Ameraucana chicks...need help sexing

[RRLaney]

Hey y'all! 2 of my ameraucana chicks are a little over 6 weeks old now and I was hoping to get some expert opinions on their sex. They don't look like cockerels to me...but I'm new to this. Fingers crossed!

This is Jenna:

And Becky:

They look almost identical aside from their coloring. Becky is a tiny bit larger.

 

[donrae]

They look like cute little Easter egger pullets to me.

If you could get a nice comb shot of Becky would be good, but I'm pretty positive she's a she.

 

[junebuggena]

Easter Egger pullets

 

[sourland]

I agree - EE pullets.

 

[RRLaney]

Really?? Oh my goodness! When we bought them we were told they were Ameraucanas. Excited if they're EEs though!
And so happy to hear everyone thinks they're girls! Wooo!
Thanks y'all!

 

[junebuggena]

99% of birds that are sold as Ameraucana are actually Easter Eggers.

 

[RRLaney]

@junebuggena
Ahh good to know. Makes perfect sense then! thank you

You know why that is?

 

[ChickNanny13]

3x EE pullets....I bought what I was told AM only to find out they were EEs, they were fun & sweet, laid colored eggs. Eggs were different shades of "green" so I could tell who laid. They're the ones on the left of the picture, Dusk (darker one) laid the egg on the right, Tawny laid the one on the left. The RIR laid different shades too, so I could keep track of who laid.

 

[RRLaney]

3x EE pullets....I bought what I was told AM only to find out they were EEs, they were fun & sweet, laid colored eggs. Eggs were different shades of "green" so I could tell who laid. They're the ones on the left of the picture, Dusk (darker one) laid the egg on the right, Tawny laid the one on the left. The RIR laid different shades too, so I could keep track of who laid.

Beautiful! So excited for that!

 

[junebuggena]

@junebuggena
Ahh good to know. Makes perfect sense then!

thank you

You know why that is?

Because hatcheries insist on selling Easter Eggers as Ameraucana. Hatcheries have been breeding and selling blue/green layers since the early 1900s, when the birds where first imported into the U.S. Back then, they were called Araucana, but they were far from being a standardized breed. In the 1970s, the American Poultry Association approved breed standards for both the Araucana and Ameraucana breeds. The breed standards, however, left out many birds that didn't fit either breed standard. These are what we now call Easter Eggers. Hatcheries just never bothered updating their breeding practices to reflect the changes.