Jean, they are all so beautiful..how the heck do I pick?
I originally thought about wheaton, blue or splash. But gosh, the buff is really perty and I forgot about the silver variety.
Sara - they are for me. Nope, I am not going to breed LF Ameraucana. I want to replace my EE rooster and I'd like to put a boy in with a guaranteed blue egg gene and a beautiful looker.
How soon do you want them? I have two babies in the barn from the birds I got from Harry. They are still little though.. I haven't determined genders yet.
I know you wouldn't be concerned with that. I just wanted to point it out because some folks may wonder why I want LF Ameraucana and I'm not currently interested in breeding standard varieties in them. I have a great market for EEs and trying to figure out what Roo would give me the best colors without using an EE. I really like the wheaton, but I've got a soft heart for buff. This is going to be a tough decision.
I'm not sure I want to go with black yet, but keep me posted on your little ones. I don't want to just bring in a male tho...I'd like to add a female or two along with him, so he has some initial friends until the flock adjusts to the change. They do not have to all be the same color variety.
Once I've located exactly what I want, the toughest part with be giving up my current boy.
He's a great roo and I have to find him a great pet retirement home.
Jody,
With what I have seen of your flock, the following is not what I would use to get a lot of color: Black, Blue, Lavender.
Since you have a white, black, and mostly wild color hens you may want one of the following: Blue wheaton if you can get a wheaton hen so you can have some nice Ameraucanas plus color in your flock. Wheaton would give more wild colors with out getting anything with blue in. A white rooster would be nice because you would get a lot of color variation also. Buff would or should work good and better if you get a buff hen also. A blue silver would also be great if you could find one of those but silver would not give you the blue mixed chicks. This is my personal opinion with out looking up any genetics possibilities.
The Blacks and Blues, Lavenders will give you too many black pullets and dark roosters. EEgger's want a mixed colored flock usually. A columbian or silver spangled EE rooster would also give you color but then you'd not have any real Ameraucanas if you wanted to hatch them seperate. Good luck in your quest and hope you can find some nice birds. Harry