Ameraucana questions.

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm saying the hatcheries know they are selling Easter eggers and did not coin the term Ameraucana or have anything to do with the creation of that breed.

Sorry, still not clear. That's why they continue to use the term "Easter Egger?" Yes/no.

(Bipolar, easily confused, sometimes my brain is very literal. )

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Various people would have been working for years, even decades, to create a breed and get it recognized (likely all had different versions they preferred). APA just picked whatever they liked? For both Araucana and Ameraucana.
I wouldn't know if they said it would be one standard off the books, then changed it later and screwed over a bunch of breeders.

Of the people who are overly "passionate" (angry...) about the APA Ameraucana debate, I wonder how many of them would put the same amount of energy into arguing that my hatchery quality Orpington isn't a real Orpington because it doesn't follow correct SOP.
I see some spats about that, in a much more acceptable amount of passion.
(Switch Orpington with any common hatchery breed, you'll get similar results.)

I also feel like, if I did get the other colors of APA Ameraucana... and put them all in a group... somebody would call their offspring an abomination, and no longer Ameraucana, because the colors mixed... even though all the parents are considered 100% APA Ameraucana.
Which would mean, they're angry about the color... and it has nothing to do with the breed? The legs, eggs, comb, beard and muffs would be as correct as all the parents.

I also find it weird that it took decades for APA to add Splash, when they picked Blue as an original color already. But that's just a comment tacked at the end.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Sorry, still not clear. That's why they continue to use the term "Easter Egger?" Yes/no.

(Bipolar, easily confused, sometimes my brain is very literal. )

I believe they were saying they feel that anybody using the term "Ameraucana", when it isn't APA SOP Ameraucana, is intentionally being deceptive in order to make more money.
They implied the non-SOP should stop saying Ameraucana, and instead call them "Easter Eggers"

Apologies if I didn't help with the confusing writing

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I believe they were saying they feel that anybody using the term "Ameraucana", when it isn't APA SOP Ameraucana, is intentionally being deceptive in order to make more money.
They implied the non-SOP should stop saying Ameraucana, and instead call them "Easter Eggers"

Apologies if I didn't help with the confusing writing

Thanks. You helped!

 

[JedJackson]

I believe they were saying they feel that anybody using the term "Ameraucana", when it isn't APA SOP Ameraucana, is intentionally being deceptive in order to make more money.
They implied the non-SOP should stop saying Ameraucana, and instead call them "Easter Eggers"

Apologies if I didn't help with the confusing writing

Yes, sorry if I wasn't clear. Sometimes I post too late at night lol

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes, sorry if I wasn't clear. Sometimes I post too late at night lol

Understood, some of my posts are practically gibberish. Fortunately I sometimes wake up in the morning to see that I fell asleep without hitting Post. Whew!

 

[NatJ]

Easter eggers aren't even a true breed. More like a land race. And pure breeds sell for more than non-standard, mixed varieties. That is why they contiune to use that term. They know full well that it is deceptive.

Sometimes the latest "new" thing sells for even more, which is probably why the hatcheries are now selling lots of ___Eggers (insert almost anything in the blank, someone's selling it, and probably not cheap.)

But yes, I'm sure the hatcheries are calling their birds "Ameraucanas" or mangled versions of that because that is the name that people already know, so the hatcheries want to provide it.

Of the people who are overly "passionate" (angry...) about the APA Ameraucana debate, I wonder how many of them would put the same amount of energy into arguing that my hatchery quality Orpington isn't a real Orpington because it doesn't follow correct SOP.
I see some spats about that, in a much more acceptable amount of passion.
(Switch Orpington with any common hatchery breed, you'll get similar results.)

I've noticed that too.

Or look at Naked Neck/Turken chickens. Several hatcheries have a mixed-color flock that has the naked neck gene, not sorted into the correct colors that are recognized by the APA, but I see almost no complaints about that (as compared to the Ameraucanas/Easter Egger issue).

I also feel like, if I did get the other colors of APA Ameraucana... and put them all in a group... somebody would call their offspring an abomination, and no longer Ameraucana, because the colors mixed... even though all the parents are considered 100% APA Ameraucana.
Which would mean, they're angry about the color... and it has nothing to do with the breed? The legs, eggs, comb, beard and muffs would be as correct as all the parents.

Good point about how feather color actually seems to be treated as the most important thing, even though advice on breeding chickens says that body type and performance traits are supposed to be even more important.

I have noticed that when people mix colors of some other breed (Brahma or Wyandotte or Orpington or whatever), the chicks do not seem to be regarded as purebreds in the same way correctly colored ones are.

Maybe it's because color is so easy to see? I know that the best-producing varieties of a given breed tend to be the ones with colors that are easy to get right, so breeders pay more attention to production traits because they don't have to think as much about color (I'm thinking White Leghorns, White Rocks or Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, nothing with lacing or other complex patterns.)