EE Question

[Tailfeathers]

I just lost \"Sister\", my only remaining EE and the one that got me into actually breeding, raising, and showing true WBS Ameraucanas.  

It\'s a long story but she succumbed to an illness before I could breed her to my Wheaten and Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas.  I am wanting to develop a tri-colored Wheaten Ameraucana that looks like the Wheaten Marans hens on Bev Davis\' site.

So, below is a picture of Sister.  Can anyone tell me if they have an EE just like her and, even better, if so what was used as a cross to develop it?

Hopefully this picture is large enough for you to see her coloration.  It\'s as big as I can make it to attach it.  If someone thinks they may know what this is but can\'t tell from the small pic, please email me and I\'ll email you with a larger picture.

I\'d really like to have another one or two of these so if anyone knows what was crossed to get her, I\'d be much appreciative and very grateful.  If I can get another one to lay purplish, pink eggs like Sister did, that would be a plus!

God Bless,

[bantamhill]

Is there a larger picture somewhere?

Michael

[bantamhill]

Have you visited with Bev Davis? I suspect the hen color is where she is starting from on her Wheatens. I would suggest consulting directly with her to learn more about this Wheaten hen pattern. Based on the chick color, I believe them to be wheaten hens that happen to have an uneven wheaten color. The Marans Club proposed Standard for Wheaten is at http://www.maransofamericaclub.com/wheaten_marans_73.html.

Michael

[Tailfeathers]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the replies.  You can see a larger picture of Sister on my website at:   http://tailfeathers-royce.spaces.live.com/

Let me know what you think after you see her.  I am thinking it was probably some type of brown partridge bird like a Leghorn or Welsummer.  More likely the Leghorn since it has a white egg?

Thanks for the counsel on talking with Bev.  Actually I thought about that.  I just wasn\'t sure how she might take it if I asked her how she got what she did without making some efforts of my own first.  I kinda felt like it might be asking her to just give away all her hard work.  But I guess if I don\'t ask, I\'ll never know.

God Bless,

[bantamhill]

R.E.:

Nice site! I believe the hen in question is essentially a black breasted red hen or wild type hen. The following link is to Black Breasted Red Old English http://www.bantychicken.com/OEGBCA/vbbred.html. The other option would be quail http://www.bantychicken.com/OEGBCA/vquail.html, but I still lean toward the Black Breasted Red.
A sample of a partridge hen is at http://www.sedgwickcommon.co.uk/partridge%20wyandotte%20bantam%20hen.jpg.

As with wheaten, I believe there are different variations of pattern and color in the black breasted red hen based on the standard.

She is close to the Leghorn Light Brown hen color which is wild type or BBR. I wish I had an APA Standard of Perfection for the Welsummer. I continue to see confusion as to what the variety is . . .

I believe if you raised a back of hatchery pullets you would find a replacement for Sister.

Michael

[verycherry]

Hi Royce,

I just set some eggs from my BBR EE that should hatch in a couple of weeks.  I\'m using her to produce Red Pyles.  I expect I\'ll get some BBR.

The male is from a good egg color line, but she (the BBR) lays a pinkish egg.  Must be related to Sister!  I wasn\'t going to use her because of this at first, but she\'s what I need colorwise.  The last few eggs I\'ve gotten from her were very washed out though.  I was surprised at how white they were, just a hint of pink.

After I use her for a while, I could breed her to my Wheaten male and get some eggs from that breeding, but their offspring would probably produce a blue or blue-green egg.

Here is her picture.  Is she what you had in mind?....or am I way off?

[Mike Gilbert]

Royce,
Your hen looks to be split between wheaten and wild type at the e locus IMHO.   This means she would not have bred true to color anyway.   Best to go for pure wild type or pure wheaten.

[Tailfeathers]

Wow!  You guys are terrific.  I never fail to be helped by the folks on here anytime I have a question.

VeryCherry, your hen looks close but she\'s got a bit more black and orange in her hackles.  I had one similar to her and sold her.  It is ironic though that they are close in color and both laid a pink egg.  All that being said, if you breed her to your Wheaten male, I\'d be interested in talking to you about getting a dozen hatching eggs.  Email me!

Michael, I actually thought the same thing about just getting a bunch of hatchery chicks and perhaps getting another one like her.  As I watch some various poultry sites and people show pics of the EE\'s, it appears that often there are the same colors of EE\'s showing up in a given year.  I suppose that has to do with the eggs that are being bought by the hatcheries or what is collected from those who breed their own EE\'s.  

I will have to study up some on the BBR thing.  Obviously you are way more further along in the genetics area than I am.  What breed true or not at the e-locus is all Greek to me.  Like, what\'s an \"e locus\"??

Glad you liked the site.  It\'s not really a poultry site but it works for now.  When I get time I\'m gonna make a website just for my poultry fancy.  First I need to come up with something that goes with \"Tailfeathers\" so I can name the ranch and the site.  All I\'ve come up with so far is \"Soggy Tailfeathers Ranch\", \"Tall Tailfeathers Ranch\" and \"Too Many Tailfeathers Ranch\" but none of those seem to sit just right or have the right ring to them.

I am also going to email Bev and talk with her when I get some time.  If she\'s anything like y\'all (and me), she\'ll not mind giving me some help getting started and sharing some of her experience.

The \"tri-colored Bev Davis Wheaten look-alike\" project is just a pet project of mine that I hope to work on.  Right now I\'m still finishing up with my Wheaten & Blue Wheaten breeding pens if you can believe that.  I am going to be hatching chicks sooooooo late this year!  

Thanks again everybody for the feedback.

God Bless,

[verycherry]

Hi Royce,

I had someone call out of the blue and make an offer on my Wheaten male a few nights ago and I took the offer, so I won\'t be able to do that mating this fall.  They had admired him when they visited to buy some bantam chicks for the fair/show and really liked him.  I never got around to buying any Wheaten females for him (he\'s been with my EE hens), and I sorely need the space right now, so I let him go.  

If Mike says the Wheaten/BBR cross won\'t breed true, then you\'d have probably just been disappointed with the chicks anyway.  

I\'m hatching some chicks now as I\'m typing this, and the first egg from Cleo (the hen pictured) to hatch is a nice BBR.  If you want to try to get some of these eggs sometime, just email me.  Well, gotta get back home and see what else I have in the bator!  Have a good one!

[bantamhill]

I never answered the question you asked . . . try crossing silver and blue wheaten.

Michael

[Tailfeathers]

Thanks VeryCherry.  I\'ll keep that in mind.

Thanks Mike.  After looking at the Silver female, I can see where that might be a good start.  

It looks like this year is probably shot to try and play with that project so I\'m just gonna focus on my Wheatens and Blue Wheatens.  Next year will be the same and then what I can on my Welsummers and Barnevelders.  

If time allows after that, I\'ll think about playing with the tri-colored Wheaten project again.

God Bless,