Author Topic: New Hampshire pattern project  (Read 723 times)

Frederick Mansfield

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 6
New Hampshire pattern project
« on: February 10, 2023, 12:15:42 PM »
Hey folks. I've recently joined here but have been breeding Ameraucana for many vears in particular
LF black and blue wheaten. I had taken an interest in developing buff and blacktail reds and in the process have ended up with these guys as an added result. These are more for my own tastes for color as I love the New Hampshire pattern first and foremost. Interested in hearing some thoughts on them and some ideas for improvement. I have many more pictures but figured I would start with these first.
I must say I'm very impressed with the database you guys have built here and has a lot of invaluable
Information.

Russ Blair

  • Administrator
  • Ameraucana Guru
  • *****
  • Posts: 1203
Re: New Hampshire pattern project
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2023, 08:09:45 AM »
Looks like you are well on your way. The second from bottom picture cockerel looks really good. There were some others working on a red project as well. I think Royce, Janie and possibly Johnny Parks if I remember correctly. Hopefully they chime in, they will have more knowledge than myself. Oh thanks for joining us  ;)
S.E. Michigan

Johnny Parks

  • Lifetime Member
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 19
Re: New Hampshire pattern project
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2023, 10:09:33 PM »
Hello Frederick,
Thanks for joining us.  Your birds have very interesting colors extremely similar to some in my project.  Your rooster's coloring is almost identical to mine.  However, I have been working on a re-create project to achieve Black Tail Red Ameraucana bantams.  I hope to capture a much stronger mahogany color pattern.  I say a re-create because I became interested in this color variety after seeing pictures of some stock created by a former member, Jim Tuckwood.  John Blehm had posted pictures of Jim's birds onto the forum. 
I contacted Jim and learned that he had sold all of his Black Tail Red bantam stock.  He had no recollection of whom he had sold them to.  At this point, I began to learn as much from Jim as I could about how he set out to create them.  I've contacted Jim several more times and we have had good discussions.  One main thing that I learned from Jim is that he never was pleased with their feathering.  He had used Rhode Island Red bantams crossed to ameraucana bantams for his first generation stock.  He was unaware that the RIR bantams carry slow feathering genes that he introduced into his Black Tail Red project. 
Learning from Jim's attempt, and speaking with Mike Gilbert for advice, I have hopefully learned how to avoid the RIR's slow feathering gene being introduced into my project. 
I think Royce was breeding large fowl Black Tail Reds from a cross of LF Wheaten Ameraucana and Buckeye.  Hopefully, he will share with us about his project.  I'm not sure what work Janie has been doing.  Hopefully, she will share with us also.  Enjoy your birds, Frederick, and again we welcome you!
Johnny
John 14:6

John W Blehm

  • Lifetime Member
  • Ameraucana Guru
  • *****
  • Posts: 2197
Re: New Hampshire pattern project
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2023, 11:26:30 PM »
A search on this forum for Black-tailed Red brought up this old topic on New Varieties.

Frederick Mansfield

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 6
Re: New Hampshire pattern project
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2023, 10:14:42 AM »
Thanks for the replies, and it’s nice to have others working on similar projects to share notes on. I’ve also discovered males were hard to get good mahogany plumage. I had debated on sacrificing some progress to go back to Rhode Island Reds to try and get a better colored male but I’ve decided to wait and see what I can pull out with a few birds I’ve selected for a couple hatches first. I have one a young cockerel here that might help depending how he develops. His pattern is off but doesn’t appear to have the slow growth gene. I suspect he’s lacking some restrictors or that are incomplete anyway so I’m curious to see how that goes. I had some nice ones coming along last year but we had a mink show up and managed to get into the building through the vent and kill a bunch of them. I’ll post some pictures of my progress. These ones are partridge based as opposed to the wheatens I’ve been working on.

Frederick Mansfield

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 6
Re: New Hampshire pattern project
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2023, 10:17:40 AM »
I should add that I currently have a batch set to hatch from the reds with the nh project male so I can post some pictures of those when the time comes.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2023, 10:23:25 AM by Frederick Mansfield »

Johnny Parks

  • Lifetime Member
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 19
Re: New Hampshire pattern project
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2023, 01:57:48 AM »
I had debated on sacrificing some progress to go back to Rhode Island Reds to try and get a better colored male but I’ve decided to wait and see what I can pull out with a few birds I’ve selected for a couple hatches first. I have one a young cockerel here that might help depending how he develops. His pattern is off but doesn’t appear to have the slow growth gene.

I don't know how you started your project.  If you used RIR stock to begin your project it is highly likely that your line might carry the slow feathering sex-linked gene.  Males pass to daughter offspring and females pass to son offspring.  A visual observation within the first few weeks after hatch you will be able to see which of the chicks feather in quickly and which of the chicks feather in slowly.  You may or may not have a slow feathering issue within your project.  But if you determine that you do cull the slow feathering chicks from your project.  Hope this information will help your decisions early on during the development of your project.
John 14:6

Frederick Mansfield

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 6
Re: New Hampshire pattern project
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2023, 07:42:43 AM »
Thankfully that hasn’t been much of an issue here with these guys. I find the slow feathering gene is more prevalent in the orpington strains here in Canada than the rirs. It’s something I will keep an eye on though as I’ve read about some other experiences with it in other topics here on the forum. I have found the ones on eb tend have the darker plumage I like to see on the them, the females in particular. A couple things I have noticed is a small patch of brown/red on the front of the legs where it meets the foot that hasn’t been easy to breed out and in the last couple generations an overgrowth of fluff in the saddles that develops at around 5 months in the males as seen in the project male I’m working with. It seems to correct itself after the first molt of the other males I have but it’s still something I’m looking to explore into see if I can correct before it becomes an issue. Have any of you had any similar experiences with it?

« Last Edit: February 13, 2023, 12:24:32 PM by Frederick Mansfield »

Stan Alder

  • Associate
  • ***
  • Posts: 189
Re: New Hampshire pattern project
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2023, 09:29:02 PM »
Frederick, I'm too old for projects, but the dark red pullet in your second set of pics is absolutely stunning! She could change my mind about projects!..lol

Frederick Mansfield

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 6
Re: New Hampshire pattern project
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2023, 09:40:10 AM »
Thanks for the kind words Stan, she’s the foundation hen of my blacktail reds I’m developing here. I lost my good male to a mink this past year so I’m hoping to produce another to work with.