Ameraucana or Easter Eggers?

[Shianne]

Can someone tell me the difference, or if there is one? I've heard there is. and which one are our chickens? We bought them as "Ameraucanas also known as Easter Eggers". I'm just curious.

 

[ladyrsanti]

They are beautiful no matter. Someone will come in and tell you the difference. Mine are Easter Eggers that were sold as Ameraucanas (or whichever of a half-dozen spellings) and look a lot like your middle picture there, or at least that's how I was corrected. Whatever that leaves you with.

 

[pips&peeps]

ee

 

[willowbranchfarm]

EE

 

[Pele]

They are pretty EEs

Here is the official website of the Ameraucana breed. It has a good comparison of common confusion points between EEs, Ameraucanas, and Araucanas. It's very nice: www.ameraucana.org

 

[Shianne]

Thank you all, they are lovely, we just love them. I'd still like to know the differences if anyone is willing to share. That link you gave me won't work.. I'll try it again later.
Are the roosters of EE's good? The bottom pic is of a rooster, he is great now but I've heard they can be evil when they get older.. We have a Frizzle roo the same age and he is already EVIL. Well, he is good with us, but if with the hens will beat them up even though he is half the size. I'm hoping since the EE is still calm and nice he will stay that way, we'd like to keep him.

 

[Pele]

Hrm... I think their website is down. I hope it's temporary, it's a wonderful site.

Here's a brief description of what you commonly run into:

Ameraucanas: A fairly young breed that many believe was developed from EE stock. This breed of chicken can only come in one of the following colors: Black, Blue, Blue Wheaten, Brown Red, Buff, Silver, Wheaten and White. NO other colors. The Ameraucana MUST have slate colored legs, a pea comb, have a beard and muff, and lay blue (to bluish green) eggs. This is a very strict and exacting breed, and is fairly rare, despite hatcheries lying left and right about selling them (really they are selling EEs).

Araucanas: An old breed believed to have been developed in ancient Chile. This breed of chicken is very unusual looking due to having normal length feathers growing out of it's cheeks, resulting in sweeping-back 'tufts'. They also lack the final spinal segment in their tail, giving them a 'tail-less,' appearance. They lay sky-blue eggs (only color allowed), do not have noticeable wattles, and are EXTREMELY rare.

Easter Eggers (EE): A very very very common type of chicken sold by hatcheries. This is NOT a breed, but rather an unregulated mix that tends to share general features. Most of the time anyway. Because it's not a breed, they can come in all colors, in all sizes, with all types of combs, laying all types of eggs, with all kinds of personalities, etc. Generally speaking, the 'ideal' EE should have: a pea comb, lay blue to green eggs, have a beard and muff, and have willow colored leggs. But, as stated before, nobody is reinforcing or regulating them, so hatcheries can mix, match, substitute, edit, remove, swirl, and generally do whatever the heck they want with the genes.

Americana: The sign of a really stupid hatchery or breeder. On the same level as someone who sells Labrodoors, Dalmashuns, or Beegels

 

[Shianne]

Thank you for the info, I'll keep trying their site as well so I can check it out.

and LOL at your bottom comment, you have no idea how many "stupid" dog breeders are around here. I just laugh when I see them ads in the paper.

 

[donrae]

And don't even get me started on folks trying to spell chihuahua!

 

[Pele]

Haha, so true. Always makes me wonder what else they are lazy about, if they can't even be bothered to learn the spelling of their breed.