10 wk Ameraucana- Roo? please help!

[SweetT]

I'm a fairly inexperienced chicken owner. My "Ana" is starting to look like an "Antonio". I'm sunk if I get a crow before I figure it out. Any and all guesses and assessments welcome! Please!

For good measure, I'm including pics of my other two chickens (RIR 10 wks & Ameraucana 9 wks) in case anyone notices male traits on them.

THANKS!

 

[DancingWthDucks]

I could be wrong but it looks like you have a very hansome roo (the bird in the top 4 pics)

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Top bird of concern is a rooster...and an Easter Egger. You can safely re-home him now before he begins to crow.

RIR looks to be all pullet.

Bottom bird is another Easter Egger and looks to be a pullet. That is a typical female pattern for EE.

LofMc

 

[SweetT]

Thanks so much! I can easily return "Antonio" to the farm from which he came.

Thanks for the breed ID too! I was wondering if they were Easter Eggers instead of actual Ameraucanas but from the research I did, I thought the blue legs and the muffs concluded Ameraucana. I wonder if my RIR is actually a Production Red?

 

[junebuggena]

Thanks so much! I can easily return "Antonio" to the farm from which he came.

Thanks for the breed ID too! I was wondering if they were Easter Eggers instead of actual Ameraucanas but from the research I did, I thought the blue legs and the muffs concluded Ameraucana. I wonder if my RIR is actually a Production Red?

Underneath that 'blue' leg color, the skin should be white. The bottom of the feet is the easiest place to see the skin color of a bird. For a bird to be considered Ameraucana, it must also be one of the recognized color varieties. Any non standard color is automatically considered an Easter Egger, even if both parents were 'true' Ameraucana.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thanks so much! I can easily return "Antonio" to the farm from which he came.

Thanks for the breed ID too! I was wondering if they were Easter Eggers instead of actual Ameraucanas but from the research I did, I thought the blue legs and the muffs concluded Ameraucana. I wonder if my RIR is actually a Production Red?

Junebugenna gives a good suggestion for detecting the actual skin color of a bird. Your birds are EE's as 1) they came from a farm store (farm stores notoriously sell EE's labeled as Ameraucanas) and 2) they are not standard colors. True Ameraucanas almost always have to be purchased from a reputable breeder. (I think one hatchery reportedly sells true Blue Ameraucanas).

As to your RIR...yes it will be a Production Red as you got it from a farm store which purchased it from a hatchery. Hatcheries breed for productivity rather than strictly to breed standard, so most breeders argue that any hatchery RIR (or NH for that matter) is a Production Red.

So what does that mean for you? Nothing, really. You got wonderfully healthy and hardy birds that will lay well for a very inexpensive price. If you wanted to show, breed, then sell chicks under breed standards, then it would matter.

The Ameraucana people are particularly sensitive to EE vs. Ameraucana because many unscrupulous people try to sell EE's as Ameraucanas. (As the breed is rare and more difficult to find, it is much easier to have only one true Ameraucana and breed that to any other breed to get EE's...but that dilutes the breed and the all important blue egg shell gene).

Return Antonio (the patchy coloring and darker red/brick bars coming in at the wings mark him as a rooster), and trade for another bird if they have one.

Enjoy your EE and RIR pullets. You have a good chance of the EE laying blue or green eggs as it looks like she has a pea comb. (The disadvantage of the EE...it can lay blue, green, white, pinkish or brown eggs vs. the coveted 100% blue eggs of the Ameraucana...but that is why it is called an Easter egger...the variety of colors in the eggs between one hen to the next...an EE can lay any one of those colors...the hope is you get a bird that will lay the green or the blue color...and that depends upon if it got the blue egg shell gene).

LofMc

 

[SweetT]

Thank you for the info. I learn so much from all you smart people and I'm very appreciative. I don't mind whether my girls are RIR and Ameraucana or Production Red and Easter Egger. I love them the same and their eggs will taste as delicious either way. I also have 3 4-week-olds of various breeds that I pray are as female as I think they are.