New Color Varieties of Ameraucana......pictures from breeding projects

Mcspin you have put into words exactly what I have been thinking.

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I agree. The standard first defines the breed traits, and then it recognises certain varieties for that breed. If the bird meets the breed traits, it should be considered an ameraucana.

These traits include size, body type, tail angle and length, feathering (hard, soft, silkied, etc.), comb type and specifics, presence or absence of beard/muffs, tufts, extra toes, crest (and its shape), foot feathering, etc., skin colour. While it is not in the SOP, I do think that egg colour is a reasonable addition, particularly for breeds that are known for unique egg colours: araucana, ameraucana, welsumer, marans, etc. While in general I think that a single trait that is poorly held or absent should not determine that the bird is not the breed (for example a very good, well-known and respected silkie breeder recently had some white skinned birds pop up in her flockl), more than two or three traits that are absent certainly should.

Then we come to plumage variety: feather colour. While the APA & ABA recognise certain varieties for certain breeds, they more importantly provide a standard for all the various varieties. Yes, there is some differences between one breed and another as to the standard of a specific variety, but mostly there is similarity and consistency. The APA nor the ABA disqualify a bird as a breed based upon its plumage variety. They may disqualify it as not meeting the standard for its variety, and they may disqualify it for not meeting breed traits, but those are different things. AOV includes all varieties that are not recognised for a breed as well as varieties that are not standardized at all. The best an AOV bird can place at a sanctioned show is best of variety.

To gain recognition of a variety for a breed, there is a procedure that must be followed to show that the variety can be relaibly and predictably reproduced; that it is not a one-time fluke. The APA and ABA have slightly different rules; in most cases breeders who are seriously working on gaining recognition work to satisfy both sets of requirements simultaneously.

However in the initial stages of creating a new variety within a breed, it is often some fluke that showed up was appealing. This was the case with opal, chocolates (both choc and dun based), etc. Breeding over time to select and improve the variety can set the variety into the breed. In other cases someone imagines a new variety--perhaps by seeing a variety of a different breed and wanting it in their preferred breed, or perhaps by simply thinking--gee wouldn't a bird that is (for example) both mottled and penciled look neat?

Well said!

So if you have a bird that has slate colored legs, beards and muff.etc, etc... but does not have a feathers that are a recognized color wouldn't that bird be an Ameraucana that is just not show quality? How could it be considered a completely different breed just because it's feather color isn't right?

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Those are only some of the traits for an ameraucana.

Quite frankly, I think a large part of the reason that ameraucana breeders are so picky about not calling non-standard varieties ameraucana is that the hatcheries call any bird that has a blue egg layer in its background either araucana or ameraucana, regardless of its other features.

Here are parts of another letter I wrote that may be helpful. Will post more info after hearing from the APA again.
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I think it would be helpful to add an explanation of the AOV (All Other Varieties) color variety to the Standard because judges still use the APA Standard's general breed category description (though no specific color variety sub-category description) in judging AOV classes, and because the APA Official Show Rules make reference to this sub-category and allow for it at shows sanctioned by the APA.

Because of the division between breed distinctions (Ameraucana vs. Easter Egger) that uniquely applies when birds have or do not have certain foundational characteristics for this type of chicken, it is important that all the critical characteristics be listed in the APA Standard, rather than just known by experienced Ameraucana breeders.

This specificity is not as important for other breeds where the meeting of APA requirements only determines whether the bird is (1) show-quality [color variety] [breed name], (2) show-quality AOV [breed name], or (3) pet-quality [breed name].

However, with Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers, it matters a lot that common sellers and buyers have applicable information to be able to call their birds by an accurate breed name.

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All Ameraucana posts seem to end this way! I was so hoping to see more pictures of project birds.

Couple of years ago, I had these youngsters in quarantine on my place. The white one is one of the Salmons, a cockerel I was holding for a friend of mine, along with my own June, who appears to have resulted from a Blue Wheaten male and possibly a Salmon female, both colors the breeder was working with at the time. They were only about 8-9 weeks old here. That's June in the middle. Obviously, the leg color is all wrong here.

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That fails to understand all the complicated efforts that those dedicated individuals put into establishing the "Breed" of "Ameraucana". It is far too simplistic and inaccurate to say that all Ameraucanas are Easter Eggers but not all Easter Eggers are Ameraucanas. This is exactly why there are stringent guidelines and requirements as to what may or may not be accepted into the APA.

In order for a type of bird to be qualified as a "Breed" it must meet certain standards. Easter Eggers are a hybrid, a cross, a mutt, or whatever else you want to call them. For one thing there is no standard. Anyone and there brother can create an Easter Egger out of virtually any combination of birds. You can NOT do that with an Ameraucana. Hopefully that one single fact helps to simplify and answer the question once and for all.

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The answer to that question is in itself. Supppose it had all the right feather coloration, body type, beards, muffs, eye color, skin color, etc. but had greenish-yellow willow legs? Then it can NOT be an Ameraucana and the reason is the genetics behind the green legs regardless of what the bird LOOKS like.

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That may be true and while I won't even try to speak for everyone I can personally say the reason I am "so picky" about not calling anything an Ameraucana that isn't one is because it is a grave injustice to all the dedication, time, and effort that went into getting the Ameraucana approved and accepted by the APA. If folks just understood what went into getting the Ameraucana accepted in 1991 and especially the tremendous, tenuous efforts prior to that over a great deal of time, then maybe they'd not be so quick to dismiss it. In addition to that there are those of us who are continuing to preserve, protect, promote, perpetuate, promulgate, and improve the "breed".

As a WBS Ameraucana breeder, I can tell you that it is NOT an easy thing to do.

God Bless,

Well said Royce, I'd like to help you out on that when you can send some of those eggs my way, hope that SW girl starts laying soon.

If you take a pure SQ brown red Ameraucana and breed it with a pure SQ Silver Ameraucana. The offspring is pure Ameraucana yes? Can't be anything but since the parents are pure in my mind. But in the Ameraucana world way of thinking it's now an EE because they are a non standard color. That makes no sense to me at all. Pure blood + pure blood = pure blood. Please explain how new color varietes = Ameraucana when they are non standard colors and should = EE. I don't get the double standard still.


Steve in NC