What's wrong with their feathers?

[BonneTerreChick]

Wolftracks it sound like your bird should be a split. Now for silkied you just need a silkied bird or more time and a split(of the opposite gender would help too). Lol, how far is Modesto from Oregon? In time maybe I could help, if there is no one closer working on this project.

 

[wolftracks]

At least I have time. He's not silkied. The gene is there, it doesn't show. Modesto to Oregon might be less stress than eggs from anywhere and a 21 day wait to be disappointed. LOL We'll see. I was actually thrilled to get one to hatch. The first batch of eggs I bought I had anothwr BYCer hatch for me, because I had had some bad hatches and was paranoid. Got one to hatch then too. Second batch, we got zero. Might take me a little longer to get thihs going now. I don't have the extra money I had when I first started this. Something will happen eventually though. Now to kee this one alive long enough to breed. I have Lavender and BBS AMs and I'm getting mor black that any other color from my BBS flock. Wish I still had my straight black birds, but maybe it's a good thing I don't right now. I think a good black line, might actually be too strong and dilute the silkied gene even more. That's just a thought though, since at the moment I'm trying to add to the silkied and by then, maybe I'll be better at the genetics of it.

 

[ChooksChick]

At least I have time. He's not silkied. The gene is there, it doesn't show. Modesto to Oregon might be less stress than eggs from anywhere and a 21 day wait to be disappointed. LOL We'll see. I was actually thrilled to get one to hatch. The first batch of eggs I bought I had anothwr BYCer hatch for me, because I had had some bad hatches and was paranoid. Got one to hatch then too. Second batch, we got zero. Might take me a little longer to get thihs going now. I don't have the extra money I had when I first started this. Something will happen eventually though. Now to kee this one alive long enough to breed. I have Lavender and BBS AMs and I'm getting mor black that any other color from my BBS flock. Wish I still had my straight black birds, but maybe it's a good thing I don't right now. I think a good black line, might actually be too strong and dilute the silkied gene even more. That's just a thought though, since at the moment I'm trying to add to the silkied and by then, maybe I'll be better at the genetics of it.

Sugarplum, pm me and we'll get some of these chicks out to you. That will speed things up.

 

[Thespoiledchicken]

Hi Guys. I have a Silkied Splash Ameraucana roo up for grabs if anyone wants him (free). He is super healthy and he come from an outcross (not original stock). I have a Silkied Roo in black also that I have been using for my Lavender project- he will be available in a few weeks.

Any takers? I live on Long Island in NY


Trish

 

[Kagu]

Hi, I was just kinda wondering...

I know the OP's birds are 100% ameracaunas, so did she sell eggs or did people cross back with silkies then crossed with ameracaunas until they had a bird with ameracauna traits but silkie feathering? Because I saw quite a few people with the silkied ameracaunas...

BTW, beautiful!

 

[ChooksChick]

Hi, I was just kinda wondering...

I know the OP's birds are 100% ameracaunas, so did she sell eggs or did people cross back with silkies then crossed with ameracaunas until they had a bird with ameracauna traits but silkie feathering? Because I saw quite a few people with the silkied ameracaunas...

BTW, beautiful!

I know it's a very long thread, but the whole story is there. No OUT-crossing was done to other breeds, but there has be LINE-crossing to other Ameraucanas for years now to fix the genetic bottleneck that likely caused this mutation and the weakness the variety clearly has displayed.

We've shared them widely and encouraged lots of diversity to improve their longevity.

 

[wolftracks]

Sugarplum, pm me and we'll get some of these chicks out to you. That will speed things up.

How did I miss this? I swear I've lost so much since the new platflorm. Going through a bad week. Got robbed on monday and I'm not quit here right now. Is there any way I could still get chicks?

BTW my baby is growning and looking so pretty. Hope that gene shows in the future, cause if these feathered were silkied, I was pretty sure this was a roo. No sadle feathers yet, but the hackles are pretty darn pointy. So I have a question. This bird is splash. I have Blues that are from BBS breedings and I also have lavenders. Should I only breed him to BBS or will I be able to use him with other colors. I have a bantam chocolate pullets coming in a couple of weeks. I want to work on LF chocolates, so I'll need help with that too, but is there any way to use him in a Chocolate project??

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote: You can use him in the same way you would use any Black. With the Chocolates, is it Dun based or sex-link Chocolate based? I have some cockerels split to sex-linked Chocolate available. I have found that the 12 remaining in my older group of splits ARE ALL COCKERELS! Every last one of them. They are all available for the cost of shipping if anyone wants one or many...or they'll go to Camp Kenmore.

I've got some of the younger clutch sold, but if I have any left, they might be sold, too- how about this: first chicks or eggs unaccounted for after this moment are yours.

I'll get a better count this evening. For realz!!

 

[wolftracks]

You can use him in the same way you would use any Black. With the Chocolates, is it Dun based or sex-link Chocolate based? I have some cockerels split to sex-linked Chocolate available. I have found that the 12 remaining in my older group of splits ARE ALL COCKERELS! Every last one of them. They are all available for the cost of shipping if anyone wants one or many...or they'll go to Camp Kenmore.

I've got some of the younger clutch sold, but if I have any left, they might be sold, too- how about this: first chicks or eggs unaccounted for after this moment are yours.

I'll get a better count this evening. For realz!!

Send me an estimate of the cost so I can make sure I can cover it.

 

[BonneTerreChick]

Hello,

I was just thinking about some of the things I have been reading about genetics, and now I cant find any of them(of course), but I was reading about erminette(?) and ermine. I am wondering if anyone out there knows anything about erminette? From something I was reading it sounds sort of like splash, in that it is black on white, but the difference seems to be how it expresses across the animal's body. In chickens it sounded like the difference was how the black came out across the feathers(whole feather vs part of a feather, or something like that). Somewhere I thought I read that erminette is very different than ermine. That erminette is dominant and that it can be what causes lighter leg colors to have black/dark gray spots on them. I really need someone to help clarify this...help?

LOL, part of the reason I am putting this here(I will probably put it elsewhere also) is that I have had 4 cockerels, that Silkied Ameraucana splits, since they were chicks. I now have 2 pullets, that are their hatch-mates, also. I also have 2 splits(1 a pullet and 1 a cockerel) and 2 Silkied cockerels that came to me independent of the eggs we hatched. Of these 10 birds I have:
1 Split black cockerel with dark slate legs,
1 Split blue cockerel with a lite lacing and slate legs(he may be more of a blue splash, but I am not really sure)
1 Split blue pullet with lacing and slate legs
1 Split cockerel that appears to be splash to me(but might be erminette or ?), bright white with black markings and a few feathers on each wing that have red/maybe gold on parts of them and lite gray legs with dark spots on them.
2 Split cockerels that also appear sort of splash like(but might be something else), a softer white with dark gray/black and mostly gray markings, they both have lite gray legs with the spots also. Of these two cockerels the one that we hatched from hatching eggs has a rather large patch of red and gold on each wing and red across some of the the muted white feathers on his neck/breast. The other cockerel is from the second group and he is also the muted white, etc. but has a few feathers on each wing that have red/maybe gold on parts of them(like the bright white cockerel mentioned above).
1 Split pullet that appears sort of splash(?), a softer white with dark gray/black and mostly lite gray markings, and lite gray legs(there may or may not be dark spots-I dont remember at the moment).
1 Silkied blue cockerel with dark slate legs(I think)
1 Silkied cockerel that appears splash, again with the diluted/muted/softer white and dark gray/black and mostly gray markings and lite gray legs(with or without dark spots).

So I am wondering why I am seeing the red/gold (but only on the splash birds)? I keep thinking red leakage but this seems like something more. Since I dont know much about all this genetic stuff it seems like what I have is awfully "deliberate" for leakage. (Though when I think about it the black cockerel does seem to have a lot of purple sheen to him, maybe a sign of the red too?)
I think the softer white birds have a dilution factoring in there somewhere, maybe?
Or is it something else?
Erminette?
The spots on the legs are what made me think about erminette, but now I cant find the reference that says that is a part of that expression. I have heard that people working on this project have had a lot of genetic anomolies pop up in the colors of these birds/offspring.....
At this point I think if the Silkied cockerels stay alive long enough I am going to put all the split girls in with them and go from there. Its just when I consider things further on down the line (like after the Silkied birds are sustainable) that I would really like to have more of an idea of what is going on with the color genetics of these birds.

Hope to hear from some of you folks that are more knowledgeable and experienced! Thanks!
May try to get some pictures if I can, I know that might help.