Breeding out green in eggs

[Guest]

How would you go about breeding green out of eggs in a buff ameraucana? Can it be done while still keeping the buff?

[John]

If you have birds that are of very good quality otherwise I would hatch only the bluest eggs year after year.

If the strain of birds needs other improvements in type, comb, leg color, etc. I would cross them with another variety of Ameraucana, such as wheaten or white, that will help to both improve the egg color and other breed traits.

[Guest]

Im not sure on the quality of them otherwise... havnt seen them yet... im assuming they are not going to be all that great though as i dont think the breeder shows his birds...

To keep the buff > which is the best colour araucana to breed with? Do you breed/are you developing buff ameraucana?

[John]

First try to find buff Araucanas from more than one source to breed together.
If they are not available try using a recessive wheaten with good egg color to cross with the buffs.  It may take a few generations to get back to good buff color.  
The best outcross option may be to use a buff laced Polish.  I\'ve used that as one of the outcrosses to develop buff Ameraucanas, which are fairly close to your Australian Araucanas.

[Jean]

John,

What does a recessive wheaten look like?  I just acquired wheatens and blue wheatens and have not began breeding and I have buffs also, so if I were to try to improve my egg color with a recessive wheaten, what am I looking for.

Thanks,

Jean

[Mike Gilbert]

Jean, do you know for sure they are recessive wheaten?   If they are, when they are crossed to a \"wild type\" (small e at the e-locus), the offspring will appear as wild types - the typical BBRed or Silver pattern.   If dominant wheaten, the females  will probably appear to be a mixture of wheaten and wild type.
You can use either with buff.   Buff involves a lot of recessive genes, so you will not get a good buff in the first generation outcross anyway.   It will take several years to get the real good color back.   If you get lucky, there might be some decent ones in the F-2 generation, assuming you raise enough of them.

[Jean]

Mike, I was trying to ask what a recessive wheaten looks like.  I have wheaten and blue wheaten stock and have not breed them, so, I do not have recessive birds....

Jean

[Guest]

Recessive wheaten- Males black brested red with  gray  down under color. Females have more black stippeling in the breast and back than dominate wheaten.

Dominate wheaten- Males are black breasted red with cream or white down under color.

Chick down- recessive wheaten will commonly have head spots and faint back stripes on a cream.

dominate wheaten down may have head spots on a cream down color.

Tim

Want to learn some chickens gentics? try the following site http://home.earthlink.net/~100chickens/id5.html

[Mike Gilbert]

I believe, based on what I have had here the past 30 years, that dominant wheaten and recessive wheaten can appear just about the same, depending on the modifiers present.
B.B.Red, as in Cubalaya, is also a form of wheaten.   Salmon, as in Salmon Faverolles, is based on silver wheaten.   And so it goes.