Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[chicken stalker]

I am a bit of a prefectionist and I am striving for a nice blue egg whith my am's. I have a bunch of girls that lay what I would call a green egg but when paired with an EE egg it looks blue. It all depends on the lighting and setting. Most of you know that I have Harry Shaffer lavs and if you have ever seen his birds eggs they look green but check out the photo I took in comparison. Outside, bright light grey background next to an EE......the split lav in my eyes is the perfect blue (and in reality it is darn near perfect) and the lav looks almost white but in reality it is a light green/blue.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Quote:
I wanted to order this chart from their website. They have two charts, 1ABC chart for $3 and 2ABC chart for $5. I just want the most complete chart so if I have to buy two that's fine, but I'm thinking #2 might just be a new and improved version of #1

Do you know the difference?

I don't have any Ameraucana's right now. I'm one of those that bought Ameraucana's from a hatchery thinking that's what I was getting but got EE's instead. I have six EE's and one lays a beautiful blue egg. I'd love to have a layer that put out a turquoise egg. Anyone want some Leghorns?

 

[pips&peeps]

Here is a bit of literature on egg shell textures:

http://chla.library.cornell.edu/cgi...=frameset;view=image;seq=389;page=root;size=s

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
I wanted to order this chart from their website. They have two charts, 1ABC chart for $3 and 2ABC chart for $5. I just want the most complete chart so if I have to buy two that's fine, but I'm thinking #2 might just be a new and improved version of #1

Do you know the difference?

I don't have any Ameraucana's right now. I'm one of those that bought Ameraucana's from a hatchery thinking that's what I was getting but got EE's instead. I have six EE's and one lays a beautiful blue egg. I'd love to have a layer that put out a turquoise egg. Anyone want some Leghorns?

It's buy one for $3.00 or get two of them for $5.00; not a different chart.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Quote:
This is not to pick on gknee24 but rather just to perhaps point out the obvious that is getting missed. gknee24 didn't say where they got their birds from that they thought were Ameraucanas so I'll assume (and yes I know what that does when broken down) that they were purchased from a feedstore or hatchery that misadvertises. But now you know the difference. So why not take the time to do some research on the breed?

Obviously there is a wealth of information on BYC and I'm sure someone has already brought up the ABC which is the source - other than the APA SOP of course - Ameraucana info. And on the ABC is a list of breeders. So, if one were looking for a "reliable" source, why not start there? Oftentimes one doesn't even know who the Seller is on eBay and I'm sure we've all heard enough horror stories about eBay to know that it's not the best. It may not be bad but it's not the best.

And then, of course, there is the auctions on BYC. Why go to eBay when there are auctions right here on BYC?

Finally, I get the sense gknee24 that you haven't made a list of questions to ask an Egg Seller before buying eggs. In addition to asking around and getting some references, here are some questions I would ask before I bought eggs from a particular breeder:

1) Where did you get your (breed) from?
2) How long have you been breeding them?
3) Can you tell me a little bit about your breeding program? For example, what does it consist of? How do you go about it? What, if anything, are your goals and what are you striving for?
4) Have you shown your birds, and if so, how have they done? Do you know if any of your egg customers have ever shown their birds, if so, have they ever won anything?
5) Can you provide a close up picture(s) of the parents and can you provide a close up picture(s) of a representative egg?
6) Have you experienced any problems with Mareks, Lymphoid Leucosis (LL), Newcastle’s, MG (in particular), or any other disease that could be transmitted through the egg or genetics? I got a rooster many years ago that died from LL less than two weeks after I bought him. Evidently there is no prevention nor cure for LL but rather it is something passed down from the mother to the progeny and the best prevention is having bred resistance to the disease. The incubation period for LL is 6-10 months so it would be some time before I would find out if I have a problem. That’s why I ask.
7) Do you offer any kind of guarantee regarding fertility and/or the packaging so eggs arrive intact?
8) Do your hens all lay the (specific color) eggs that are relatively the same in color?
9) When collecting hatching eggs for sale, do you identify each egg from a particular set of parents or just collect as a group?
10) Is there anything else you can tell me that maybe I should know or should’ve asked?

I hope that helps.

God Bless,

 

[dak]

While it is easy to bash Ebay, I have noticed at least 4 ABC members that sell there. Research is the key.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Quote:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/53919_eggs_nov21.jpg
Olive, mint, and teal. All from "true ameraucanas". Egg color is highly variable. Unless you hatch the eggs yourself, you won't know how blue the hens will lay until they actually start laying. And that's not even taking into account what the male side is carrying. Hope this answers your question. By the way, the top eggs are the first three eggs from one pullet and the egg color has improved, but it still has that underlying brown factor, and so I still call it "green".

While it is true that some true Ameraucaunas may lay olive, mint, and teal eggs, they should be laying blue. Olive, mint, and teal eggs would be an indication that there is a brown gene being passed on by someone. Same goes for a white egg - which is a problem I had creep up this year and am dealing with now. A good Breeding Plan and keeping thorough, detailed records can and will eliminate that problem and get your birds back to eventually laying true Sky Blue eggs. Also, while egg color is not a requirement of the APA SOP, I personally believe that it is something that should be considered by the breeder as it is a uniquely identifying trait of the breed and therefore, as such, should be considered when establising one's breeding plan. Any indication of genes other than blue, IMHO, should be eradicated.

To Cowgirl's question, I would say that "Sky Blue" is the best description I've seen. I have often seen Ameraucana eggs described as "Robin Egg Blue" but the Robin's eggs I've seen have been much bluer than Ameraucanas. I just noticed something. When typing a reply to a post on BYC, look at the shade of blue for the box directly above the white box where you type and also look at the blue for the words "More Smilies", 'Fewer Smilies", an "BBCode". I would say that the Ameraucana eggs should fall somewhere in between those two. I've never seen an Ameraucana egg darker blue that the color of the "More Smilies".

God Bless,

 

[Muggsmagee]

I took some pics of my recent Ameraucana eggs. My camera gives a gray hue to my pics (a little Fuji finepix digital), so doesn't represent the colors well. I haven't washed these yet...one is from a pullet Lav Am and a bit of a mess.

The back left and back right are from the Silver Ams. The middle back is a Lav, and the front left is a Lav. The rest came from my Black Ameraucanas in my BCM/OE pen. No Wheatens or Buffs representing this week.

Some of my Lavs are from Harry Shaffer, the rest of my flock is Blehm's. Do you see how light those Silver's are? I personally like the turquoise and deeper blue and blue/green eggs.

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
I do too, so when I started my cross to black on the silver improvement project I am working on, I used the gals that laid the darkest blue eggs. I like a bit more color.

 

[chickee]

What color eggs are the Buffs laying? Is the egg too light? Or too green? I happen to like the teal egg color myself