Ameraucana, Araucana, Easter Egger? Confused.

[Arbutus]

Hello! So I plan on ordering a few more chicks for my flock and am somewhat confused on which breed of the above listed I should buy. I read somewhere that Ameraucana's lay green, blue, and pink eggs but I read somewhere else that Ameraucana's and Araucana's lay only blue eggs. And that Easter Egger's lay every colored egg but someone said that when you order an easter egger they send you different chickens all going to lay a different colored egg when they are hens.
@_@
So needless to say I am highly confused and I'm about to just give up and get some chocolate egg lays.
If someone could define what colored egg each breed lays it would be appreciated.

P.S.
Hope I'm posting in the right place, this is my first time to this site.

-A.

 

[BrattishTaz]

and

Your question is one that gets people stirred up on here.

I have been looking into the same breeds. You can type Ameraucana into the search box and find a lot of info in older threads. I understand Ameraucanas lay light blue eggs. EE's are Ameraucana mixed with another breed and lay blue, green, cream, and sometimes pink eggs. You have to be careful because some people will still call an EE an Ameracauna. Others will label purebred but non-standard Ameraucanas as EEs. All I really know about Araucanas is that they are rumpless, the breed from which Ameraucanas were created, and they are hard to find in the US.

I'm sure someone will correct me if a am wrong.

I hope this helps a little. Use the search option and you will learn a lot more than I can tell you.

 

[pdsavage]

http://www.ameraucana.org/faq.html#ONE
What are the major differences between Ameraucana and Araucana chickens?

Both breeds lay eggs with shells colored various shades of blue, have pea combs, and should have red earlobes. Beyond that few similarities exist in specimens meeting the requirements of recognized poultry standards. Perhaps 99 percent of chickens sold as Araucanas (or Ameraucanas) by commercial hatcheries are actually mongrels (aka Easter Egg chickens), meeting the requirements of neither breed.

According to the American Poultry Association (APA), the Araucana breed must be rumpless (no tail) and have ear tufts. Ear tufts are clumps of feathers growing from small tabs of skin usually found at or near the region of the ear openings. This feature is unique in the U.S. to the Araucana breed. This trait is nearly always lethal to unhatched chicks when inherited from both parents. Tufted Araucanas, therefore, are always genetically impure, i.e., they don't breed true and will always produce a percentage of "clean-faced" offspring.

The Ameraucana breed, on the other hand, has a tail and sports muffs and beard in the facial area. These characteristics are true-breeding. Other requirements of both breeds may be found in the APA's Standard of Perfection and in the American Bantam Association's (ABA) Bantam Standard.


What are Easter Egg chickens?

The Ameraucana Breeders Club defines an Easter Egg chicken or Easter Egger as any chicken that possesses the blue egg gene, but doesn’t fully meet any breed descriptions as defined in the APA and/or ABA standards. Further, even if a bird meets an Ameraucana standard breed description, but doesn’t meet a variety description or breed true at least 50% of the time it is considered an Easter Egg chicken.

 

[dsqard]

pdsavage gave you good information on the differences between the three. The main question I would have for you is what are you looking for? If you are looking for a pure Ameraucana or Araucana, you will have to find a breeder. None of the hatcheries carry pure breds. If you are looking for a pretty chicken that lays a colored egg, then the hatchery EE's are great for that. From what I have read, most EE's from the hatcheries lay a greenish colored egg. Some will lay more to the bluish color and sometimes you get one that lays a brown or pinkish colored egg. You won't know what color they lay until they lay. Now if you want to get a chicken that will definitely lay a blue egg, again, you will have to find a breeder who's stock all lays blue eggs. I hope this helps! and

 

[cashdl]

Here is a pic of a true Araucana. They can be cleanfaced or tufted, but the standard calls for tufted. It is impossible to get all tufted chicks because there is a lethality connected to the tufting gene. All chicks with two copies of the gene die before they hatch. Therefore all living tufted Araucana only have one copy of the tufting gene. There are many more cleanfaced araucana than tufted araucana. It is ideal to breed for tufts, most breeders breed tufted to cleanfaced to minimize the dead chicks that do not hatch.
All Araucana should be rumpless per the standard, but tails pop up every once in a while. One of the breeds that went into the creation of the Araucana was a tailed bird.

Black Birchen Roo with georgous tufts

Duckwing Splash roo with small tufts

Blue Tufted Hen

The variety of egg colors I get from my Araucanas

Lanae

 

[fshinggrl]

I got 6 Easter Eggers from the local feed store. Two orange/brown, two white/black & two grey/partridge. I had one blue egg layer, two olive green layers, 2 green layers & one brown egg layer.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

If you are ordering chicks from a hatchery, they are EasterEggers.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

I have a TSC EE hen Goldie.

This is one of her pullet chicks that is rumpless.

Daddy was a RIR. She has a single comb.
EE's are like box of chocolates.................You don't know what you'll get.

That makes it interesting.

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Quote:
WoooHooo Lanae!!!!! Gorgeous Araucanas as usual!!


Asking this question about the different breeds before you buy is very smart of you Arbutus; many of us dove in and spent a lot of time and money getting what we didn't want before we thought to do some research...... Have fun chick shopping and try not to get too frustrated with all the hype and confusion.

 

[cackleberrycoop]

Quote:
What color egg does she lay, ibeier?