Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[FowlStuff]

Thanks for the heads up. I may just join.
...@FowlStuff , Blehm, you're not super far from me tbh. XD Got any chicks for sale this year?

I only hatch and ship day-old chicks thru May. I've been accepting orders, since June, for chicks in 2019.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I only hatch and ship day-old chicks thru May. I've been accepting orders, since June, for chicks in 2019.

Ooof, that's fair. Yours are nice, after-all...
Got any slots for May 2019 then? After all, it's gonna take me that long just to test breed these roosters and raise out their pullets to see what egg genetics they are carrying, let alone start to breed them back to get chicks...

 

[Alaskan]

As to genetics...

Blue is totally separate from brown.

Brown is sprayed on top of the shell, and there are MANY genes in play.

Blue is a single gene and changes the color of the shell. One copy of blue results in a light blue SHELL, and 2 copies produce a brighter blue shell.

Because of that it is relatively easy to make sure your Am flock contains all birds homozygous (two copies) for blue. Just break open an egg, look at the inside color.

Brown can be a bit trickier. Because maybe the hen has a brown egg shell gene with a suppressor gene that causes the brown gene to hide... so unless you do pair mating, and track pullet egg colors, it can be tricky to find the culprit. However... the "oops" would have green eggs, probably very light green almost blue eggs, NEVER brown eggs.

Some breeders though, ignore egg color and focus on body and leg color. And some "breeders" just keep tossing birds into a pen and collect all eggs.

I have never managed to hatch out as many chicks as I should... but even with small hatches, over the years, it is clear that what I tolerate stays in my flock, what I cull for, disappears from my flock.

If that crud is in her flock... it is because she never culls it from her flock.

Yes... that response would make me angry. Mistakes happen.... but that response is BAD.

 

[Alaskan]

With that said... I kept a hen for years that I knew was hetero for blue... just kept her under a homozygous rooster, and kept her eggs segregated at hatch.

And some of my girls lay eggs that are a touch greenish blue... but it is close enough to blue for me... and I keep breeding them because of conformation and/ or feather color.

But none have ever laid a brown egg. Not possible with their genetics. (The heterozygous blue egg layer was in my black am flock... there was zero brown in that flock... so all eggs were blue or light blue from the heterozygous hen. My Wheaten flock has some brown in it, but all are homozygous for blue)

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Thank you for explaining it more in depth, Alaskan. That is what I meant when I'd said that it mixes with the base color. I appreciate your clarifications. Running on very little sleep here tbh today.

And yea, like I said, I did crack one of each open, and peeled back the membrane.

The brown egg had a very pale whiteish inside. No blue at all.
The green egg had a nice light blue inside, distinctly bluer than the outside.
I could totally tolerate the occasional 'Oo' green egg, or green eggs in general, if the hen in question was very high quality under and otherwise clean roo, but this obviously had to come from both parents to be brown and was definitely not just such a thick brown that it somehow covered the blue.

Siiiigh. Ima be salty about this for some time. Not what I was hoping to find obviously from my only adult chickens. I'll get over it. But hot dang.

 

[Alaskan]

Thank you for explaining it more in depth, Alaskan. That is what I meant when I'd said that it mixes with the base color. I appreciate your clarifications. Running on very little sleep here tbh today.

And yea, like I said, I did crack one of each open, and peeled back the membrane.

The brown egg had a very pale whiteish inside. No blue at all.
The green egg had a nice light blue inside, distinctly bluer than the outside.
I could totally tolerate the occasional 'Oo' green egg, or green eggs in general, if the hen in question was very high quality under and otherwise clean roo, but this obviously had to come from both parents to be brown and was definitely not just such a thick brown that it somehow covered the blue.

Siiiigh. Ima be salty about this for some time. Not what I was hoping to find obviously from my only adult chickens. I'll get over it. But hot dang.

I agree... that is NOT acceptable breeding.

Unless she TOLD you that it was a "project" flock.

When I sold the chicks from that Heterozygous hen, I always told people that the hen was heterozygous. So about 1/2 would be OO, and half Oo. Not that you can't sell rejects... or less than perfects, but you need to SAY what they are.

 

[Alaskan]

So yeah, feel free to be upset. Sorry.

 

[JudysMuscovy]

@Chocolate Mouse- can you please post some pictures of the hens in question. I am just curious - I know you posted pictures but I am not finding them.. thank you.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Judy, I have not. I only posted leg and egg shots. I will get some photos later on. They're a bit messy right now being confined in my garage while I finish a more secure coop.

 

[JudysMuscovy]

Judy, I have not. I only posted leg and egg shots. I will get some photos later on. They're a bit messy right now being confined in my garage while I finish a more secure coop.

Ok I understand. Looking forward to seeing them when you are able.