BBS Ameraucanas

Her Chickies first began working with BBS Ameraucanas in March 2024. BBS stands for Black, Blue, and Splash, referring to three distinct varieties, all of which are recognized by both the American Poultry Association (APA) and American Bantam Association (ABA).

Our Beginning

It was a rough start with our Ameraucanas, as they were our first SOP breed. Caring for them was very different from handling hatchery chicks. I was constantly worried about their survival with each bird feeling like a walking, squawking $100 investment in my eyes—especially considering the cost of purchasing, raising, feeding, and housing them. The first year is always the hardest in my honest opinion, but once you work through it, it gets a little easier. 

This sentiment has held true in retrospect. It took three generations to finally get to a point where we actually began seeing immense improvement to the point that the offspring of our third generation distinctly exceeded all previous generations. We could clearly differentiate the fourth generation of chicks from prior generations without any identification (leg bands, etc.). This is when we finally knew that we did not need to hold onto any previous generations—including our founding Splash cock.

Breeding Differences

Our BBS Ameraucanas required more consideration than our Ermines and this is definitely my own personal opinion. 

With our Ermines, we're working with two distinct varieties that don't have much variation, whereas our BBS involve three separate varieties, two of which with endless possible variations due to the blue gene being an incomplete dominant gene which can result in dark Blues & Splashes to extremely light Blues & Splashes.  So while Ermine are simply black and white, Blue and Splash come with a lot more complexities. There is a lot more to consider as well, such as variations in lacing, depth of color, and the amount of splashing. 

However, BBS has been around a lot longer than Ermine has and thus type is generally superior. This is honestly why I will always choose to hold back a Black from BBS or Black than a Black from Ermine.

Recessive Genetics

Our BBS Ameraucana pens are clean for lavender and recessive white. <3

We tested our second and third generation breeders and all of them came back clean. This means that all future offspring should be clean as well. Though, I cannot promise this due to the risk of false negatives on genotype tests, the nature of test breeding and any mistakes or accidents that occur.

I can promise that I have not personally hatched out any offsprings that appear to express lavender or recessive white and that I have paid a lot of money to genotype test them (lol).

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