The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Breeding
Chick phenotype
dak:
Maybe I've been lucky to this point, but I have yet to see a black chick with brown on the head. I have had a chick that had a mottled appearance on the head and chest whn it feathered in, but didn't retain the white.
How about white tipped primaries in a juvenile. Is there a certain number/amount you can expect to disappear?
And leg/toe pigment? If the Blacks aren't E/E, but rather based on birchen wouldn't culling early be unwise?
Tailfeathers:
John, from what I've seen of your operation, and that's not much but enough to see, I doubt being lazy has anything to do with it. More like the problem of only having 24 hours in a day and the unfortunate necessity of having to make a living on top of getting done what we can with our hobby.
I am still hoping to create a weekly photo journal of my three varieties thru their first year. I've yet to get very far with that. And now you've gone and given me one more thing I would have to record! Thanks a lot! :P
I've got my new Canon 7D at the ready but I can see now where I really need to sit down and create some kind of Word or Excel document to keep a running tally of characteristics so I can see what patterns develop. Do you have anything you already use that you'd like to share for the WBS variety? If not, any suggestions?
For any other WBS variety breeders out there, John's observations bring to my mind he benefit we would all receive if we talked and shared more with each other. Perhaps there is a cross over with other varieties but I would think that we could all benefit if we find things like this and share it with each other. Obviously one can verify another's observations for themselves before counting it as gospel truth but it certainly is a head start on perhaps an otherwise totally overlooked trait.
Moreover, how much better off would we all be if we didn't have to keep feeding a bird for a much longer period of time only to find out they are a cull? How many other WBS breeders are on here? If any of you would like to work together on the variety, send me an email and let's talk.
God Bless,
Royce
Mike Gilbert:
--- Quote from: dak on March 03, 2013, 12:20:48 AM ---And leg/toe pigment? If the Blacks aren't E/E, but rather based on birchen wouldn't culling early be unwise?
--- End quote ---
Good point if you have a "mixed" group of chicks, some E/E, some E/ER, some ER/ER. I think John is saying he would like for all his to be E/E so there is less concern about the additional melanizers, but correct me if I'm wrong John. Since I don't raise as many in any one variety as some, I tend to wait until later to cull. There are still plenty of things to watch for, primarily physical defects or unthriftiness, in the grow-out process. Years ago I thought wheaten and blue wheaten chicks should be culled if they had a dark spot or two in the chick down. Turns out they are the ones with the best tail and wing color if they are females. Live and learn.
Tailfeathers:
Mike, that "dark spot or two in the chick down", are you referring to the spot on the head or the "line" as John referred to?
God Bless,
Mike Gilbert:
Either. If they have a few dark markings the females will tend to have better tail and wing color. But sometimes along with that you get a darker shade of wheaten female, and I always preferred the lighter shade. Therein is the challenge of breeding wheaten Ameraucana females; light creamy top color while maintaining sufficient black in the wing and tail feathers. It's a wonderful color but difficult to achieve.
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