Jess, I am really disappointed to read that you\'ve had such bad results thus far with your chicks and eggs. But I want to encourage you to hang in there and stick with the WBS variety as I, for one, believe it\'s the BEST variety of Ameraucanas!
Yes, they need a lot of work but that\'s one of the fun things about working with them if you let it be.
There are a WHOLE LOT MORE experienced folks on here than me but I\'d like to offer a few suggestions and then let them comment on them if they so desire.
First, start with a plan. A specific plan. And I would identify one or two at the most specific traits that you wish to improve on. Within that, I\'d try to select traits that have dominant genes to work from. For example, maybe you want to get a better comb. Or maybe get rid of those birds that show up without beard/muffs. Or maybe it\'s eye color, leg color, length of back, tail carriage, weight, etc. Breed birds that will only produce those results for sure - or at least the majority of the offspring should have those results.
Work on getting that one or two traits set and then re-prioritize. Trying to fix everything (or a lot of things) at once I believe is a waste of time and effort. Once you\'ve got that set, then you can move on to the next one or two traits. And btw, egg color is the last thing I would worry about. Blue is dominant so you should be able to get that back in a short time. More on this later.
Secondly, I\'m not the brightest bulb in the socket and I know it so I don\'t try to do more than I can. For me, outcrossing would be a waste of time. I don\'t have the smarts for it. So before I would go outcross to another breed, I would look for bringing in new blood from another well established, serious, known breeder within my own variety.
Third, I\'ve taken a page from the articles by Kenny Troiano in the PP and applied his advice to my breeding programs for Ameraucanas. Seems to me if it works for OEG\'s it ought to work for Ameraucanas. So I\'d recommend reading as many things from the established \"Experts\" & Old Timers as you can get your hands on. Then apply those things that make sense to you and you know that you can work with them.
For example, I like the idea of having two lines and an A & B sub-line under each of those lines. Eventually the two initial lines would become your own two different strains with two individual lines under them. Theoretically then, you can cross back and forth between the A & B sub-lines and when needed (for say hybrid vigor) outcross to your other main line (or strain as it would become).
Fourth, I\'d recommend keeping meticulous records. Even though I try, I know I still fall short on this and am often confused as I look back thru my past years of breeding plans. Obviously, I didn\'t start out with #1 above very well. But I can tell you this, I\'ve learned a tremendous amount by the record keeping that I have done. That alone has been the predominant tool which has helped me to improve some things and eliminate others.
Fifth, if you are like me, I think you will find faster and greater success by not flock mating but rather putting specific males over specific females. In order to do this, your birds must be toe-punched or have some other non-removable/non-changeable/non-mistakeable ID system. Each breeding pen would then consist of a specific male over a specific female (or \"females\" if they are all full-blood sisters). That pen is then given a # and that # is then toe-punched to each chick. Obviously, the eggs must be numbered when collected and the eggs must be separated when hatched so that proper toe-punching can be done. As I mentioned above, I\'d get down to just four pens. I\'m not quite there yet as I started with 15 different matings/pens but I\'m close.
Sixth, hatch large numbers from eggs that are likely to give you the best results. There are several things that must be considered with eggs as well when choosing whether or not to set them. In the interest of saving time, I\'d refer you to the July or August issue of the PP and the article I think by Kenny again. Or maybe it was the one by the Barred Rock guy. Either way, it was good stuff. Then cull down to a very few of the absolutely best birds. Again, this is easier said that done but doing so I have found helps me by leaps and bounds. You may be able to get rid of some birds early and not bother feeding them but you may also need to hold on to numerous birds until they mature. Hopefully you will get down to a dozen birds or so that seem impossible to cull down to a half dozen or less. Now you\'re making progress and really looking them over!
Lastly, before I talk quickly about the egg because this is getting long, I want to encourage you not to get discouraged. This is especially true if you\'re like me and not a Whiz Bang Genetic Expert with Eistein\'s mental abilities. For example, I hatched out over 150 Ameraucana chicks this year (eat your heart out John! LOL) and I had something happen again that has really puzzled me in the past few years. I got some of those - what I call \'Calico\' - colored Wheaten pullets. They are way too chocolate colored and they have large splotches of black throughout their entire body. To make matters worse, they weren\'t all from the same breeding pen either! I got one that was a #7 and one that was a #8 that I know of. And to make that even worse, there is no correlation between the two pens WRT to the mother or father!
Unfortunately I also sold a couple of \'Calico\' pullets as culls and forgot to record the # before they left. Now, between the failure to record those birds before I sold them coupled with the lack of any readily apparent parental connection between the two pens, I could\'ve really gotten discouraged. Rather, for now I just took it in stride and chocked it up to just one of those genetic throwbacks that rarely happen but show me that I don\'t have a pure enough line/strain yet. I\'m trying to get that missing info now & then I\'ll have to pour over the past several years of breeding plans to see if I can determine the linkage. If not, hopefully that will work itself out in due time as I just don\'t breed them and continue to focus on the priorities I\'ve set with my breeding plan.
Now, let me quickly address the egg color. Far be it from me to disagree with Mike as he\'s an expert and I\'m just a novice so please take this in that vein and that this is advice just coming from a simple man who\'s offering a simple suggestion.
I would not recommend that someone not hatch a white egg. In fact, I have hatched numerous white eggs in the past and as recent as this year. Some were white and some were VERY light blue.
The reason? As I said above, the egg is last priority to me as egg color is not part of the SOP and I breed for show as well. That being said, I am NOT one who doesn\'t pay ANY attention to the egg. It\'s a matter or priorities.
For example, one of the problems I was having was egg productivity. I had birds that would go 6-9 months, and some longer, without giving me ANY eggs! Now I love my Ameraucanas but I see no use whatsoever for a chicken that doesn\'t lay an egg! So I culled those birds.
On the other hand, I had two #7 BW hens that gave me 5 eggs/week on a regular basis. These were the white and very light blue eggs. Moreover, on top of that, they were VERY nice birds in many other ways per the SOP. I won\'t go into all the details. Suffice it to say they were very Typey AND had a very nice uniform light wheaten overall coloration. They only major thing lacking was the blue in tail and wings - which is something I\'m currently working on for all my WBS birds. So I used these birds to improve my production and it has worked. I saw an increase in productivity.
I\'m getting some white eggs now from 2 or 3 pullets. I don\'t know who they are yet but will find out and IF they are SQ birds and among the best, I\'ll keep them and breed them. I \"think\" I\'ve got my cocks now that are just giving blue genes. I did not have that in the past which btw I was able to correct thru the records keeping I mentioned above. And, as a matter of fact, if memory serves, I ended up with the white eggs thru specific matings in order to get rid of the brown that was causing some of my eggs to be green. However, now I have to find out about the genetics for the white egg. I\'ve seen it on here somewhere but don\'t have it memorized. I need to see if one of my cocks is aiding in the production of a white egg. If so, I should be able to tell who he is from my records and will likely cull him once I can ID a replacement that\'s better than him and carries the blue egg genes necessary. Hope that makes sense.
It\'ll be interesting to see if the whtie egg layers are related and, if not, whether they have related parentage somewhere. I should\'ve helped my ID\'ing the problem though because I am down to just two stags now. One W and one BW and both from different pens. Like I said, I\'m getting close to having just four pens from two lines.
The bottom line for me with eggs is this (in order of priority): production of at least 4 eggs/week, size, shape, and then color. Color is last because I know the Blue gene is dominant. I don\'t know anything about the other traits. The production I think is there now for the birds. Now I hope to increase the size, get more uniformity in shape (the white eggs are large at best and almost round whereas my blue eggs are more \"egg shaped\"), and then of course get the deepest blue I can.
I hope this helps and will try to get back and see what others have to say. It\'ll be interesting to learn from others comments and see what they have to say. Feel free to email me if I can be of any further help.
God Bless,
