2 Americauna chicks?

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Exactly what PC and Gerry said. I am doing my job as Western District Director of the ABC to educate. I don't want her to be embarrassed or upset by someone that won't be tactful or even nice about telling her the same information later. I wasn't attacking her, and if the OP feels that I was, she can tell me and I will apologize, as that was not my intent. But it is something that needs to be said time and time again, because as long as hatcheries keep selling EEs as Ameraucanas, there will be misinformed people thinking that they have something they don't.
Feed stores are just as at fault, because often times on a hatchery's website it will also refer to them as an "Easter Egg" chicken, and explain that they will lay many colors of eggs, etc. And then the feed stores just put up an "Ameraucana" sign with no explanation at all...

There is NOTHING wrong with EEs. What IS wrong is hatcheries misrepresenting their birds and making people think they have something they don't. It's like when someone has a German Shepherd / Lab mix and just calls it a German Shepherd. It won't breed true, it doesn't conform to breed standards, and people with pure German Shepherds would probably call them out on it. Same thing, only worse that some hatcheries sell birds as Ameraucanas that don't even have any Ameraucana blood in them at all.

 

[Sphinx]

I asked a feed store worker once why they referred to those chicks as ameracaunas when they were actually EE. She told me that they're contractually bound to label the cages as the hatchery instructs, and if they're caught deviating from the instructed labeling, they lose their contract. I was there playing with the day olds, and trying to resist the urge to buy more, and I heard her quietly telling people that they were more accurately called EE, and explained the cool egg color, the bushy cheeks, etc. She was awesome, knowledgeable and competent.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Another dead give away that you aren't getting true Ameraucanas is if they are sold as "Ameraucanas". True Ameraucanas always come with their color attached to them - Blue, Black, Silver, Buff, White, Wheaten, Blue Wheaten, and Brown-red. Most hatcheries seem to think anything that hatched out of a blue/green egg is either an Ameraucana or an Araucana but that isn't the case.

 

[billfields]

Quote:
Well... I used to kinda get annoyed with it too but it happens so much here I now kind find it funny...type Ameraucanas" in a post and see how long till you get corrected

When people tell me that my Ameraucanas from Meyer---without even seeing them or knowing a thing about them--- are "Really just EEs" and that "EE are mutts" I point out, as you did, that my basset hounds don't meed every breed standard. One has legs a little too long and one has ears a little too short but ask anybody what they are and they are gonna say "basset hounds" Same with my chickens. They are not and were never sold as or expected to be show quality. They're "Barnyard Quality" Ameraucanas. I had kinda hoped that term would catch on here and cut down on some of the bad feelings that that happen over the whole Ameraucana vs Easter Egger thing but it really matteres to some people how those terms are used. So I refer to my three as Ameraucanas and if someone fusses clarify that they are Barnyard Quality and let it go. Fact is I am happy with my dogs and my chicken and I know what they are. And honestly, neither my dogs nor my chickens give a darn what people call them, they're just going along being dogs and chickens. Give my rooster a hen he is going to.....well...er...you know what he'll do and he isn't going to ask to see her papers or check her for breed standard.

I hope you (and and now me as well----yikes I better duck too!!!) are not given a hard time for pointing it out. I understand the feeling of the Ameraucanas breeders, iust like I understand my basset friends who hang out at AKC shows but we are not all breeders and most of our chicken are just, as the site says, back---or barn---yard chickens who will never see a show.

 

[navasima]

If I were looking to show or breed - then, true enough, I wouldn't have gotten my chicks from the feed store. Now the only assumption made on this thread so far is that I misspelled the breed name because of a label at the feed store. The tiny place I go to has no labels!

It was "the guy at the feed store" who told me the first was an Ameraucana and by the time I got the second I just nodded when he said it, came home and posted here! lol

I am a newbie looking for info. and really quite appreciative of the feedback that I've gotten.

None of our family members - furry, feathered, scaled or skinned ( by our I mean all of us on this site) are "just" anything. There is no enjoying them despite what they are, but always for what/who they are - yes? Are we all agreed?

No bounce - no foul.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
Very well said.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
Well... I used to kinda get annoyed with it too but it happens so much here I now kind find it funny...type Ameraucanas" in a post and see how long till you get corrected

When people tell me that my Ameraucanas from Meyer---without even seeing them or knowing a thing about them--- are "Really just EEs" and that "EE are mutts" I point out, as you did, that my basset hounds don't meed every breed standard. One has legs a little too long and one has ears a little too short but ask anybody what they are and they are gonna say "basset hounds" Same with my chickens. They are not and were never sold as or expected to be show quality. They're "Barnyard Quality" Ameraucanas. I had kinda hoped that term would catch on here and cut down on some of the bad feelings that that happen over the whole Ameraucana vs Easter Egger thing but it really matteres to some people how those terms are used. So I refer to my three as Ameraucanas and if someone fusses clarify that they are Barnyard Quality and let it go. Fact is I am happy with my dogs and my chicken and I know what they are. And honestly, neither my dogs nor my chickens give a darn what people call them, they're just going along being dogs and chickens. Give my rooster a hen he is going to.....well...er...you know what he'll do and he isn't going to ask to see her papers or check her for breed standard.

I hope you (and and now me as well----yikes I better duck too!!!) are not given a hard time for pointing it out. I understand the feeling of the Ameraucanas breeders, iust like I understand my basset friends who hang out at AKC shows but we are not all breeders and most of our chicken are just, as the site says, back---or barn---yard chickens who will never see a show.

That's great! I know most of the folks that are passionate about Ameraucanas would be ecstatic if people referred to them as "barnyard" Ameraucanas, or even "pet quality" Ameraucanas. The emotions start flying when people have non-standard birds and think they can represent them as "true" Ameraucanas, or "show quality"...if you go to ebay and search "Ameraucanas" you will see exactly what I'm talking about and that's just the tip of the ice berg. At our county fair this year there were 8 EEs entered in the open class, not by a 4H kid, as Ameraucanas, and the APA licensed judge did not DQ any of them except the one that had mites. This is what torks off Ameraucana breeders. It wildly misinforms the public. My son even made an Ameraucana breed poster to display at our fair this year that points out the differences between Ams and EEs, unfortunately in order to get it judged it had to be in the exhibit hall and not in the poultry barn..

 

[Muggsmagee]

Quote:
Well... I used to kinda get annoyed with it too but it happens so much here I now kind find it funny...type Ameraucanas" in a post and see how long till you get corrected

When people tell me that my Ameraucanas from Meyer---without even seeing them or knowing a thing about them--- are "Really just EEs" and that "EE are mutts" I point out, as you did, that my basset hounds don't meed every breed standard. One has legs a little too long and one has ears a little too short but ask anybody what they are and they are gonna say "basset hounds" Same with my chickens. They are not and were never sold as or expected to be show quality. They're "Barnyard Quality" Ameraucanas. I had kinda hoped that term would catch on here and cut down on some of the bad feelings that that happen over the whole Ameraucana vs Easter Egger thing but it really matteres to some people how those terms are used. So I refer to my three as Ameraucanas and if someone fusses clarify that they are Barnyard Quality and let it go. Fact is I am happy with my dogs and my chicken and I know what they are. And honestly, neither my dogs nor my chickens give a darn what people call them, they're just going along being dogs and chickens. Give my rooster a hen he is going to.....well...er...you know what he'll do and he isn't going to ask to see her papers or check her for breed standard.

I hope you (and and now me as well----yikes I better duck too!!!) are not given a hard time for pointing it out. I understand the feeling of the Ameraucanas breeders, iust like I understand my basset friends who hang out at AKC shows but we are not all breeders and most of our chicken are just, as the site says, back---or barn---yard chickens who will never see a show.

Not quite. You say your basset hounds (one of my favorite dog breeds) have imperfections. I can only assume they aren't mutts and weren't cross bred to another breed of dog. EE's are just that...mutts. EE's are NOT AT ALL Ameraucanas! EE's are a blue egg layer crossed to another breed. Does that make sense? If someone owned a Springer Spaniel and told everyone their dog was a Basset Hound, you'd probably find yourself speaking up to correct them, right?

I am sure the OP's birds are lovely, and they will get true joy from raising them...heck, most Ameraucana breeders have a few EE's kicking around, too! There is nothing wrong with EE's, just the misinformation most people are giving and getting that they are in fact Ameraucanas when they most certainly are not.

Us Ameraucana enthusiasts are NOT picking at FAULTS on a bird. We hone in on clues to why they are not likely true Ameraucanas. Big name hatchery/feed store = clue #1. Green legs (dead giveaway to being an EE) = clue #2. Not being able to spell Ameraucana...no one's fault, it takes getting used to, but putting an "I" in it is usually clue #3.

Along the same note...I was calling New Hampshire chickens New Hampshire Reds for the longest time. Gratefully, I was corrected. I have no problem doing the same for others.

I've been chewing on the "barnyard Ameraucanas"...I still think that would perpetuate the confusion. Barnyard EE's, or simply EE's, would be best.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Not at all. There is no "barnyard" or "pet quality". They either are or aren't "Ameraucanas". It has to do with the definition of what is (and isn't) Ameraucana. Chickens don't work like horses or dogs. If the bird doesn't meet breed standard (and it is defined) then it isn't Ameraucana. Plain and simple. And hatcheries do not sell birds that meet the standard. Period.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
Not at all. There is no "barnyard" or "pet quality". They either are or aren't "Ameraucanas". It has to do with the definition of what is (and isn't) Ameraucana. Chickens don't work like horses or dogs. If the bird doesn't meet breed standard (and it is defined) then it isn't Ameraucana. Plain and simple. And hatcheries do not sell birds that meet the standard. Period.

I didn't say it was the perfect option, I'm just saying it's "an" option. It's a heck of a lot better than people calling them "true" Ameraucanas. Point is, this isn't a debate, let's not make it one of "those" threads. The OP's original question has been answered. Case closed.