I have a few birds from my first year matings of Black Ameraucan crossed with Partridge Plymouth Rocks. I only was able to hatch out 10 eggs due to weather and other variables. I had the fortune to get 9 cockerals and 1 pullet. Needless to say I don\'t need all of these males and want to get the number down to 1-2 for this year. Hopefully next year willl take care of itself with the crosses from this spring.
All of the cockerals show some red/mahogany coloring in the neck hackles, wings and sides. Most actually have some muffs and beards. Eyes appear to be the right color along with the beak. Where things start to differ are in leg coloring and wattles. All birds are from the same hatch and the more robust males have large wattles, much like the Partridge Rock cock that was used in the initial cross. The others do not have these large wattles. One or two other larger males ,without the wattles, show yellowing on the shanks and feet. It does not appear to be solid though because there also appears to be black to slate coloring throughout.
My question, at this point, are either of these traits harder to remove down the line with a partridge Ameraucan in mind? I realize the numbers are small, but I wanted to see if I could get this one pullet to breed with one of these cockerals that I will keep. I know that one has to weight the pros and cons of each trait when looking at the goal in mind, but will one hurt more than help in getting the partridge color into Ameraucanas?
Thanks for the advice in advance,
Ken