Ameraucana: chick color leads to what hen color?

[Back to the Earth]

2 week old ameraucana from Urban Farm Store. Looking at breed club website it should be a silver, but not sure based on brown coloring coming in. Any ideas what she might look like as a hen from your own experience?

 

[gordonburrito]

Here's what ours did. She has similar markings.

 

[klf73]

it is not wheaten, it is an EE, incoming color can vary....there is not consistent color with EE's. To know what color a chick will be when it grows up it would have to be a true Ameraucana, which you can only get from a breeder not a farm/feed store. EE's are very pretty

 

[klf73]

I would definitely say more of a partridge color, wheaten is yellow as a chick....no chipmunk stripes..

 

[EweSheep]

I have had wheaton Ameraucanas and they did have stripes on them.

 

[Back to the Earth]

This is all very informative and a bit of a disappointment as I had my heart set on the silver ameraucana. The farm store I got them from has such a good reputation I guess I assumed they'd be true breeds. I hope as an EEs she will still lay reasonably blue or green eggs then?! Here is a picture of her (or, who knows, might be a "he" at this rate) with a big stripe down her back. Basically, a dark brown back.
It sounds like the wheaten color pattern doesn't have that type of striping in the chick coloring. "gordonburrito" your chick looks A LOT like mine. The adult coloration is surprising. I would've have imagined such a pattern. Anyone else have pictures of hens and roosters with similar chick coloring? I will be sure to post the end result for others out there who've ended up with EE's.

 

[schellie69]

I have 3 white/tan bantam EE's and just got 2 EE's from the farm store. No hatchery sells true Ameraucana chicks you have to go to a breeder. Now EE's are a great chicken they come in so many different colors and can lay any color eggs. My 3 bantams lay light to Med blue eggs. I can't wait to find out what my 2 new EE's lay. I remember how I felt when I found out that my EE's where not Ameraucan's I was upset because someone said those are mutts. I then realized that being a mutt was okay. So now I love EE's and will always have some in my flock. I am planning on getting some true Ameraucana's also. Good luck with your new chicks. Enjoy the colored eggs.

Wanted to add here is a great thread to find out about EE's
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=273489

Edited to add right thread topic.

 

[Back to the Earth]

Gordonburrito

Green! Mint green to be exact smile ...and with her they are bit spotty

Wow! That's pretty unique. Just like the ice cream. I thought Welsummers were one of the few breeds that had spotted eggs. Maybe she's part Welsummer? Not a common breed, so I doubt it. Very cool eggs nonetheless. Keeps life interesting.​

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote:
Well, it isn't that they are "bad" per se...they are great for someone wanting birds for laying and don't want to pay a lot. For any breed that someone would want to do serious breeding toward the Standard of Perfection, they just have to come from a private breeder. It's not just Ameraucanas, there is a HUGE difference between hatchery stock and private breeder stock in every breed I have ever seen.

So then I don't get it, from what I read on here, Ameraucanas are the only breed that you can purchase from a hatchery as an Ameraucana but isn't recognized by breeders of the Ameraucanas to be an actual Ameraucana. So, even though the hatchery birds meet the color, muffs, color of egg standards of the breed, the private breeders automatically (and quite obstinately so) disqualify them from the breed, actually calling them a whole new breed, the Easter Egger???

I've owned these birds on and off for a good 30 years, all purchased from our independant feed stores. Back then they were called Auracanas, were rumples and had actual feathers that I believe were called tufts. They were also very hard to come by. Now, they call the Ameraucana and a new breed of there own, somewhat modified but similar from their African (if I recall correctly) upstart.

This Ameraucana vrs Easter Egger thing has been very confusing to me, somone please explain why a hatchery Ameraucana is not actually an Americauna........Now, I do see the difference between the original Auracana and the modified Ameraucana but these imposter, hatchery born Ameraucanas I have purchased from my local feed store in the last years have been some well representations of the Ameraucana when matched to the standards of the breed listed on the Ameraucanas website...but bite your tongue here (or someone will for you

) if you claim to actually have one of these birds BUT didn't buy it from a breeder.

Frankly, it sounds a little monopolizing to say only small breeders can actually breed this bird and hatcheries are pulling the wool over the eyes of want to be Ameraucana owners and if they dare to breed them.....well, they turn into another breed?????? Whalla! You now have an Easter Egger!

I have breed many animals in my lifetime, from chickens to dogs to horses and a few other things thrown in. I understand breeding to the standard and how to choose animals to breed together, to both secure something that's right and breed out something that's wrong while achieving color accepted by the breed specification. In all that I've bred, color is my most fascination but I have never seen any breed disqualified from the breed because of who bred it, like I'm seeing done to the Ameraucanas here. Very eleatist feeling.

Maybe someone could justify this for me and educate me by giving examples of other breeds that have chosen to disqualify an entire portion of an industry of breeders and why.

Until then I'll continue to call my feed store purchased and my Craigslist Roo from a breeder all Ameraucanas. And when I whatch the Kentucky Derby today and listen to the individual stories of how each horse was bred, where and by who, I will rest assured that they are all still qualifying race horses despite of where they came from.

 

[JensMaverick]

Im not sure where u are located but here in Lakeland, Florida we have a gentleman name Bryan that bought from Blehm and Smith line of Ameraucanas and breeds them. They sell straight run and cost 10 dollars but he takes u back to see his hens and roos. He has black, wheaton and lavender. They are house by color so no bleed over possible. My wheatons were yellow with the only color on them the tips of the wings and 1 had a tiny spot on head. This is what they looked like a week ago. I also bought some from a lady that said ameraucanas but she alows all rooster colors to breed all hen colors. This is a pic of 1 of them.

I knew they were technically a EE but got them anyway because of coloring. They were a bit older so could see wing color well.

I am in Michigan, so a bit far from Florida. Thanks though for the recommendation. @Clucking Nuts here are the two chicks I hatched out at 1 day of age:




I kept the top one with the two lighter dots in the dark stripe. Here it is at 3 weeks of age;