana?

That is part of why the blue egg gene test exists: breeders of purebred Ameraucanas who were trying to get rid of the not-blue-egg gene in their flock.

The problem is that roosters don't lay eggs, and the blue egg gene is dominant so a hen will lay blue eggs if she has even one copy of it. So the gene for not-blue eggs can be rather hard to breed out. If even one bird in the flock has the wrong gene, it can spread quite a bit the next year, and sometimes further yet before the off-color eggs are noticed. (It's a bit like the problem of Wyandottes producing chicks with single combs: breeding out a recessive gene can be really hard.)

If egg color is really important to you, I would do the test. Much cheaper than raising a bunch of daughters to laying age and then getting a test.

If egg color isn't that big of a deal, and you would keep him and use him for breeding no matter what the test results are, then there is no real reason to get him tested.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thanks, I guess I will test him. How do I do that?

 

[NatJ]

Thanks, I guess I will test him. How do I do that?

I've used this place once:
https://iqbirdtesting.com
They've got a test for a blue egg gene.
They keep re-arranging their site, but right now I can find it listed on this page:
https://iqbirdtesting.com/order-bird-dna-test/
Scroll down and look for pictures of blue eggs
It's currently listed three different ways, according to what kind of sample you send in (blood sample, or a few plucked feathers, or the shell that a chick hatched out of. Obviously you don't have the eggshell for your cockerel, so it would be blood or feathers.)

I've also looked at the website for this place:
https://thesilkielab.com/
This is currently the page with the blue egg gene test:
https://thesilkielab.com/product/blue-egg-gene/
I have no personal experience with this company, but it has also been some years since I used the other company, so I'm not really in a position to give a recommendation about which one would be better.

For either one, you go to the website and follow the instructions. It's probably something like place an order, set up an account, collect samples, mail the samples, wait a bit, get the results through the online account. But trust the company's website on the exact details, not me.

 

[Amer]

Thank you. Even though he is a purebred Ameraucana?

I wouldn't. The blue egg gene is pretty firmly established in Ameraucana populations nowadays.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I've used this place once:
https://iqbirdtesting.com
They've got a test for a blue egg gene.
They keep re-arranging their site, but right now I can find it listed on this page:
https://iqbirdtesting.com/order-bird-dna-test/
Scroll down and look for pictures of blue eggs
It's currently listed three different ways, according to what kind of sample you send in (blood sample, or a few plucked feathers, or the shell that a chick hatched out of. Obviously you don't have the eggshell for your cockerel, so it would be blood or feathers.)

I've also looked at the website for this place:
https://thesilkielab.com/
This is currently the page with the blue egg gene test:
https://thesilkielab.com/product/blue-egg-gene/
I have no personal experience with this company, but it has also been some years since I used the other company, so I'm not really in a position to give a recommendation about which one would be better.

For either one, you go to the website and follow the instructions. It's probably something like place an order, set up an account, collect samples, mail the samples, wait a bit, get the results through the online account. But trust the company's website on the exact details, not me.

Thank you so much.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I wouldn't. The blue egg gene is pretty firmly established in Ameraucana populations nowadays.

Ah, thank you. These birds are from Cackle hatchery, it's not like it's a project bird. That's what I thought, too.