Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[pips&peeps]

The blue coloring of the ameraucana shell is produced by the liver, so the healthier the bird, the better the color you will get. There are certain vitamins and minerals too that enhance liver function, so maybe the birds are getting more of what they need now.

Eggs do lighten in color though over the laying season and will be a darker blue when the molt is over and they begin the cycle over.

There is a link a few pages back about some research on a different species of bird that lays blue eggs.

 

[fowlman01]

Walt,

Will the term Lavender ever be accepted in the SOP and Bantam Standard?

The Standard has called the color self Blue since 1960 something.



ETA: the Silkie club tried to call it lavender and failed.

The ABA and the APA are trying to keep our descriptions and terms exactly the same, so I'm not sure that lavender will ever be used. As you say Jim, the Silkie people are on record as wanting the self blue Silkie to be called lavender. Self blue has been used forever and the term lavender is a pretty new term in the scheme of things. The feeling of the two clubs is that since self blue has been used so long to describe this color that it could be confusing if all of a sudden lavender is used. My personal feeling is that if lavender is used the existing self blue varieties should be called lavender as well and that seems to be a sticking point. The OEG guys are very vocal about leaving it the way it is and there are a lot of them.

Anything can be changed if the membership indicates it should be changed. (90% of the people who want it changed to lavender are new to poultry. (5 years or less). This has been discussed by both Boards and the consensus so far is to leave it self blue. Boards change........all things change eventually.

Walt

 

[pips&peeps]

Hey Walt, I'd like to know where you got that figure of 90% are new to poultry. I think you have pulled numbers out of the air and that is not an accurate statement.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: I knew that, it is just odd that no one took enough interest to get them admitted.

 

[kathyinmo]

Well, I don't show, I don't vote in club elections, I don't offer much to any poultry organization (except my dues), and my opinion is just that - an opinion. My worthless opinion is that the gene that produces the color - and it is called the lavender gene - should be the name of the variety. But who am I?

As someone new to the poultry world (less than 5 years), the term "self blue," has always been confusing to me. Blue is blue. Lavender is lavender. In my simple mind.......

I think the "old timers," are stuck on the past, and I also think they didn't use to look at the genetics (and consider the genes responsible). Things change, and I believe it is possible to get it accepted and changed. Just takes time and the majority. New, young, fresh minds can accomplish alot - with their knowledge, their votes, and their determination. And that's another opinion of mine.

By the way, I am (sorta) old myself, and I hate change - in many things. But this just makes sense to me. I hated when the computer world took over hand charting and such, in the medical field I work in. But - that's technology and change. Gotta accept it......

 

[Christie Rhae]

Don't have much time to spend online this summer... just catching up a bunch of pages of reading on this thread.
Very interesting stuff guys! Good reading!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

The blue coloring of the ameraucana shell is produced by the liver, so the healthier the bird, the better the color you will get.

The birds I hatched out of your eggs must have SPECTACULAR livers, especially the black, because I'm getting superb blue eggs!!!

 

[ashandvine]

Change is immutable but we could try to be educated in our opinions before changing anything on purpose... in my opinion
I am new. I've been around chix/farms a long time but only just 'got serious,' though I am NOT one of those newbies into every fad or carrying a chicken in a purse! I guess my new status is what makes me frustrated the most. I want to learn and there is a LOT to learn. I guess that is why confusing terms like EE and Lavender vs Self Blue are frustrating and got me a bit steamy. Well, that and that EEs... have a bit of a stigma in here. Those people who want to learn should be encouraged, not shunned or ignored or shut out... in my opinion. I am aware that perfection doesn't really exist and its all just an idea/ideal so when we we worry about SOP I admire the work and remember that its opinion again. Majority rules, I just worry about the majority being too new to know it doesn't know much... like me I don't remember Plato writing about birds but maybe he should have.

 

[fowlman01]

Hey Walt, I'd like to know where you got that figure of 90% are new to poultry. I think you have pulled numbers out of the air and that is not an accurate statement.

That is what I have found with the people who ask about lavender. I didn't pull that from anywhere except what my records show. I keep track of such things, because it does have a bearing on how the Committee reacts to requests. Obviously you can believe whatever you like. Do you keep records of this? I am talking about all inquries about lavender, not just from AM breeders. I am not sure you know much about who talks to me about color.

Walt

 

[fowlman01]

"Boards change........all things change eventually".

This is what I said in my post. Don't become annoyed at the messenger. I can't think of anything that could not be changed if people really want a change, but you have to get out of your little world and find out what the majority of poultry people want. I have access to some of that info but no one else posting here does and BYC is certainly not the pulse of the poultry fancy.

Walt.