light brown project report

[jerryse]

We are having a winter storm here today to be followed by zero degree temps.I am house bound and bored.So I thought you might like to see some pics of the light browns in LF and bantam.The first two pics are of LF.I plan to use a silver LF I got from John to improve size.The next pics are bantam.The roo is golden/Lt. brn. split and produced the Lt. Brn. pullets I have.I plan to use him over the pullets to get some full Lt. Brn. cockerals.

[bryngyld]

Interesting project.  What breed did you cross with?  How different will the final product be from black gold?

[Mike Gilbert]

Light browns have been around since at least the 1970\'s.  Wayne Meredith used to raise 100\'s of them, but switched over to wheaten when that was accepted into the standard.   Male wheatens with hackle striping appear very similar to light browns - too similar.   Some hatchery stock still comes in light brown, as I heard some of Wayne\'s EE eggs used to go to McMurrays years ago.  Of course a lot of the hatchery stock has yellow skin too.  That is another reason why we don\'t call them Ameraucanas.   Lyne, they are not like black gold.  Light brown e locus is wild type e+, black gold is birchen E>R.

[jerryse]

Lyne.These came from EEx silver Ameraucana cross.The bantams were bred from LF EE x silver ameraucana bantam and back to silver bantam.    Jerry

[bryngyld]

Ah.  I get it.  I love some of the EE hatchery colors... and yes, they seem to all have willow legs around here.  I actually like the willow legs and sort of wish we chose that color like the Araucana.  (water under the bridge)

The blonde neck on one fellow made me think about the golden straw color of the black gold.  Wondered if there were similarities in that.

A light brown variety might encourage more of the EE owners to breed up to the standard.  It\'s mind boggling that we have one of the most popular \"hatchery\" breeds, but one of the rarer show breeds.  Makes one wonder if we are doing something wrong.

[John]

Makes one wonder if we are doing something wrong.

I\'m sure there are things we could be doing better, but the hatcheries are the ones doing wrong by using official breed names to sell mixed breed birds.  They continue to put income above ethics.  Money is nice, but we are into this because we love the fancy.

[jerryse]

Yes I do get some females with straw colored necks.Also pops up in brn red.I don\'t know what gene is involved. Jerry

[Mike Gilbert]

Yes I do get some females with straw colored necks.Also pops up in brn red.I don\'t know what gene is involved. Jerry

Probably Dilute (Di).  It\'s dominant, so only takes one copy to have an effect on coloring.  Or it could be the controversial \"Champagne Blonde\" identified by Hollander.
He said cb was a recessive.  Others think it is dominant, so Cb.  Some don\'t think it even exists.  I don\'t think anybody really knows for sure.  

[Mike Gilbert]

 It\'s mind boggling that we have one of the most popular \"hatchery\" breeds, but one of the rarer show breeds.  Makes one wonder if we are doing something wrong.

How rare they are depends on where you are located.  Ameraucanas are not rare at all in my neck of the woods.  They win their share of awards at the shows here in the Midwest.   I think Jean, Lisa Cree, and others have them pretty well known in the Pacific Northwest too.   Certainly Paul Smith has made them well known in the South Central part of the country, as he has Master Exhibitor on Black Am LF.
Actually, I think we are doing all right.  I suppose we could be doing a lot better if everyone was pulling in the same direction, but where\'s the fun in that?