What's wrong with their feathers?

[Cattitude]

I love these Fluffy/Silkied Ameraucana!! I am so glad that the project is continuing to move ahead. Someday I'll be able to have a pair of these beautiful birds.

 

[AquaEyes]

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No blacks yet, need these blues to hit laying age and cross w/ their 'aunts' and 'uncles' from the other F1 line. Had some trouble w/ coccidiosis, these fluffies don't seem to be able to pick up any immunity from medicated chick starter like our other birds. Figured out the problem and treated/culled and are ready for the next curve ball.

No more olive eggers - much less fluffy. Had to move for work and sell 90% of our birds. Made an agreement with our old landlord who is tending our fluffy flock until we can get back on our feet. They get table eggs and we get to keep the project going. We get to see them weekly for the major chores and have retained our hatching and ownership rights. Gotta do what ya gotta do right - at least we were lucky in that our landlord really wants to see the project through.

In answer to the jumping question - they can jump 3-4 feet when they are younger, but as they get older and heavier they stop trying. We've got a ladder in with this current bunch and they roost 4.5 ft off the ground at night. Their daddy still sleeps on the ground like a weirdo though. At least he found a spot which isn't under the females anymore

Good for you, selecting for hardiness. I think it would continue to be a major concern for future owners if people didn't do like you are doing and culling against and selecting for more than just the Fluffy trait. That's the mark of a breeder who cares.

Aw, that's a shame about your olive eggers. I have to confess that when I show some of the reasons I love learning on BYC to non-chicken people, I show them your old auctions for olive eggers with the beautiful pics of your eggs in a range of hues. But, sometimes life throws a curve ball, and you have to make changes. I am glad to know that you are keeping up with the Fluffies, and that you came to a beneficial arrangement with your old landlord.

Thanks for answering the jumping question. I was wondering how I'd arrange roosts if part of the flock couldn't make it up to the high roosts without "steps." Like I said, I'm years away from actually doing it, so I'm just playing it out in my head. I hope they'll be common enough to be considered just another type of Ameraucana (whether in the standard or not) by the time I'm ready. In the meantime, I'll continue to live vicariously through BYC.

Oh, btw, I was naughty...I have been really good with my money lately, so decided to treat myself to some books. They're part of my vision of what I want to make for my home, and the requisite flocks and aviaries and gardens. I know that a lot of the info is available here, but I'm looking ahead to reading in bed during the long, cold winter...can you see what BYC is doing to me? Hahaha.

Tea Roses: Old Roses for Warm Gardens

Noisette Roses: Nineteenth-Century Chalreston's Gift to the World

Florida's Best Fruiting Plants: Native and Exotic Trees, Shrubs and Vines

Softbills: Care, Breeding and Conservation

Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds

Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks, 2nd Edition

Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, 3rd Edition

 

[EMaker]

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You've yet to show a pic of it though

Yes, that's true....so she must be a figment of my imagination, eh?!

 

[EMaker]

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I don't know if she's Dominant White or Recessive White (I learned about the genes for the traits I like, and I don't like white...sorry, no offense, just explaining my ignorance). In any case, if you breed her to a white roo, the offspring will be carrying one copy of the fluffy gene (but not expressing it...which would require having two copies of the gene, like your hen). You can then set up a pen of her best-looking roo son set up with your original fluffy white hen (his mother), and his sisters. You'll get 50% fluffy white babies from mother X son, and 25% fluffy white babies from brother X sister. Once you have some more fluffy whites, you can repeat the process with other unrelated white birds (I don't know if you want to go the Ameraucana route or the Easter Egger route...). You have to do some inbreeding to get some more fluffy birds, but once you have them, you can use unrelated birds to widen your genepool.

You'll have to decide early on if you want to just have cute fluffy Easter Eggers (and thus breed for whatever traits you want), or if you want to breed toward the Ameraucana standard. If you choose the latter route, you'll want to get good quality Ameraucanas to breed with her (and to continue the project), as well as cull birds that don't meet the Ameraucana standard (or at least select for breeding only those that come closest to the standard). If your original female has a lot of faults according to the Ameraucana standard and you wish to breed to that standard, you'll do best following the plan I posted here in post #8. It's your project -- so it's up to you.

Have fun!!!

Thank you very much, AquaEyes. I won't be breeding her to the Ameraucana SOP, just for EEs. My focus will be on maintaining pure white Silkie feathering and blue egg color. I know next to nothing about chicken genetics, so your suggestions are most appreciated.

 

[KellyHM]

Ok, qiuck update from my end. Here's what I've got right now:

4 F2's (F1 x F1 from a different breeder, so not siblings) that are about 5 months old (pleeeasse lay soon!) - 1 splash cockerel, 1 blue cockerel, and 2 blue pullets
3 F2's (from the same F1 x F1) that are about 3.5 months - all blue - I *think* 1 cockerel and 2 pullets, but not positive yet
These 7 have a 2/3 chance of carrying the fluffy gene.

I also have 4 (F1 x fluffy) from alice (you didn't tell me which of your lines they were from?) that are about 2 months old. 2 of these are blue fluffies!! The other 2 are splash carriers. Not a clue on gender yet.

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

im loving the progress y'all are making....

 

[AquaEyes]

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Congrats on your progress!!!

So you're saying that of the 7 you hatched, none were Fluffy? That's kind of annoying. Did all the eggs hatch? I've been reading that there have been hatch issues, and I wonder if that might have affected your outcomes. You have great potential, though, having a pair of F1's from different breeders -- you'll be widening the genepool for the Fluffies, when you eventually get some.

How do the F1's look? And the F2's? Are they looking like strong, healthy birds? How was the egg color in the F1 mother hen?

 

[alicefelldown]

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I sent you F1xFluffy from my B line. The A line isn't laying yet - I'm hoping to see an improvement in their egg coloring, as the B line turned out to be very pale!

We'll have to exchange again when you've got some laying!!

 

[stephanie1992]

u should put me on ur waiting list tooo. ill wait as long as it takes lol. love these birds

 

[NicoleRM]

I still have my two pairs of F1s, still waiting for eggs! They're about 6.5 months old now.