Self-blue Pre-Qualifying Meet at Shawnee, 12-10-16

[Jen Mitchell]

  If I understand correctly we will only need 25 self blues at two qualifying meets shown by a minimum of 5 members of the APA. This should make it less difficult than the 50 head at one show.

  Harry, now all of our self blue are descendants of your original start.  They came from Jean Ribbeck and Cindy Aultman who purchased hatching eggs.  All of ours from John have been eliminated.  You have four years head start on us, but we have shared them with a lot of people through out the US.  The three other exhibitors of self blue at the pre-qualifying meet all had purchased self blues from Angela & I in the past.  Ernie they were all very similar in type and color but not condition, as most were removed from breeding pens/cages to be taken to the show to meet the quota.

Paul, I'm sorry if this the wrong thread for this, but I am curious... why did you eliminate that line of self blues? I ask because I received a group of chicks from the same source this year and ended up culling almost the entire lot and wanted to know if you had similar issues? I kept a pair, but I am still not entirely thrilled with them...

[DeWayne Edgin]

Paul I have a question for you. Did Cindy Aultman start her own line of Self Blues or did she buy from someone? I'm just curious because my Self Blues came from her. This is a variety that I have that I never researched their background before. I also never added any other lines into them except Blacks from Clif this year. Thanks.

[HarryS]

DeWayne Edgin,  Cindy Aultman got her start from some cheap eggs I sold her in either 2007 or 2008.  I sold them to people to try and promote the color but unfortunately everyone was cashing in on my work so I stopped selling to people.

The same thing happened to me with the lavender Orpingtons and lavender Araucanas by one individual who said he created them. 

[Paul]

Cindy Aultman also started with eggs from Jean Ribbeck, who got her start from Harry.  Jean sent me a photo of a self blue that she started with.  I think Jean said she purchased him from Christina Korfus.  Cindy Aultman and I split a partial box of self blue chicks from John Blehm.  I think Cindy quit the birds later that same year.

[HarryS]

Paul, yes Christina Korfus got two cockerels from me in Lavender Ameraucanas.  She also got eggs that were Orpingtons but can't remember the color may have been whites/cuckoos.

Cindy had her birds for several years before she quit.  I think she sold the original birds to some one.

[DeWayne Edgin]

Thanks Harry and Paul! I got a Lavender Rooster from Cindy, three Lavender hens and a Black hen to. She said the Black hen came from John but I never used her. I sold the Black hen and I still have the Lavender Rooster. I bred from the Lavenders and kept a few pullets the following year and I still have them old girls. This year I bred them to a Black Rooster that I raised from Clif. I had 40 splits here but I lost a few and there are 30 some right now that I'm growing out. I never really knew the background on my birds till now and it is interesting to learn about it. So basically Harry's birds went to Texas from PA and I bought some from Cindy and they came back to PA to me. Kinda funny to look at it that way I guess. I have learned a ton of history on these Ameraucanas and I hope to make history on a few birds before I pass or sell for whatever reason may come up. Thanks again gentleman.

[Don]

Don,

 I plan to give Jean Ribbeck a chance to come up with the next pre-qualifying meet of 4444 which has to be between June 11, 2017 and early Jan. 2018.  My safety net, for the acceptance of the self blue is "The Bluebonnet Classic" at College Station, Texas on Jan. 6, 2018 for the other 4444, if Jean doesn't manage to get it done first!  I realize this will be a Texas only show.  The four who showed self blue at the SC district meet in Shawnee, OK. were all from Texas.  According to what I was told the 4444 pre-qualifying meets don't have a minimum number of exhibitors but the more the better!  The qualifying meets have a requirement of a minimum of 5 and all 5 must be APA members before the show.

Jean, What show do you think might work well for the next pre-qualifying meet? 
I guess it couldn't hurt to have several shows where we had a large turn out of the Color to demonstrate their popularity, maybe even have a good number of bantams too.   What shows do you think might work for your area Paul?   

[Paul]

  Shawnee, OK.; College Station, Tex.; Ft. Worth, Tex.; and possibly Comanche, Tex.  We will need it to be late in the year to get the cocks and hens in show shape.  Shawnee is 2nd weekend in Dec.; College Station-first Saturday in Jan.; Ft. Worth,-2nd or 3rd weekend in Jan. (this one changes weekends due to splitting the show Jr. or open); Comanche 2nd weekend in Feb.

  We must have one more successful 4444 meet between June 10, 2017 and early Jan. 2018 to meet APA requirements.

  The date requirements only leave Shawnee, OK. and College Station, Tex.  Since Shawnee was our first 4444 pre-qualifying meet, I don't know if it is eligible for the 2nd pre-qualifying meet.  If not, that leaves only College Station!

[DeWayne Edgin]

Here are a few pictures I took today of two of my 2014 hatch hens. They are still laying and it was a very windy day here today so their feathers where blowing around. These hens are ones that I hatched after I got my birds from Cindy. Give me your thoughts on them please.

[Susan Mouw]

Here are a few pictures I took today of two of my 2014 hatch hens. They are still laying and it was a very windy day here today so their feathers where blowing around. These hens are ones that I hatched after I got my birds from Cindy. Give me your thoughts on them please.

Very nice, DeWayne!

[DeWayne Edgin]

Thanks Susan.

[Don]

DeWayne, you have some nice birds to work with there for sure.  How many did you raise this season? Are all of these from one mating, SB/SB?  Are those some splits as well?  I hope you have some of these to share for some other breeders this spring.  The only thing that I can say from the photos, wind aside, I would watch the fluff on the SBs.   With birds like we are seeing recently on the Forum we should be seeing a lot more of this color at the shows.  It's time the Self Blues compete directly for Best of Breed and not just Best AOV. 

[DeWayne Edgin]

Don these two hens where hatched back in 2014 and their parents where both Self Blues. I hatched 40 chicks from them a couple months ago but they are all splits from a Black Rooster. I have a couple Self Blues that are younger but I didn't get pictures of them because they was free ranging in the woods when I toke these pictures. They aren't as fluffy as these 2 are either. My egg color on these birds needs improvement that's why I made splits plus other things as well. The fluff should get some help also from these splits I hatched. I'm down to 30 couple splits to pick from now but they are way to small to do anymore culling just yet. After I use them, they will all go out of my flock so there is no chance of a mixed up mating. Since my egg color went down hill, I sold off my SB cockerels to the Amish because I didn't want them influencing my egg color. I hope to have the egg color corrected in 2018 in the fall. We all know there is always things to improve on our birds and there is always a way with help from fellow breeders. I hope everyone has a great 2017 hatch season as well.