Which breeds to cross with Ameraucana for neatest egg colors?

[RuffIedFeathers]

I have one rooster right now (self blue Ameraucana). I'm wondering which of my breeds I should try to cross it with to get neat egg colors. I especially love speckled eggs. Should I just choose the eggs I have that I think look the neatest? If they're speckled, do you think they'd produce birds that would also lay speckled eggs?
The breeds I have are self blue Ameraucanas, black copper marans, 55 flowery hens, cream legbars, RIR, light Sussex, German bielefelders, welsummers, pita pinta asturianas, Olive/moss/sage eggers and isbars.

 

[NatJ]

I have one rooster right now (self blue Ameraucana). I'm wondering which of my breeds I should try to cross it with to get neat egg colors. I especially love speckled eggs. Should I just choose the eggs I have that I think look the neatest? If they're speckled, do you think they'd produce birds that would also lay speckled eggs?
The breeds I have are self blue Ameraucanas, black copper marans, 55 flowery hens, cream legbars, RIR, light Sussex, German bielefelders, welsummers, pita pinta asturianas, Olive/moss/sage eggers and isbars.

Yes, you could just choose the eggs that look the neatest. That will probably work well.

If you want more speckled eggs, hatching the speckled eggs will give you a better chance than hatching the not-speckled ones.

Ameraucanas are supposed to be pure for the blue egg gene. If your rooster is, then all his daughters will lay eggs that are blue or green (with olive being the darkest of the greens.) There will not be any white, cream, or brown eggs from them.

If you hatch a mixture of light, medium, and dark eggs, there is a good chance that the daughters will grow up to lay a wide range of shades (ranging from pale blue to dark olive.)

Edit to add: if you care about how many eggs each new pullet will lay, you could try to hatch eggs from your best layers (if you know which eggs those are), because laying ability is also heritable.

 

[TexasBlues]

https://silverhomestead.com/how-to-breed-for-egg-color/