Americauna Eggs

[speckledhen]

They have the green legs of Americaunas, the beard all that other jazz.

NO hatchery, feed store, etc, sells a true Ameraucana.

Ameraucanas have slate legs, not green. Green legs come from having yellow skin--the Ameraucana breed is white-skinned, not yellow skinned. You must go to a breeder for a true Ameraucana, not one of the big hatcheries. Ameraucanas lay eggs in the blue color family, never green or brown.

I have both Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers. Both are great, but not one EE here lays a blue egg, all lay green in varying shades.​

 

[yinzerchick]

I got very lucky with mine then...4 EE's and 3 lay pretty blue eggs, the other lays a sage/light mossy green. I got them from McMurray Hatchery, even though they're not true "Araucanas" I'm as happy as can be with all the chicks I got from them. At 24 weeks I haven't lost one to illness, and all but the GLW and about 3 barred rocks are laying. whew!(I probably just jinxed myself)

Hoping not!

 

[starryhen]

This is interesting. I have gotten a few Americaunas from a knowledgeable, reputable and famous feed store. They have a person who does nothing but chick and chicken sales. Actually, I think there are 3 people now. I have no reason to suspect that they are selling Easter Eggers instead of Americaunas. I don't think EEs are very popular down here. I never heard of them until I started reading this site (I probably deleted information on chicks sold as such thinking they were just Easter chicks). The chicks sold as Americaunas are the brown red color and all the ones I have ever heard of or seen ALL have blue/green eggs. However, this world of chicken breeders, aside from the large commercial chick breeders, is what I find interesting. I can't wait to go to a show. I breed horses so the idea of applying the same care and rigor to chickens is fascinating.

 

[starryhen]

Oh, I mean blue eggs, I guess - that iridescent, beautiful color. I did have a hen whose eggs changed color. It was a white Leghorn and for a while she laid the bright white eggs I expected for a couple of years. Then brown eggs started showing up in her nest. There were some Barr Rocks around so I thought they were laying them there. I did some investigation and proved beyond any doubt that it was, indeed, the Leghorn that had started laying brown eggs. I thought it quite astonishing.

 

[speckledhen]

I have gotten a few Americaunas from a knowledgeable, reputable and famous feed store.

The feed store only tells you what the hatchery tells them. They know nothing about chicken breeds, period. And if you're talking about Tractor Supply or an equally large chain, they usually know less than nothing.

The hatchery tells everyone that they are selling "Ameraucanas", "Araucanas", "Americanas" or "Ameraucanas/Araucanas", when the truth is that they are selling mixed ancestry birds that have been dubbed Easter Eggers because they have the potential to lay blue or green eggs (though many do lay brown). I have never seen a true Ameraucana come from any of the big hatcheries, not once.

I have seen up close and personal the ones sold by McMurray, Welp, Ideal and Privett and they are all the mixed pattern colors and varying egg colors of the Easter Egger, no Ameraucanas and certainly not Araucanas, which are more rare than a true Ameraucana.

Now, there isn't a thing wrong with Easter Eggers-we just wish they'd tell the public the real truth about what they're selling. I'm sure it wouldn't cut into their sales a bit. Folks like the unique EE plumage colors and the surprise of what color the birds will lay.

I have made my own EEs by breeding my BR roosters over my true Ameraucanas, which give me sweet barred EEs that lay nice green eggs and have awesome personalities.​

 

[Twiggers96]

Just repeating more of what you've all told me with an excerpt from The Easter Eggers Website (Below):

I will now refer to my 'Americaunas' as 'Easter Eggers'. Sigh. I still love them, but no blue eggs and ham for me!
The green legs (not slate) & the colors not matching the approved Americaunas finally made me understand it.
My roo does have slate legs and matches the true Americauna Blue Wheaten pattern, but ....he's just a really good looking EE now!

How to Identify an Easter Egg Chicken / Easter Egger


Generally, an Easter Egger should exhibit some of the following traits
The Pea comb is a must (Keep in mind there are other breeds that have a Pea Comb)
Green legs, beard and muff and production of green, blue or pink eggs are standard

The easy way to Identify and Easter Egger is to see what color egg they produce, if the egg color is green, you most likely have an Easter Egger.
In the case of a blue egg laying Chicken, that has a tail, beard and muffs, the best way is to use the process of elimination,
or as Dr. Seuess would say, calculatus eliminatus is the best friend that you got.
This reference to ameraucana breeders club shows those chickens that have been declared non easter egger's.
If your chickens looks Exactly like one of the chickens shown on the linked website, your chicken is Not an Easter Egger, however,
if it looks similar to, but not exactly like, one of the chickens shown on that website, you are the proud owner of an Easter Egg Chicken!!!

Alternately
If you own a chicken that is rumpless, tufted and lays blue or green eggs,
although you may technically have and Easter Egger, The Easter Egger Club of America, regards your bird as either an Aruacana or the by product of the breeding methods of Aruacana breeders, and in essence, it is an Aruacana reject, not an Easter Egger.
For reference on the Aruacana breed we refer you to Araucanas Online​

 

[speckledhen]

If I know which site you are referring to, it was, IMO, a tongue-in-cheek attempt at bashing the ones who told them their birds were EEs. There is no such standard for an Easter Egger since it isn't a breed in and of itself, not really.

An EE does not have to have a pea comb or green legs, either, as they state. Many EEs have yellow legs or even slate legs and other comb types, though most have some sort of pea comb or modified pea/single type. I've had white legged EEs, yellow legged EEs and slate legged EEs.

 

[Twiggers96]

Ok, Speckled Hen, you're taking it ALL away from me!!!
I've had a rough couple of days - finally getting an egg from my "Americauna", discovering it would never be blue, discovering and coming to terms with the fact that I don't have Americaunas and now you strip me of my EE 'breed'? LOL

 

[7&8]

Chin up, Twiggers!

Just think, now you have a good excuse to look for some chicks, or eggs to hatch, next spring!!! Chicken math wins again!

 

[Illia]

7&8 :

Chin up, Twiggers!

Just think, now you have a good excuse to look for some chicks, or eggs to hatch, next spring!!! Chicken math wins again!

Exactly!

When I found out mine were just Easter Eggers, guess what I did? I went out and goth BOTH some Araucanas and Ameraucanas!