Need Cross Ideas

[Ridgerunner]

Also something I'm curious about. If my blues were lavender, would that be better for breeding away from black?

If you want the blue color, it would be worse. If you don't want the blue, it's the same issues as the B/B/S blue bird. Lavender is a recessive gene so once you breed a Lavender to something else you lose the lavender for a generation. If you then breed back to Lavender or breed Lavender mixes you can get some lavender birds. You will still pretty much have black or lavender birds.

The only dominant colors that affect black that I know of are dominant white or the blue/black/splash genes, unless you consider a black barred different. Sometimes you can get some interesting results if you cross buff with black. That often gives you a black bird with with some yellow feathers. Some of those can be striking.

If your goal is blue or green eggs from non-black hens, cross your EE rooster with your legbar/leghorn cross hen. You should get a mix of colors/patterns and about 3/4 of the pullets should lay blue or green eggs. What color is the legbar/leghorn cross? If it is white you are back to dominant white over black. I'd still use her but your results will not be as varied as if she is not white.

If you cross your EE rooster with any other not-black and not-blue hens you could get different color/patterns and about half the pullets should lay blue or green eggs.

If you cross your Black Ameraucana rooster with any not-black or not-blue hen you will pretty much get black chicks. But if you cross those offspring abut 1/4 will be non-black and most should lay blue or green eggs. Or cross the female offspring with your EE rooster. Again a rainbow of colors/patterns and maybe 3/4 blue or green eggs.

In all this I'd avoid the Rhode Island White just because I don't know her genetics. If she is dominant white you are back to that black base color and white chickens. If she is recessive white you could have anything hiding under that white. It might work out for you, it might not.

I agree that if you are not very careful after a few generations of inbreeding you can get birds that start to look alike. To slow that process down do not keep any black or white roosters, they tend to overpower other colors. Keep at least couple of roosters that don't look much alike. And keep as wide a variety in colors/patterns in the hens as you can.

 

[WynnStormborn]

If you want the blue color, it would be worse. If you don't want the blue, it's the same issues as the B/B/S blue bird. Lavender is a recessive gene so once you breed a Lavender to something else you lose the lavender for a generation. If you then breed back to Lavender or breed Lavender mixes you can get some lavender birds. You will still pretty much have black or lavender birds.

The only dominant colors that affect black that I know of are dominant white or the blue/black/splash genes, unless you consider a black barred different. Sometimes you can get some interesting results if you cross buff with black. That often gives you a black bird with with some yellow feathers. Some of those can be striking.

If your goal is blue or green eggs from non-black hens, cross your EE rooster with your legbar/leghorn cross hen. You should get a mix of colors/patterns and about 3/4 of the pullets should lay blue or green eggs. What color is the legbar/leghorn cross? If it is white you are back to dominant white over black. I'd still use her but your results will not be as varied as if she is not white.

If you cross your EE rooster with any other not-black and not-blue hens you could get different color/patterns and about half the pullets should lay blue or green eggs.

If you cross your Black Ameraucana rooster with any not-black or not-blue hen you will pretty much get black chicks. But if you cross those offspring abut 1/4 will be non-black and most should lay blue or green eggs. Or cross the female offspring with your EE rooster. Again a rainbow of colors/patterns and maybe 3/4 blue or green eggs.

In all this I'd avoid the Rhode Island White just because I don't know her genetics. If she is dominant white you are back to that black base color and white chickens. If she is recessive white you could have anything hiding under that white. It might work out for you, it might not.

I agree that if you are not very careful after a few generations of inbreeding you can get birds that start to look alike. To slow that process down do not keep any black or white roosters, they tend to overpower other colors. Keep at least couple of roosters that don't look much alike. And keep as wide a variety in colors/patterns in the hens as you can.

This is very helpful. It brought up a few questions for me though. I thought blue eggs was a dominant trait. So I thought knowing that both fathers of my 2 roosters are pure Ameraucana that they would both pass the blue gene to all their offspring. Maybe that's not true of the Easter Egger because he only has one copy?

2nd was that I was under the impression that Rhode Island White were silver based and not dominant white. Maybe it just depends on the bird.

I have to assume my CCLxWL cross is dominant white because WL is dominant white but I don't know because she looks almost like a splash.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I thought blue eggs was a dominant trait. So I thought knowing that both fathers of my 2 roosters are pure Ameraucana that they would both pass the blue gene to all their offspring. Maybe that's not true of the Easter Egger because he only has one copy?

Your Ameraucana rooster has two blue genes so he will pass one blue shell gene to all his offspring. Since the blue egg shell gene is dominant all his pullets will lay a blue or green egg regardless of what the mother contributes. Since his mother and father were Ameraucana they both passed a blue egg gene to him, that's why he has two.

Your EE rooster got one blue egg shell gene from his father and a not-blue gene from his mother. These genes get passed down randomly to his offspring. So some of his kids will get the blue egg shell gene and some will not.

2nd was that I was under the impression that Rhode Island White were silver based and not dominant white. Maybe it just depends on the bird.

In chicken genetics there seem to always be exceptions. It gets frustrating. However, to the best of my knowledge you cannot make a solid white chicken with just silver. You have to have either Dominant White or Recessive White for a solid white chicken like a RIW. One of the genetics gurus that used to be active on here explained that to me in no uncertain terms. I think most RIW's are recessive white since they can often be used to make red sex links, but you never know what a breeder will do to get a white bird whiter. They may add Dominant White in case of black leakage. It's not unusual for barred to be hiding under that white since that can make them whiter.

I have to assume my CCLxWL cross is dominant white because WL is dominant white but I don't know because she looks almost like a splash

Could you please post a photo when convenient. What is probably happening is that the leghorn was dominant white and what you are seeing is leakage through that dominant white. Your mixed hen probably got a dominant white and a black (there are different ways to make black, another dang complication) from the leghorn parent and a not-dominant white and not-black from the other parent. When you cross her with your EE you will probably get some white chicks, some black chicks, some neither, and some that look like the neither but have white feathers where they have black.