The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Breeding
Crossing Buff to Wheaten to improve Buff
Guest:
--- Quote from: John ---When I first started reading this topic I thought it pertained to bantams, but now see both LF and bantam buffs are mentioned.
The bantams have the best pea combs in the world! The combs on the LF are getting much better.
Overall both have good type and reasonable size.
Mike and I were able to get dark shanks on the bantams way back when, so they shouldn\'t be a problem.
With the LF I haven\'t worked at getting the shanks dark. I know the genes are there to work with and the shanks are blue to slate on all my birds. Shank color and egg color have taken a back seat to other traits that I have concentrated on more. It\'s that building the barn, before you paint it idea and we\'ve seen a lot of improvement in LF buffs over the past few years.
Look for day-old chicks with even buff down all over...all down, even on top of thier heads should be buff. Toe punch those chicks and see if they grow into the best colored birds. Cull any buff chick that in hatched with dark legs. They should start out like the chicks in the photo and thier shanks will darken with time.
As I read my new APA Standard I noticed the shank color of buffs is to be \"Slate\". I\'ve already given away my old Standard...didn\'t it say something like \"blue to slate\" before?
Were some things changed?
--- End quote ---
I have been partial to the blue legs on the Buff... bummer! :( I need to purchase a new SOP.
I will take your advice in culling the buff chicks with dark legs. Could you tell me what the reason is behind doing this?
Mike Gilbert:
I see nothing wrong with blue slate legs. When they get so pale they look almost white, then we have a problem. If you don\'t see me posting here for awhile or not responding to questions, I\'m not ignoring you. Saturday is opening day of whitetail hunting here, with relatives coming in to hunt, and the ladies will help Mary make lefse, so things are going to be busy here for awhile. If I bag the 30 point buck I\'ll be sure to post a photo, but don\'t hold your breath.
John:
--- Quote ---the reason is behind doing this?
--- End quote ---
http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/mutations1.html
--- Quote ---The E locus alleles produce the base primary colour/patterns to which varieties are build upon.
--- End quote ---
Note: There is a color variety called wheaten and an E locus gene called wheaten (eWh). The two are not the same, but yes the wheaten and buff varieties are based on eWh.
Buff Ameraucanas should be \"wheaten\" (eWh) based and dermal shank color is not expressed in day-old eWh based chicks. That is why day-old wheaten and buff Ameraucanas with the proper genotype won\'t have dark shanks/legs. As they mature the shanks will darken.
Day-old chicks showing dark shanks aren\'t pure for eWh and so you wouldn\'t want to raise them up and breed from them.
If you are trying to breed buffs based on \"brown\" (eb) then ignore all this.
jerryse:
Wheaten x buff has always been the go to cross.I would like to offer another choice that has not been done much.White hens with a buff rooster works also.Red/gold being sex linked the pullets will be buff more or less.Take the pullets back to a buff rooster and save the best buff.You will be surprised how good some of the second generation are.You may get some black and buff pullets in the first generation but use them anyway.The second generation will restore the genes that make them buff.I can send pics of this cross in bantam if you like.I have a terrible time posting pics on the forum but do ok in emails. jerrysegler@yahoo.com
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