Author Topic: HerSHE  (Read 25556 times)

Jean

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« on: November 26, 2011, 12:11:04 PM »
The first visible chocolate project ameraucana bantam chick; she is 75% ameraucana:



And a hatchmate for color comparison:


Jean

jerryse

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« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2011, 01:43:47 PM »
Way to go Jean.I noticed on the choc orp chicks you had at Indy the legs have a choc cast to them.Do they retain this as adults?

Jean

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« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2011, 02:19:49 PM »
Yep, they do.  

I haven\'t planned on getting them recognized because of that.  I knew going in they would have chocolate colored legs.




Jean

dixieland

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HerSHE
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2011, 08:34:58 PM »
Very pretty!!!

Guest

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HerSHE
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2011, 07:31:59 PM »
Super cute!  Congrats!

Korfus Kluckers

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HerSHE
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2011, 01:17:57 AM »
How about calling the legs chocolate slate :) Still solid with color.

jerryse

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« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2011, 07:15:00 PM »
I agree slate should be part of the leg description.Possibly slate with a chocolate tint.The gene that turns black to chocolate also affects leg color.You could still cross to black for improvements and have blacks that are showable.We would only be admitting a genetic reality not corrupting the gene pool.

Jean

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« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2012, 11:39:21 PM »
Updated photo of our little girl:



The toes are a horn color also.
Jean

crystalcreek

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« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2012, 10:20:29 AM »
The shanks don\'t look chocolate at all, is it just the picture?  The horn in the beak; however, does.  Are the toenails the same?  What an interesting color gene.

Jean

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« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2012, 10:29:17 AM »
The legs are a slaty chocolate color.  The flash kind of washed her out and this was the best of the pictures I took.  

The beak is more of a chocolate color also as are the toe nails.
Jean

bryngyld

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« Reply #10 on: January 24, 2012, 11:25:34 AM »
Don\'t other breeds have varieties with different leg color for a specific variety?  I think we might re-visit this issue.  The barred project is in a similar spot, with the genetics for the color not allowing true slate legs.  We already allow black legs on black.

I truly believe that the growth of the Ameraucana breed lies in taking away part of the HUGE customer base and popularity of the Easter Egger market.  Having exciting colors to go with the egg color should entice folks over to the breed.
Lyne Peterson
Northern California

Mike Gilbert

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« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2012, 11:35:34 AM »
One of the major reasons we created an Ameraucana breed and standard in the first place was to get away from the circus atmosphere surrounding the easter eggers, false claims of egg superiority,  wierd coloring  and shapes, etc.    Our national meet at Indianapolis last October drew the 7th largest entry out of about 35 breed club national meets.   I don\'t see where surrendering our principled approach to creating and maintaining the breed will improve anything.  We already have 16 recognized varieties of Ameraucanas if you count bantams and large fowl as seperate, plus lavender and splash waiting in the wings for enough breeders to qualify them.   I believe it is a huge mistake to let existing varieties slide into or remain in mediocrity for lack of breeders in order to create endless numbers of new varieties.  

bryngyld

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« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2012, 02:37:05 PM »
I agree with the embarrassing circus atmosphere, but think we might be able to use a little of it.

I also agree with not wanting an endless parade of new colors... sort of like some other breeds, especially in bantam.  How has this affected Old English?  I seem to see a new variety every year, it seems.

I also think that if some colors remain unpopular and it\'s a struggle to maintain them, perhaps that\'s where they should remain - a minor variety.  If you can\'t sell the birds to new customers, why keep raising them?

Black gold appears to be fading away before it really got started.   Perhaps the color is too boring to attract new breeders.  Maybe it needs to be more different than brown/red... another boring color?

I\'m not pretending to have answers.  I just think the questions need to be asked.
Lyne Peterson
Northern California

Mike Gilbert

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« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2012, 07:21:53 PM »
Lyne, what may be boring to one person may be eye candy to another.   I happen to feel the brown reds are the most attractive of all the varieties we have, plus it has the advantage of being a real challenge to reproduce correctly in high percentages.   To me, solid white and solid black are the most boring - but I don\'t expect others to necessarily agree.

jerryse

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« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2012, 08:22:13 PM »
Perhaps it is time to survey the membership on the leg color issues.In the past we have always settled  matters with a vote.Mottled,barred/cuckoo and chocolate projects are all hampered by genetic reality.We broke the slate only barrier a long time ago when we allowed black legs on the black variety.