The AMERAUCANA thread

[mararva]

Hello Ameraucana afficionados! I'm getting 3-4 chicks on Monday. The seller says that they are black Ameraucanas.
Would anyone be able to share photos of your chicks at 1-2 weeks and as adults? I'm mostly curious about the white feather variations on black ameraucana chicks. Thank you!!

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Hello Ameraucana afficionados! I'm getting 3-4 chicks on Monday. The seller says that they are black Ameraucanas.
Would anyone be able to share photos of your chicks at 1-2 weeks and as adults? I'm mostly curious about the white feather variations on black ameraucana chicks. Thank you!!

Black Ameraucana chicks & adults, via the Ameraucana Alliance website and Ameraucana breeder's club. Hopefully this is helpful.

Black chicks are often penguin-looking. The first few wing feathers may often grow in white, but they'll lose all the white by adulthood.

 

[NNYchick]

Got started on hatching this year, it's going great, but I'm taking a break after the next two clutches. A brand new show in FL got announced like 2 weeks ago, the MidFL poultry association show, and I think I'll be attending, so I went ahead and separated everyone to get ready for it. It's exciting to see a new show that isn't a fair pop up, I don't like super long shows.
9 chicks so far, and a ton more fertile eggs on the incubator to hatch in like 2 weeks.
View attachment 4055363

After the show I'm probably gonna be switching out males. My current male has aggression issues, so I was gonna split the hens between my eldest cockerel and one of my younger ones. Thing is, the younger cockerel I wanted to use has pretty weird coloring. I was planning on using this guy, since's he's got the best comb of his group, he's the most vigorous of the group, and he's got a nicely spread tail, but his coloring is super weird and I'm not sure if I should use him because of it. Honestly still not sure quite what he is, but he 100% came from the blue wheaten ameraucanas i've got. If anyone has input on what color is he/whether his color discredits him from being bred, I'd appreciate it.

View attachment 4055367

His color is off some, he is really light for a blue wheaten. Is it possible he has some self blue (lavender) in his background somewhere. The lightness of his gold areas and lack of lacing kind of look like he might. I’m not an expert maybe someone in one of the breed clubs with more experience in genetics could help you and maybe help you test breed for lavender. If he does you don’t want to use him with blue wheaten. Look up lavender wheaten or Isabel Ameraucana it looks like he is half expressing it.
I use to have blue wheaten bantam. Here is a picture of one of my roosters, he’s not perfect but might help see the difference in the coloring.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

His color is off some, he is really light for a blue wheaten. Is it possible he has some self blue (lavender) in his background somewhere. The lightness of his gold areas and lack of lacing kind of look like he might. I’m not an expert maybe someone in one of the breed clubs with more experience in genetics could help you and maybe help you test breed for lavender. If he does you don’t want to use him with blue wheaten. Look up lavender wheaten or Isabel Ameraucana it looks like he is half expressing it.
I use to have blue wheaten bantam. Here is a picture of one of my roosters, he’s not perfect but might help see the difference in the coloring.

Don't think there's any chance of lavender. His parents were from Rebecca G Howie and she never mentioned having any isabels. I also think if it were lavender, he wouldn't have the vibrant red shoulders he does. Lavender would dilute that to a creamy tone. That one tidbit I do recall from D'uccles. Lavender will make any and all gold tones insanely light. I do get where you're coming from; his color tone is much closer to lavender than blue or splash, except for his red shoulders, and black tail spot.

I did end up speaking to Rebecca sometime after I asked that question on here. She said he's probably splash, since they often have the washed out hackles and white beards, and she said he *may* turn a normal color with another molt.

I'm not fully confident in anything in the end. He's much lighter than a blue wheaten should be, I agree. I'm not sure if lavender is possible. Going off what Rebecca said, if he does wind up being splash wheaten, he's really weird looking.

That rooster of yours is gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful little fellow. I wish mine had color that clean.

 

[NagemTX]

Don't think there's any chance of lavender. His parents were from Rebecca G Howie and she never mentioned having any isabels. I also think if it were lavender, he wouldn't have the vibrant red shoulders he does. Lavender would dilute that to a creamy tone. That one tidbit I do recall from D'uccles. Lavender will make any and all gold tones insanely light. I do get where you're coming from; his color tone is much closer to lavender than blue or splash, except for his red shoulders, and black tail spot.

I did end up speaking to Rebecca sometime after I asked that question on here. She said he's probably splash, since they often have the washed out hackles and white beards, and she said he *may* turn a normal color with another molt.

I'm not fully confident in anything in the end. He's much lighter than a blue wheaten should be, I agree. I'm not sure if lavender is possible. Going off what Rebecca said, if he does wind up being splash wheaten, he's really weird looking.

That rooster of yours is gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful little fellow. I wish mine had color that clean.

I think hes just a light blue and would need to be bread back to a normal wheaten hens to darken it up again.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

I think hes just a light blue and would need to be bread back to a normal wheaten hens to darken it up again.

That's a possibility too. Blue does lighten over the generations. He is dark enough so that he doesn't look splash wheaten. I really don't know. He's the weirdest colored bird i've hatched yet. I do have one adult wheaten hen but I'm avoiding pairing the two for now. The cockerel in question has some pretty bad neck striping, but he had the best comb and shape of the clutch, so he stayed, and the wheaten hen has a bit as well.

I have him in with a blue wheaten without striping at the moment, so if I finally decide to hatch eggs from them in a few months I suppose I'll figure out whether he's splash or blue wheaten. If any of the wheaten pullets i have at the moment look good enough to keep I can try pairing him with one as well in the future.

 

[NagemTX]

Examples of diversity of blue. These are Dutch Bantams.

Darkest to lightest. All of these are from the same clutch.

 

[NagemTX]

That's a possibility too. Blue does lighten over the generations. He is dark enough so that he doesn't look splash wheaten. I really don't know. He's the weirdest colored bird i've hatched yet. I do have one adult wheaten hen but I'm avoiding pairing the two for now. The cockerel in question has some pretty bad neck striping, but he had the best comb and shape of the clutch, so he stayed, and the wheaten hen has a bit as well.

I have him in with a blue wheaten without striping at the moment, so if I finally decide to hatch eggs from them in a few months I suppose I'll figure out whether he's splash or blue wheaten. If any of the wheaten pullets i have at the moment look good enough to keep I can try pairing him with one as well in the future.

That's good. You can darken the blue later after fixing other things.

 

[paintedChix]

.

That's a possibility too. Blue does lighten over the generations. He is dark enough so that he doesn't look splash wheaten. I really don't know. He's the weirdest colored bird i've hatched yet. I do have one adult wheaten hen but I'm avoiding pairing the two for now. The cockerel in question has some pretty bad neck striping, but he had the best comb and shape of the clutch, so he stayed, and the wheaten hen has a bit as well.

I have him in with a blue wheaten without striping at the moment, so if I finally decide to hatch eggs from them in a few months I suppose I'll figure out whether he's splash or blue wheaten. If any of the wheaten pullets i have at the moment look good enough to keep I can try pairing him with one as well in the future.

Do you do just pairs? When eggs are hatched from pairs do you only hatch 4-6 eggs (or a few more if laying daily) at a time from the pair?

Right now, from awkward stage 6 week old, it looks like I have 9 cockerels. I'm hoping not, will be trying to get some individual pics to better see them. But I'm hoping not, LOL.

And another set of 10 are just now 1 week old.

 

[NNYchick]

Don't think there's any chance of lavender. His parents were from Rebecca G Howie and she never mentioned having any isabels. I also think if it were lavender, he wouldn't have the vibrant red shoulders he does. Lavender would dilute that to a creamy tone. That one tidbit I do recall from D'uccles. Lavender will make any and all gold tones insanely light. I do get where you're coming from; his color tone is much closer to lavender than blue or splash, except for his red shoulders, and black tail spot.

I did end up speaking to Rebecca sometime after I asked that question on here. She said he's probably splash, since they often have the washed out hackles and white beards, and she said he *may* turn a normal color with another molt.

I'm not fully confident in anything in the end. He's much lighter than a blue wheaten should be, I agree. I'm not sure if lavender is possible. Going off what Rebecca said, if he does wind up being splash wheaten, he's really weird looking.

That rooster of yours is gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful little fellow. I wish mine had color that clean.

That makes more sense, I forgot about splash wheaten. I have been researching what happens when lavender is breed into blue and my brain just went to how pastel looked like the lavender wheaten hackles look in the pictures I’ve seen.