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Purple sheen on black cockerel

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Kelsey Marinelli:
Hi everyone,

I have a black cockerel that I am really happy with. However, he has purple sheen in addition to the green. As well as a lighter eye color then I would like. I have a beautiful black pullet that I am thinking of pairing with him - she has no purple. I am wondering your thought on using him- is the purple something that will carry to the chicks if the female shows no signs, and if so, any idea of the %? What is you experience with this? Should I just cull him or can I work this?

Birdcrazy:
Kelsey, I don't have any answers on what happens if you use the cockerel in question for your breeding program. I can only tell you my experience with how I handled the very same situation. Quite a few years ago I had the same situation where a few of my breeders showed the purple sheen (some with no green sheen at all). At the time I was not showing but beginning to improve my stock in my breeding program. I read articles and talked to other breeders that were showing at the time and the conclusion was always the same. A good green sheen, not purple was what you wanted on your show birds.
 
I treated this as a defect and went through all of my breeding stock and culled all that showed any evidence of purple, no matter of confirmation and close to standard of perfection. I know some of the hens I kept that did not show purple probably had it in their background somewhere. I only used cocks and cockerels that had extreme green sheen. It only took me a couple more years of culling and that was the end of the purple sheen. It has been years since I have had a bird with a purple sheen.

I know sometimes it is hard to cull and sometimes you have to go with the best you have. If this is the only choice you have for a good sire bird, my suggestion is use him but keep good records on the offspring so if it becomes a problem, you have a direction to begin culling.

DeWayne Edgin:
Here is my thoughts but this is just my opinion. Since he is a Black Ameraucana, i would cull him. If he was a variety that is hard to find then i may try to work with him. But that purple will cary on to his chicks. I just talked to a long time member about this last Sunday while he was at my house looking over my birds. Gordan is right that it will take years of culling to get this out of your flock. But there are more Black Ameraucanas around than any other varietey so it shouldn`t be that hard to finda good Black Rooster. Something about this Roosters back doesn`t look right to me either. My birds backs have a more gradual rise at the base of their tail. It may just be the way he stands in the pictures also and you can`t tell by a picture how he will carry himself when he is walking. Some of the long time breeders should give their thoughts here soon so maybe they can offer their advice.  :)

Don:
Kelsey,  as DeWayne and Gordon mention, you could get a new line or cull this bird if you have those options at this time.  It is late in the season this year.  Do you have anyone close by that has an extra male, maybe one from the same basic family?  When you cross lines you may have other issues such as color leakage expressed in the males.  Good reason to keep good records for your hatches as suggested.

I would start if you can by finding out as much as you can about the parents of your birds.  Are the young birds you have related or at least out of the same line?  Does that breeder have a problem with the purple in many of their birds or do they have mostly beetle green sheen?  What are your females like in color?  Jeffery reported that some that believe that you can balance the color by breeding to a dull colored female.  Some Old English folks used to say that purple could come from feeding corn.  There are a lot of ideas about color issues and purple sheen is a problem in many black varieties. Also some think that is not just the color of the feather but the structure of the feather that creates the purple color.       

Which other Black AM breeders have experience with this issue?   

DeWayne Edgin:
Here are a couple pictures of my Cocks. The Wheaten has a little better tail angle than the Black. In my opinion.

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