Easter Eggers same as Ameraucana????

Are Easter Eggers the same as Ameraucana's? I see them listed separately in the Breeds area of this site, but I have heard the people that work at the feed store say they are the same. I would like to get some of the Easter Eggers as my first flock after reading about them, but don't want to get the wrong chicks. Thanks for your help.

Kim4810 said:

Are Easter Eggers the same as Ameraucana's? I see them listed separately in the Breeds area of this site, but I have heard the people that work at the feed store say they are the same. I would like to get some of the Easter Eggers as my first flock after reading about them, but don't want to get the wrong chicks. Thanks for your help.

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Ameraucanas are purebred chickens with a standard of perfection that can be shown. The eggs they lay should be blue. If you're getting true Ameraucanas they are more expensive than Easter eggers and they come in certain colors only and have muffs,
Easter Eggers aren't a true breed but more a variety and are chickens that lay colored eggs, can be blue green pink, cream or brown.. Sometimes they are called AmerIcanas (notice the difference in spelling). Sometimes Ameraucanas that are the wrong color or don't meet breed specifications are called Easter eggers
Usually Easter eggers do lay more eggs than the true Ameraucanas. I have both and really do like my Easter eggers. Mine lay an excellent number of green or blue green eggs (Hmmm, are my olive eggers technically Easter eggers? They are hybrids but have no EE in them.)that usually fall into the extra large range.
If you get from a hatchery or feed store you're probably getting Easter Eggers unless you buy from My Pet Chicken which sells both, but the Ameraucanas are much more expensive.
Unless you want to show or breed, I personally prefer the Easter eggers.

This is a source of constant confusion. Ameraucanas and Araucanas are specific breeds derived from Easter Eggers. If you are interested this article explains how the Ameraucana breed was developed.

Ameraucana History
http://www.ameraucana.org/history.html

A lot of the confusion comes in because some of the hatcheries had their flocks of colored egg layers before the Ameraucana breed was even recognized. At the time Ameraucana (and Araucana for that matter) were marketing names, not breed names. Some, let’s say most, hatcheries just never bothered to change that marketing name when the breed was recognized. I’m sure the hatchery calls them Ameraucana and that is what the feed store people are going by. That doesn’t help the confusion at all.

If you can ask the feed store people what hatchery the chicks came from you can go to their web site and see what they say about them. The odds are tremendously high that they are Easter Eggers and not true Ameraucanas. Some hatcheries make that distinction, some do not.

Dekel, since Easter Eggers are not a breed, there are no breed requirements. You can call your Olive Eggers EE’s, most people would. Or you can call them Olive Eggers, there are no breed requirements for them either.

Thank you both much for your reply. That make complete sense. I don't wish to show and will just ask for Easter Eggers.

Kim4810 said:

Are Easter Eggers the same as Ameraucana's? I see them listed separately in the Breeds area of this site, but I have heard the people that work at the feed store say they are the same. I would like to get some of the Easter Eggers as my first flock after reading about them, but don't want to get the wrong chicks. Thanks for your help.

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NO, EE’s are mixes and ameraucanas are pure breeds

I've had purebred black, white, and now self-blue/lavender Ameraucana's. Expensive but beautiful. My self blue hens have always laid more of a greenish hue eggs. My second generation lays olive eggs, I was confused about it and found out some pure Ameraucana's do lay green.

I always say an easy way to tell is how expensive they are, lol! Easter Eggers are usually pretty cheap (like $10 or less) and true Ameraucanas are much more expensive (like $20 or more). I love easter eggers they're really fun!