Need Info on Ameraucana Leghorn Crosses

[EmmaRainboe]

If you want to experiment with a genetics calculator here is a purebred dictionary, you can plug in the genes from the leghorns and Ameraucana and see what the possible crosses are!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-calculator-pure-breed-dictionary-2-0.76203/ (a genetics calculator is also linked on this article.)

 

[EmmaRainboe]

So a second gen cross would be a 50/50 chance of a blue egg?
I'm really sorry, this is just so confusing

I second gen cross would have 75% blue egg layers. Blue is dominant over white so birds with O/o still lay blue eggs (2/3 of the blue laying offspring will be O/o). The problem is getting the blue egg to become consistent because it's hard to weed out the heterozygous blue.

 

[Allthefloofs]

I don’t know if anyone would be able to speculate, but I have always thought that our super blue from MPC was possibly an ameracauna leghorn cross. I my head it felt like she could be a splash ameracauna x white leghorn. She lays large light blue eggs.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

I don’t know if anyone would be able to speculate, but I have always thought that our super blue from MPC was possibly an ameracauna leghorn cross. I my head it felt like she could be a splash ameracauna x white leghorn. She lays large light blue eggs.

What are her legs like?

 

[Allthefloofs]

What are her legs like?

Hmmm, I can’t recall off the top of my head, I think slate? I just call her an Easter egger tbh, but I am always curious about her cross since they promise blue eggs in particular and in her case they delivered.

 

[Allthefloofs]

Here are her legs and this is a better picture of her when she isn’t furious at me for invading her laying space .

 

[lomine]

Oh, well even if it already exists I'd still like to breed and create my own
So it would be either all the way blue or all the way white?!
Ok, so first generation hens would most likely lay blue eggs? Sorry, I'm having a really hard time understanding any of this, is there any way to explain further? Sorry I'm a pain

All the females in the first generation would lay a blue egg; since blue is dominate they only need 1 gene to lay a blue egg. You'll start getting white eggs again in second generation crosses from the females that have 2 white genes.

Finding the females that carry 2 white genes is easy, because they'll lay white eggs. it's the males and the females that carry 1 blue and 1 white that would cause you problems because you won't know what they carry unless you test their DNA or do test hatches and wait for their offspring to lay. To do that, you have to pair them with other birds whose genetics you know. For example, you pair a second gen male with female leghorns (you know they have 2 white genes) and hatch a bunch of their eggs. It should be a pretty large sample size, like 30+. If some of the female offspring lay a white egg and some lay blue, you know that the male has 1 white gene. If they all lay white you know he has 2 white genes. If they all lay blue, you know he has 2 blue genes.

This would also work for the second generation females to see if she has 2 blue or 1 blue and 1 white (I'm assuming you wouldn't use any second gen females that lay a white egg if colored eggs are the goal). Just pair them with a male leghorn and test their female offspring. If any of her offspring lay white, you'll know she carries 1 white gene.

Of course you could skip the testing phase but if I were doing it, I'd at least want to make sure that my males carried at least 1 blue gene. I should note that the pea comb has been found to have a connection with the blue egg gene so weeding out any straight combed males would give you a better shot. You could also just pair up second gen birds and see what you get from them.

You can breed full siblings, fathers to daughters, or mothers to sons if they have the traits you want. Because birds have more genetic diversity than mammals inbreeding doesn't usually have adverse effects.

 

[ButtonHoarder]

All the females in the first generation would lay a blue egg; since blue is dominate they only need 1 gene to lay a blue egg. You'll start getting white eggs again in second generation crosses from the females that have 2 white genes.

Finding the females that carry 2 white genes is easy, because they'll lay white eggs. it's the males and the females that carry 1 blue and 1 white that would cause you problems because you won't know what they carry unless you test their DNA or do test hatches and wait for their offspring to lay. To do that, you have to pair them with other birds whose genetics you know. For example, you pair a second gen male with female leghorns (you know they have 2 white genes) and hatch a bunch of their eggs. It should be a pretty large sample size, like 30+. If some of the female offspring lay a white egg and some lay blue, you know that the male has 1 white gene. If they all lay white you know he has 2 white genes. If they all lay blue, you know he has 2 blue genes.

This would also work for the second generation females to see if she has 2 blue or 1 blue and 1 white (I'm assuming you wouldn't use any second gen females that lay a white egg if colored eggs are the goal). Just pair them with a male leghorn and test their female offspring. If any of her offspring lay white, you'll know she carries 1 white gene.

Of course you could skip the testing phase but if I were doing it, I'd at least want to make sure that my males carried at least 1 blue gene. I should note that the pea comb has been found to have a connection with the blue egg gene so weeding out any straight combed males would give you a better shot. You could also just pair up second gen birds and see what you get from them.

You can breed full siblings, fathers to daughters, or mothers to sons if they have the traits you want. Because birds have more genetic diversity than mammals inbreeding doesn't usually have adverse effects.

Ok, thank you! That made it make sense!
I would want to test, but only if I found someone to take my birds that carry the white gen.

I was wondering about inbreeding because it would be hard not to. Thanks so much for clearing that all up!

 

[ButtonHoarder]

I am planning to order my Ameraucanas from a hatchery, and theses are the pics they give. Are these true Ameraucanas? Sorry I'm not great at defining them, but I hope to get better

And they give drawings too, I don't know if those would be helpful or not

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Ok. Well, eggs are why I have chickens, and so I thought if I used a Leghorn to increase production a little, while still having slightly blue eggs... I don't know sounded good in my head

If this is your goal and it's not about looks, why do you not want Legbars? They're a production blue egg layer. Laying rates and egg size and color vary from line to line, but there are quite a few breeders that focus exclusively on production qualities and have Legbars that perform probably significantly better than an Ameraucana cross.