Laced Ameraucanas?

[lazypifarm]

Hi! I have kept a backyard flock for years, though we've lived in the suburbs so I couldn't have a rooster. My husband and I are planning to move to a place with some land in 2012 - which to me, means ROOSTER(s)! I have a couple of Ameraucana hens and would like to get more. I have no intention to show or sell; we will eat the eggs, and if we have chicks, they can either stay on the farm, go to live with one of the many farmers I know, or we can eat extra cockerels. To be overrun with chickens - oh, what a problem to have! Hahaha!

I am considering what kind of rooster to get. I really like the look of Wyandottes' lacing, and their gentle temperament. In your experience, is there any combination of laced Wyandotte over Ameraucanas that might result in laced chicks? I don't know much about the lacing gene. I have no intention of trying to get a new color approved by the APA or anything fancy like that, just considering a fun backyard project I could tinker with for the next decade or so.

 

[kelidei]

I have some laced Easter Eggers...

This one has gotten more lacing as she has matured... don't have any recent pictures. They are crosses fromm EE's and a Gold laced Wyandotte roo

 

[EweSheep]

Lovely!!! Now work on their yellow legs into slate and go for it! It is lovely color!

 

[skycladfaerielady]

Check around for a good breeder. The pics in the response above are lovely! Watch the forums & CraigsList. I sold all of my Ameraucanas through CraigsList last year.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Way back when when we bred chickens like crazy we had some laced EE's pop up from our silver laced wyandotte rooster over some black ameraucana hens. I dont recall what the roosters looked like but the hens had better lacing than the hatchery stock SLW's the neighbor had. Depending on what color lacing you want is what determines the rooster needed. If you want more silver laced color, go with a SLW rooster on more silver based EE hens or ameraucanas. If you want more gold laced go with the traditional brownish EE hens and even a BLRW rooster to get blue and gold. I suggest using the patterned EE's because they have a better chance of throwing laced chicks instead of more solid colored chicks

 

[Illia]

those are spangled, not laced.

Lacing is a full lacing around the entire feather.




The thing is, do you ( OP ) have real Ameraucanas or hatchery based "Americaunaas" (Easter Eggers) ? Because real Ameraucanas take about 2-4 generations to breed good lacing into with the color options you often have. Easter Eggers can get you lacing from something like a Wyandotte within 1-2 generations depending on how good of lacing you want, BUT, egg color will suffer very fast due to the fact that most EE's lay green or sometimes brown eggs, which neither are pure blue, thus, your first then second offspring will lay brown or greenish brown eggs instead of a good blue or green.

Your best bet is to do EE x Wyandotte, then cross the offspring to each other (best that you choose the two least related, say, from different hens) - That way you'll have a certain percent who will turn out just how you want them!

Avoid single combs though

Those mean brown eggs.




When it comes to crossing EE's and Wyandottes, the best thing to do is breeding an EE with more brown on her body and some black tail/neck than your EE's with more patterning, silver, white, gray, or other colors. The mostly brown ones are carriers of Columbian, a gene required in Wyandotte-type lacing. With an EE parent carrying that, you're already partly there.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=245088822177795&set=a.211693225517355.57993.180319155321429&type=3&theater

The pullet in this link is a 1st generation BLRW Wyandotte x true Ameraucana cross. Yes, at that point it was still "spangling" but you can see how well the tendency towards lacing carried.

Personally, I would probably start with silver or gold laced bearded polish over good true Ameraucanas. I just love the crests.

I wouldn't even want them to be like "real" Ameraucanas!

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

I wish I had pictures of the silver laced EE's I had. The black ameraucanas we used were true ameraucanas from show stock. I know they weren't pure black though because a friend who had the same line got birchen from hers. I have seen many columbian and buff columbian EE's this year from McMurrays stock, those would work great for this. And as I have said and others have said, these wont be considered true ameraucanas until you meet the standard for them and even then there will be lots of hassell with other ameraucana breeders and such. So it would be easier to go for laced easter eggers

 

[TK Poultry]

There is a breeder in California I think that is working on them and has been since I've been raising Ameraucanas. I've had Ameraucanas since 2008. Now I can't find the link for the life of me but I do believe there out there.

 

[TK Poultry]

heres the website link

http://www.bryngyld.com/Ameraucana.html