Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[BlueCamas]

Color is the only issue on my birds?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but "slate blue" legs is a requirement for many of the colors of Ameraucana. Most EE's have green legs, so even if one of your EE's is a recognized color but has green legs, it is classed as a EE.

Hopefully that made sense?

 

[pips&peeps]

Not only does the color have to be correct, the skin color has to be correct, the eye color has to be correct, the tail angle has to be correct and the body shape must be correct. The bird must also breed true 50% of the time along with the other items already mentioned. With an ee, you are bound to get all sorts of colors.

The description of the ameraucana at the ABC is just an overview of the bird, we cannot post the total description because it is copywrited by the APA.

 

[tennesseeckn]

Color is the only issue on my birds?

It's more than just what color the bird appears. There's also genetics to consider. Even if your EE looks like a blue wheaten to someone like me, if you entered him in a show a judge would probably be able to tell right away that it was not a pure blue wheaten. There are almost always subtle cues about the genetic makeup of a bird. Even if it were so close that no one could tell by looking, there are other things to consider.

Because you bought your guy from a hatchery his parents were likely a mishmash of colors. It's neat that your bird looks like a blue wheaten, but there are lots of other color genes floating around in him, too. His chicks would probably be all sorts of different colors even if you bred him to a pure wheaten hen. One of the requirements of most of the standards is that they breed true. Which means that you should be able to predict what color chicks they would produce.

I'm pretty new to all of this, too. I'm sure this explanation is way too simplistic, but honestly, that's the level of understanding I have of genetics right now. There are plenty of people on this thread that are genetics gurus. I hope they pipe in if I've lead you astray.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Not to change the subject or anything, but "Buttercup" one of my black bantam Ameraucana hens is POW!!!!!

 

[AinaWGSD]

...and don't know if you are the ones who started this discussion with me, but I am asking becaese I ordered from there and posted a couple of pics, then was told they weren't americaunas .....which the cackle site said I bought, I thought, due to the slash and it said it was; so I got confused and am trying to understand.

There's where your confusion comes from, you keep getting hung up on the line that the hatchery sold you. Advertising is meant to get people to buy a product, it's kind of like breeders who want to sell you a purebred "labradoodle." They claim that the animal is purebred when it is, by definition, a mixed breed. They are not interchangeable, although that may be what the hatchery wants you to think. Think of it this way, all Ameraucanas are "Easter Egg" chickens in that they lay a colored egg that is not brown or white, but not all "Easter Egg" chickens are Ameraucanas. Kind of like all thumbs are fingers, but not all fingers are thumbs.

The whole easter egger/Ameraucana thing is confusing. And the common practice of hatcheries advertising and selling them as if they were the same thing makes it even harder. For most people, the reason for getting an easter egger or Ameraucana is the same...to get pretty colored eggs. For that purpose alone, it really doesn't matter which you get and for that purpose alone they might as well be the same. In fact, if you got them because you wanted pretty colored eggs it's often better to get easter eggers because hatcheries are breeding primarily for egg production qualities and many easter eggers lay better than many purebred Ameraucanas (at least in the first few years). If your goal is to produce chicks that are consistently the same as their parents or to show your birds, then easter eggers will not meet that goal.

 

[Candace69]

Yeah I was getting it, and I just didn't want to be coming across as hostile or argumentative, as those neither one would be the way I am. Just wanted to get the whole picture.
What you say clears it up even more, even though its behavioral, I tell that to people with Great Pyrs. All Great Pyrs are Great Pyrs, but not all are LGDs or even can be LGDs.
Thanks though for the info, and it makes sense with the colors too; if you want to get a specific color. Would want to be able to GET that color.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Yeah I was getting it, and I just didn't want to be coming across as hostile or argumentative, as those neither one would be the way I am. Just wanted to get the whole picture.
What you say clears it up even more, even though its behavioral, I tell that to people with Great Pyrs. All Great Pyrs are Great Pyrs, but not all are LGDs or even can be LGDs.
Thanks though for the info, and it makes sense with the colors too; if you want to get a specific color. Would want to be able to GET that color.

Candace, not sure this will make you feel any better but I went through the same thing but with hatching eggs. I bought eggs from a person on ebay that were advertised as pure Ameraucanas, bred to standards. I just took them at their word and believed it until I had a bunch of grown birds that people kept telling me were Easter Egger and not true Ameraucanas. I put a lot of time and money into those birds to find out I did not have what I thought I did--I could be upset with the person that sold me the eggs but after thought I figured they probably were told they had pure Ameraucanas when they got their birds. I did like the birds and have since given them to an uncle that really likes them too. They lay great and are very friendly birds. I am actually thinking of getting some eggs this year from those birds to hatch and put some hens with my laying flock. At the same time I am also waiting for some eggs from a trusted breeder to start a flock of wheatens in a separate pen.

 

[ronott1]

Candace, not sure this will make you feel any better but I went through the same thing but with hatching eggs. I bought eggs from a person on ebay that were advertised as pure Ameraucanas, bred to standards. I just took them at their word and believed it until I had a bunch of grown birds that people kept telling me were Easter Egger and not true Ameraucanas. I put a lot of time and money into those birds to find out I did not have what I thought I did--I could be upset with the person that sold me the eggs but after thought I figured they probably were told they had pure Ameraucanas when they got their birds. I did like the birds and have since given them to an uncle that really likes them too. They lay great and are very friendly birds. I am actually thinking of getting some eggs this year from those birds to hatch and put some hens with my laying flock. At the same time I am also waiting for some eggs from a trusted breeder to start a flock of wheatens in a separate pen.

Great information here!

I picked up some hatching eggs in early December and 8 of them were EE or Americana eggs. The Breeder said they were Amercana but I am skeptical. The eggs cost be a dollar each and I picked them up myself, so they did not cost me much. I was practicing hatching--this was my second hatch. Six of the 8 hatched, but one never grew and died at three weeks.

Here is a picture of them at two week of age. One of them in the picture is a Marans.



I will try to get a more recent picture.

Ron

Edited to fix post

 

[Illia]

Not to change the subject or anything, but "Buttercup" one of my black bantam Ameraucana hens is POW!!!!!

Congrats, I noticed!!

On the EE topic -


I think we should just settle in the fact that the hatchery obviously didn't sell real Ameraucanas, since real Ameraucanas don't have green legs like those roosters, don't have yellow skin like those roosters, and don't come in odd colors like those roosters. And trust me, there's LOADS of evidence out there that ALL major and even smaller hatcheries sell mutt/EE's not real Ameraucanas.

Plumage color isn't all. There's skin color, shank color, and often even comb type can hint to the lineage of the bird. Same with earlobe color and egg color.

 

[Christie Rhae]

Yeah I was getting it, and I just didn't want to be coming across as hostile or argumentative, as those neither one would be the way I am. Just wanted to get the whole picture.
What you say clears it up even more, even though its behavioral, I tell that to people with Great Pyrs. All Great Pyrs are Great Pyrs, but not all are LGDs or even can be LGDs.
Thanks though for the info, and it makes sense with the colors too; if you want to get a specific color. Would want to be able to GET that color.

Having true ameraucanas does not even guarantee the prettiest eggs. Check out this egg that I get from one of my easter eggers. She lays this vibrant egg all the time... not a fluke egg. It is just beautiful! EE's are great. But that being said I have made it my mission for the last 10 months to get pure ameraucanas. lol Go figure