New Color Varieties of Ameraucana......pictures from breeding projects

[PoultryPedia]

Some people will call an AOV Ameraucana an "Easter Egger", because they don't think about the AOV subcategory & just know that the chicken doesn't fit into one of the recognized color varieties.

Standard-bred chickens have to have characteristics that breed true. Characteristics, rather than parentage, are the foundation in chickens since pedigrees mean nothing.

Surprising info:
Q: Which came first--the Ameraucana or the Easter Egger?
A: The Easter Egger. Ameraucanas are Easter Eggers that have been selectively bred to carry specific characteristics. If you breed such that the characteristics are no longer being carried, the offspring go back to Easter Egger classification.

 

[PoultryPedia]

I wish the ABC website had more clear info on the standards considered to be the unchanging foundation for the breed. From what I've gathered over time, the below are some essential characteristics used to categorize a chicken as an Ameraucana:

EGG COLOR: Light blue strongly preferred; olive and green-blue permissible.

FACIAL FEATHERING: Must have beard and muffs; must not have ear tufts.

TAIL: Required (This is a major distinction from Araucanas--which are "rumpless" [have no tails], have ear tufts, etc.)

COMB TYPE: Peacomb.

WATTLES: Small or absent.

LEG TYPE: Unfeathered, with 4 toes.

COLOR OF LEG SHANKS AND TOES: Dark slate or slate (black allowed in Black variety only) with pinkish white footpads (not willow [gray-green with yellowish white footpads] or any other color).

SKIN COLOR: White.

EYE COLOR: Reddish bay (Brown is a demerit, but not a disqualification).

BEAK COLOR: Various shades of horn (black allowed in Black variety only).

COLOR OF COMB, FACE, WATTLES AND EARLOBES: Red in males, pale red in females (Non-opaque white permissible in earlobes of Wheaten & Blue Wheaten females.).
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Please, anyone else chime in on anything else they know about.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Actually, neither the APA nor the ABA require that a bird breed true to meet the standard for a breed or variety. How would you prove it? Require all entered birds to also have offspring that are/have been verified?

The goal of a variety, and of an individual bird is that it breed predictably, and to be recognised as a breed or variety it must be shown that the traits can be passed on in sufficient qualtity that it is not pure random chance that a bird has a particular collection of traits. However that goal does not require all birds entered in a show as that breed & variety breed true. If it did, no blues would be recognised, nor duns, nor pyles, nor many other varieties. And then consider lethal genes and those that affect fertility. Breeders facing these issues typically allow breeding stock to carry traits that cannot be shown, but are useful in breeding healthy offspring.

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
The bird in your second picture has geen legs, which indicates yellow skin. Ameraucanas do not have yellow skin. Which leads me to believe you were sold easter eggers.

Who sold you these birds? Did you see the parents? What color were they?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

pips&peeps :

Quote:
The bird in your second picture has geen legs, which indicates yellow skin. Ameraucanas do not have yellow skin. Which leads me to believe you were sold easter eggers.

Who sold you these birds? Did you see the parents? What color were they?

Since yellow skin is recessive, it is possible that both parents had the correct skin colour. I don't know that this is or is not so, just saying it could be. I couldn't tell that the legs were green, however, from the photo.​

 

[PoultryPedia]

Quote:
That makes sense. Threads I've read on ABC forum have indicated 50% as the "predictability" baseline necessary for a variety to be accepted, though I haven't yet found this officially in any APA materials I've read. One quote from the ABC forum:
"Admission to the standard requires any variety breed true at least 50 percent of the time. Blue meets that requirement. Golden duckwing males would be another example where they only breed true 50 percent of the time."

The ethical burden is on an individual exhibitor to only enter birds that meet this requirement. Doing otherwise could possibly be considered "faking" (defined as "a deliberate attempt to deceive the judge or a prospective purchaser").
-- However, lack of experimentation with breeding, or lack of knowledge of the requirement, could cause an exhibitor to unintentionally enter a bird that actually does not qualify.
-- In some cases, I think a judge could possibly disqualify a bird entered as AOV because the judge believes the bird's particular color pattern is too irregular to be able to be passed on consistently.

When a new color variety is being considered for official admission to the APA Standard, there have to be at least 5 breeders who have been consistently breeding that variety for a number of years that bring a significant number of their birds to a show. This provides evidence that the characteristics consistently breed true.

 

[that_crazy_lady]

ooh I like the Black Gold, I mite have to add another breed to the list...hmm

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
There is a huge difference between demonstrating that a gene-set can provide predictable breeding results and that an individual bird does. There is nothing in the standards that indicates that an individual bird's offspring should, and certainly not must, be predictable. All the standard requires is that the bird meet the standard. If the bird is heterozygous, or has a non-standard gene-set, but meets the phenotype (appearance), that is all that is required; it is not faking.

When selling BREEDER birds, yes there is an ethical question of ensuring that the purchaser is aware of known or probable genetic discrepancies.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Sonoran Silkies--Thank you for chipping in your knowledge! Very useful

 

[ILOVEFRIZZLES]

I am going to breed my B/B/S Ameraucana to my lavender Roo and call the Ameraucana because that is what they are if someone does not want them because they are mixed colors that ok by me. I bought all my eggs for people off byc that sell true ameraucana. I am going to ask people not to post there EE opinion on my post. So if there is any one out there that would like some b/b/S Ameraucana with lavender in them look me up in the spring.