Ameraucana - Blue, Black and Splash discussion

[windwalkingwolf]

Good blue on a giant hen. It would drive me batty(er) striving for that.

[Ontario Chick]

Yeah, I need a coat out of that for my Ameraucanas

[Shnookie]

I read the SOP description for blue and wondered how you would get the black lacing, without enough black pigment in the feathers. I think they have generalized too much on the blue description and maybe it should be modified a bit, especially since blue coloring varies quite a bit (I've read). I also read about the color getting too light if you keep breeding blue to blue. Does the color also get lighter the more you breed splash to splash?

It's obvious that my dark blue hen was from a black/splash cross. I thought she was black. She has blue fluff and black feathers with green. So now I bred her to my black rooster, and there are 3 dark blue chicks like her, and one black.

The black chick from her is already showing green at 7 weeks. The two 7 week old blue ones aren't yet.

This is the oldest chick - 13 weeks. Bits of green are showing. It is still an Ameraucana, not an easter egger, in my opinion. The parents were both Ameraucanas. It does have a non-standard coloring though.



The darkest blue chick that I got from breeding my black rooster to my splash hen is now showing green on his wings and his hackles. So I am thinking I should keep a different one instead. This one.



Here is the dark one and the light one together.


I've always called these my "learning chickens". Now I'm going to either have to pick a favorite color of Ameraucana to breed, or get a lot more pens so I can keep all three. :) I also will have to find some more nice birds.

[Ontario Chick]

It's certainly a learning process, breeding blue in any breed is difficult.
My Blue Wyandottes are a bit better color then my Ameraucanas, which I suspect will never get much better then they are now.
Selective breeding can only go so far, if the genetics aren't there.
Blue Wyandottes

Blue Ameraucanas