Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Illia]

He does have a good point, I'm not disagreeing there, however all what I've said was both through experience and reading, but more heavily through experience. Especially in my first thought of it being Wheaten x Duckwing instead of any other combo.


But again, we're straying from the subject here.

And I'm happy to announce, I've got several new Buff chicks that hatched. . . And I'm awaiting more in just 2 weeks. Marathon hatching is awesome.

The bad part is my natural instinct to sell any chick who isn't homozygous for beard/muffs. . . . So far narrows me down to 1 chick to keep so far. Darn that 25% chance.

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
Congrats Illia! How many generations of breeding have you got invested in the Buffs now?

 

[Illia]

One.

I bought a pair from Jean almost a year ago ? and since then have been, umm, almost absolutely not successful with breeding. The girl didn't begin laying until several months later, the boy didn't have the courage and know-how to breed until sometime this spring, and the first batch I hatched ended up accidental mutts. (a little bantam frizzled fray-winged cochin somehow got in there and somehow balanced his way into mating with the hen) So I tried some more, and the few I kept got eaten by a cat (cat is gone now) And so I tried again, and the broody hen I trusted to raise them ended up losing them, so here I am trying again, this time so far so good. I've only got a pair of Buffs but I'm out-crossing them to Wheatens too. (However my Wheaties love going broody a little too much) I'm having better luck with the Wheatie crosses but still not good enough yet. I've got some month olds, and that's the best, however a neighbor has some 6 month olds I sold. . . But I haven't seen 'em in a while.

So for now I've got a good array of Wheatie x Buff and pure Buff chicks I'm hatching on a consistent basis, trying to get all that I can before someone goes broody, or worse, dies. (had two of my four Wheaten hens die on me, have no clue why)



Good times.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
The sun can bleach any color.......even black. It depends on how much direct sun the birds get. lavenders will not only bleach, but they can show brownish shades in the plumage from the sun as well.

Males show the effects of sun bleaching more than females do...usually.

Walt

 

[TK Poultry]

Quote:
The sun can bleach any color.......even black. It depends on how much direct sun the birds get. lavenders will not only bleach, but they can show brownish shades in the plumage from the sun as well.

Males show the effects of sun bleaching more than females do...usually.

Walt

And there was a small hypothesis moment earlier, do lav x lav birds have this problem more than birds that are more heavily bred back to black?

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote:
The sun can bleach any color.......even black. It depends on how much direct sun the birds get. lavenders will not only bleach, but they can show brownish shades in the plumage from the sun as well.

Males show the effects of sun bleaching more than females do...usually.

Walt

And there was a small hypothesis moment earlier, do lav x lav birds have this problem more than birds that are more heavily bred back to black?

I have never had any black birds get sun bleached, and I have several that are also soft-feathered (cochins and orps). I would think that breeding back to the blacks ( with good sheen especially) will improve in subsequent generations. Surely won't hurt to try! This may be another reason why making splits with blues is NOT recommended (?)

 

[TK Poultry]

Quote:
And there was a small hypothesis moment earlier, do lav x lav birds have this problem more than birds that are more heavily bred back to black?

I have never had any black birds get sun bleached, and I have several that are also soft-feathered (cochins and orps). I would think that breeding back to the blacks ( with good sheen especially) will improve in subsequent generations. Surely won't hurt to try! This may be another reason why making splits with blues is NOT recommended (?)

I've had blacks bleach out before a molt. Like right around the beard area. My blues are terrible about fading to a brownish color before a molt. Then as they are molting out they have some blue feathers that just came in and then some brown feathers that haven't fallen out. My blacks for the most part have always been very nicely feathered. I've never had a ton of blues, but the ones I've had have always done this. I hope to have some black splits in the next hatch I have.

 

[Goose and Fig]

You know what- the beard feathers don't have that sheen like the rest of the black bird usually does.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
The sun can bleach any color.......even black. It depends on how much direct sun the birds get. lavenders will not only bleach, but they can show brownish shades in the plumage from the sun as well.

Males show the effects of sun bleaching more than females do...usually.

Walt

And there was a small hypothesis moment earlier, do lav x lav birds have this problem more than birds that are more heavily bred back to black?

I don't have any lavender birds around, so I don't have experience with them. I can say that while judging lav birds I have seen plenty that are sun beached. I would also say that it depends on what is in their background...... but because it is a light color it appears that they are very prone to changes in color caused by the sun.
Self blue will change color from the sun pretty quickly and it looks like lav. (some folks say lav is different than self blue though) When black is introduced to a white bird the offspring don't usually get brassy, so it would seem that dominant black may be a good way to reduce some of the sun bleaching. Black will fade in direct sun. Your car will fade in direct sun. The effects of the sun on color is pretty awesome......

Walt

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
And there was a small hypothesis moment earlier, do lav x lav birds have this problem more than birds that are more heavily bred back to black?

I don't have any lavender birds around, so I don't have experience with them. I can say that while judging lav birds I have seen plenty that are sun beached. I would also say that it depends on what is in their background...... but because it is a light color it appears that they are very prone to changes in color caused by the sun.
Self blue will change color from the sun pretty quickly and it looks like lav. (some folks say lav is different than self blue though) When black is introduced to a white bird the offspring don't usually get brassy, so it would seem that dominant black may be a good way to reduce some of the sun bleaching. Black will fade in direct sun. Your car will fade in direct sun. The effects of the sun on color is pretty awesome......

Walt

I've been told that homozygous Silver will not show yellowing from sun or diet. Is this not correct?

I've also been told that lavender, blue [also, and probably more properly, called Andalusia blue, or better yet laced blue], and self blue are three seperate colors. My limited breeding experience has confirmed that I do have the incomplete dominate gene called [by some] self blue in my Ameraucanas and some could easily be mistaken for lav in appearance. I would also have to say, in my limited experience, that I've never seen a Blue Ameraucana that matched the description given in the SOP. I think B/B/S Ameraucanas would have to carry PG/PG to be the proper color, but I've only begun to attempt to breed it in an EE; and that more because the bird with the body I seek carries PG under black and the pullets happen to be blue.