Blue Wheaten ??

[Guest]

Just joined the forum.

I purchased and hatched eggs from three different sources.  I have two roos with blue wheaten feathering, one with black, and two that I assume are splash.  (lots of different colors)

I also have 5 hens - they all look basically alike.

What do I keep?  Breed??  Breed what to what?

I\'d like to maintain a flock of approx. 15.  I can keep a couple of extra roos with my mixed flock.

Any advice/info appreciated.

[bantamhill]

Welcome to the forum!

The following varieties work together:

- wheaten/blue wheaten/splash wheaten
-black/blue/splash

The deeper question is really about breeding verses keeping. You can run many varieties together when you are not breeding and you can keep multiple cocks of different varieties, but when you want to produce chicks you will need smaller seperate pens to breed the different varieties.

Michael

[Mike Gilbert]

If you plan to breed your own, keep at least two males, preferably penned seperately from the females except when saving hatching eggs.   This will keep the females in better feather condition and be more pleasing to look at.    I like to breed wheaten to blue wheaten, as that will yield about half of each variety.   If you want to produce 100% blue wheaten, however, use splash wheaten over wheaten or vice versa.    We will be happy to respond to any specific questions you may have from time to time.   Welcome!

[Guest]

So if I keep a pen with the best looking of each color rooster, and at this point all of the hens, I\'ll keep every option open.

The Wheaten roo has the black feathering?

I\'m hoping to attend the Nationals in Columbus, Ohio this year so I can get a good look at some quality birds.  Maybe take some pictures for referrence.

[bantamhill]

Lee,

Here is the link to photos on the club website.

http://www.ameraucana.org/scrapbook.html

Michael

[Guest]

Anyone know of a site with \"Splash\" photos??

[John]

There are a couple \"splash\" photos under this topic:
http://ameraucana.org/abcforum/index.php?a=topic&t=351&min=0&num=15

[Tailfeathers]

Hi Lee,

There are lots of folks on here that are experts and can give you a whole lot better advice and counsel than myself but since you\'ve got my variety, I think I\'d tell you what I did this year.  

First though, you mentioned

and two that I assume are splash.  (lots of different colors.

Would you mind posting a pic of those?  Also, out of curiosity, were the three sources you bought eggs from breeders from the ABC Directory\'s Breeder List?  I only ask because I have talked with a couple of others who bought what they thought were Wheaten Ameraucanas only to find out they were in actuality Easter Eggers.  

What do I keep? Breed?? Breed what to what?

That would depend on what you are looking for obviously in the desired results.  I.E.  Birds that you can show and have the best APA SOP?  Egg Color?  Egg Size?  Egg quantity?  Etc.  Also, do you want Wheatens, Blue Wheatens, Splash Wheatens, or a combination of those?

You know, I sure hope this doesn\'t come across as insulting.  I\'m just trying to cover the bases.

Here are the genetics for the WBS:

Wheaten x Wheaten = 100% Wheaten
Wheaten x Blue Wheaten = 50% Wheaten & 50% Blue Wheaten
Wheaten x Splash Wheaten = 100% Blue Wheaten
Blue Wheaten x Blue Wheaten= 50% Blue Wheaten, 25% Wheaten, 25% Splash Wheaten
Splash Wheaten x Splash Wheaten = 100& Splash Wheaten
Splash Wheaten x Blue Wheaten = 50% Splash Wheaten & 50% Blue Wheaten

Now, I had four roosters from Paul that were of different lines and three pullets from different lines than those as well as one pullet from a same line.

I originally put a plan together to breed all four roosters over all the females except for not breeding my #15 rooster over my #15 female.  That gave me a total of 15 different breeding pens.  

I subsequently found white developing in the earlobes of my #12 Wheaten rooster so I sold him before breeding him.  That left me with 11 breeding pens.  

Because I know next to nothing about breeding, I kept records of who the parents were in each pen and each chick is toe-punched with the corresponding breeding pen.  My goal is to achieve the best SOP birds I can without sacrificing egg color, size, and production.  

I have two #10 pullets that lay my biggest egg but also lay the lightest colored egg.  I have a couple of Wheaten hens that lay a very nicely colored egg albeit smaller and less often.  By doing the above, I hope to be able to trace back to the parents I want to keep and those I want to cull or at least which lines to keep and which to discard.

In other words, whatever rooster darkens up my light colored eggs, I\'ll keep.  Whatever rooster lightens up my darkest colored eggs, I\'ll cull.  

I\'m only hoping that once that happens, I don\'t run into problems with type, color, faults, DQs, or worse egg size and/or production.  

Btw, I got two Splash Wheaten pullets this year but no cockerels.  I am still wanting a Splash Wheaten rooster like those pics John referred you too.

I hope that helps.

God Bless,