The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Breeding

Purple sheen on black cockerel

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Kelsey Marinelli:
It's a tough decision because he is my only black rooster at this time. :-\ I culled out all the others I had for various reasons. I do not have specifics on the coloring or line that he came from unfortunately. The females I have are a nice black with green but it is not bright like on Dewaynes.

I have two new blue roosters that I bought from a breeder that purchased Paul smith birds and had extras but I don't want to breed different varieties together. Especially since I am just starting out. I think I will hold off on the blacks for now and wait to see how these blues develop.

I don't want to breed him just because he is my only black. As much as I would love to hatch some of my own for the first time - it's more important to me to do it right. Hopefully by the mid/end of summer I can have another coop up and I can purchase a new line of birds after that.

Thank you all for taking the time to advise!

DeWayne Edgin:
You can use a Blue Rooster on your Black hens. You will get 50% Blue and 50% Black chicks. Then you can use one of your Black chicks ( cockerel ) that you hatched, over your Black hens the following year. It will also buy you lots of time to find a new Black or two.

DeWayne Edgin:
I forgot to mention that you can line breed chicks to their parents but it is not good to breed sibblings together. I breed parents sometimes to their young ones but i only do it once then i get a different non related bird to use. The main reason i do it once in awhile is to get better egg color or to keep feather quality in my line. For example, i have done this with my Buffs to get the nice Buff color down to the skin. After my birds started coming out good, i brought in non related birds that had the nice color to breed in. Now i get good feather color and good egg color.

Lee G:
Taken from my notes about breeding blacks...not sure who to credit, as it's quite old.

"Purple sheen is caused by too much black melanizer. Flat black is caused by too little black melanizers. The green sheen is caused by the correct amount. The black melanizers or enhancers are the genes that complete the colour black. It's basically a balancing act as far as breeding for it. A dull or flat black bird crossed to a purple or plum hue bird will usually produce good green sheen. Green sheen is not terribly difficult to produce one you establish it in your line."

I've never had a plum hue black, but I have had dull blacks, and can confirm when bred to the right mate, the offspring all had nice, green sheen. This was with gold based birds, not sure if a silver base would change that or not.

Personally, if you have the space and feed, I would pair him with your best black hen with good, green sheen and your best dull black hen, and see what can be learned from the offspring. I know I've said this before, but I truly believe our birds are the best teachers. There are no breeding mistakes, only lessons and experience to be gained. ;) Good luck with your hatching! :)

Cesar “CJ”:

--- Quote from: DeWayne Edgin on May 09, 2016, 09:38:39 PM ---I forgot to mention that you can line breed chicks to their parents but it is not good to breed sibblings together. I breed parents sometimes to their young ones but i only do it once then i get a different non related bird to use. The main reason i do it once in awhile is to get better egg color or to keep feather quality in my line. For example, i have done this with my Buffs to get the nice Buff color down to the skin. After my birds started coming out good, i brought in non related birds that had the nice color to breed in. Now i get good feather color and good egg color.

--- End quote ---

I dissagree with you DeWayne. You can breed siblings together but, but remember that positive and negative traits will be enhanced more with siblings. When breeding siblings its find two siblings that will enhance each other's positive attributes. hatching more than usual would be prefer so you can cull hard for that offspring that has all the positive traits.

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