Wasn't there someone recently who had black Ameraucanas/EE's with some

[mama24]

gold/tan speckling? I think you said you really thought you got pure Am's but b/c of the speckling, we said, not a chance? Well, I have a few almost 4 mo old true Ameraucanas I bought locally and saw the parents. They're the real deal. One of my black cockerels has the exact same tan speckling coming out! The parents are beautiful birds. Really stunning. The breeder said he's been working on the breed for over 10 years. Anyway, he had one blue wheaten hen in with his blue black and splash pen. He said he has only ever had BBS, but he gets the blue wheaten once in a while as a sport, and he kept her b/c he thought she was really pretty. How funny! So it looks like mine is carrying the genes (maybe she was the mom, since she was in the pen

), and I am wondering if the same thing happened to you, but you had the bad luck to get 2 for 2. Luckily for me, I got 2 splash cockerels and the black with wheaten bleeding through, so I can just cull him. I would have anyway, since I only got black pullets, so I would use one of the splash boys anyway.

So I just wanted to say that even though they are a cross of colors, and cannot be used for breeding or showing, you might actually have some true Ameraucanas that just had different colored parents. I tried to find the thread, I can't remember if they were girls or boys, but I think they might have been boys? They would probably sire a nice flock of EE's if you decided to use them.

 

[bloom_ss]

Even if they are true Ameraucanas they are considered EEs if they don't meet the breed standard. So, in other words, they can be from pure lines and still be considered EE.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
That really depends. Unwanted gold leakage can happen in pure blacks and blues, yes, but usually doesn't make it an EE. An EE label is slapped on usually when two recognized colors are crossed to make an unrecognized color.



Gold leakage in blacks has happened, yes. But your case is just terrible breeding and indeed crossing colors, yes, sorry. The Wheaten "sport" of his is directly linked to the birds he has or even you have with leakage. When you cross Wheaten to Black, you get a bird that mocks Brown-Red / Black Copper very well. When you continue to breed black in, the leakage disappears, but the more irresponsible breeding you do with black birds carrying the recessive Wheaten, the more mess you end up with.


The best thing to do if it matters to you for breeding is replace the birds. Males with NO leakage are semi-safe to have, none of the females are unless you breed them to a male you know carries Wheaten, and find out if any offspring end up Wheaten or not. No Wheatens - The female is safe to use for breeding good stock.

 

[speckledhen]

I once owned a gorgeous black Ameraucana cockerel out of Cree Farms stock on one side of the family and Rivergait Farms on the other. He had significant base color leakage, but he was not an EE. A simple fault in a bird coming from good Ameraucana lines doesn't make him an EE, as Illia stated. It's not good to breed those because the leakage can get worse in the sons, though not all have it.

These pics were posted way back in the Ameraucana breed thread somewhere, but here is Scout in the first picture and one of his first sons that shows why you shouldn't keep that type rooster in your breeding program if you're going for the best quality and don't want to keep fighting this issue:

 

[khatar]

Same thing happened to me. My cockerel was getting that speckling too, but some speckling was silver. I first thought he was ameraucana. Now I know he's actually EE, being half silver ameaucana and half black cochin bantam.

All colors in the picture other than black is what the gold/tan speckling turned in to.

Speckledhen, a few months ago you helped me in deciding the gender of this roo. Look what he's become now!

 

[speckledhen]

Speckledhen, a few months ago you helped me in deciding the gender of this roo. Look what he's become now!

I did? He must have really changed because I don't remember, sorry. Very handsome guy he turned into, though.​

 

[mama24]

My little guy looks exactly like the first pic speckledhen posted, just a lot younger.

Thanks for the breeding info, illia! Any chance any blue or splash birds are carriers? I am a little confused bc I saw the birds my eggs came from. His ameraucana pen was 100% blue, plus the single wheaten hen. The type, etc, were gorgeous, there were none with any obvious leakage, and definitely none that looked like the 2nd pic SH posted. I wasn't planning on breeding for selling or showing anytime soon, so I guess these will become my EE and OE breeders and I'll start over with the Ameraucanas.

 

[khatar]

This is him when you determined gender.
They're not the best pics.

 

[speckledhen]

Ok, I do remember that picture now! So many birds I look at here every day and he really has changed quite a bit!