Ameraucana Breeders Club

The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club => Ameraucana Marketplace => Topic started by: Jess on March 19, 2011, 06:58:30 PM

Title: Beards and Muffs
Post by: Jess on March 19, 2011, 06:58:30 PM

Evening Folks,
I just bought 4 Blue Wheaten hens and a Beautiful Blue Wheaten rooster.
These chickens were ordered from Wayne Meredeth back in May, 2010.
I think they are gorgeous.
But I have one question. One of the hens does not have a beard or muff. Is this a defect that I should cull this hen for, or does this this happen every now and then?
Thanks
Jess

Title: Beards and Muffs
Post by: John on March 19, 2011, 09:20:44 PM

If she is an otherwise good hen then maybe breed from her.
Do a search for \"muffs\" and you\'ll get lots of opinions.
 http://ameraucana.org/abcforum/index.php?a=topic&t=465

Title: Beards and Muffs
Post by: Jess on March 20, 2011, 10:40:22 PM

Here are som photos of the hens with beards and the one without a beard.
Thanks
Jess

Title: Beards and Muffs
Post by: Jess on March 20, 2011, 10:48:06 PM

some more pictures

Title: Beards and Muffs
Post by: WMeredith on March 23, 2011, 02:48:51 PM

I would never breed from the clean faced bird. After all my years breeding this still comes up occasionally. If you breed from her you only will get more in the future.
Keep her as an egg layer only.
Wayne

Title: Beards and Muffs
Post by: Mike Gilbert on March 23, 2011, 03:33:48 PM

You have to mate two birds that are both hetero (one gene instead of two) for Mb (muffs and beard) to get clean faced.
Usually homozygous Mb birds will have fuller muffs and beards than heteros.   Homozygous Mb to clean faced matings will yield 100% heteros.   So if you want to purify your flock it may be wise to test mate suspected heteros to clean faced birds.   If you get any F1 chicks from the test mating with clean faced, you will know the tested bird is hetero for Mb.

Title: Beards and Muffs
Post by: Guest on March 23, 2011, 04:34:57 PM

I\'ve come back to look at her pics several times, and suspicion she\'s not cleaned faced; but very sparcly muffed. I would not use her to breed either way, and would be looking at my related birds with a pretty hard eye; but to each their own.

Title: Beards and Muffs
Post by: Jess on March 23, 2011, 05:38:05 PM

Evening,
Thanks folks for the advice.
I didn\'t want to use her for a breeder so I gave her to my daughter-in-law yesterday.
That leaves me with three to get eggs from to set.
I have 25 Wheaten chicks comming from Ms Barbara Campbell at the last of this month, so I think this will get me off to a good start.
I plan to cull real hard to start with.
I will keep only the best of the best.
Thanks again
Jess

Title: Beards and Muffs
Post by: grisaboy on March 24, 2011, 08:46:27 AM

She may just have lost her beard. Molted or picked out by the others.  Wait and see if it grows back.  You have several nicely bearded birds so you don\'t need to use her if her beard doesn\'t grow in.

Curtis