Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Duckies Girls]

Building on that I have a question, or maybe two... If you have a bird that is a mix of two Ameraucanas (let's say a Blue and a Black), is it still an Ameraucana or an Easter Egger? I would think Easter Egger but maybe not? Would the 'future generations' of those hypothetical Blue/Black mix birds always be considered EEs, or could you somehow breed a pure Black or pure Blue Ameraucana back from them? I Hope those aren't ridiculously obvious questions, sorry if they are.

 

[Miss Ameraucana]

This might help clear up some of your questions.

If you get it at a feed store, TSC, whatever - GUARANTEED it is an EE, not an APA Ameraucana. VERY FEW hatcheries sell APA Ameraucana. If they do, they will be sold as a SPECIFIC color. NO big hatchery, to my knowledge, sells APA Araucanas. Many of the big hatcheries sell EEs under the name Ameraucana, Araucana (both are APA breeds and look totally different) or Americana (in an effort to mislead given the spelling is so close). There are some honest big hatcheries that sell these birds as Easter Eggers. It isn't a breed, you have no idea what color and pattern they will have when they are adults. EEs are great birds, I have 4.

@wabbit1964 There are, currently, two Ameraucana breeders club - The Ameraucana Breeders Club and the Ameraucana Alliance. Both have reputable breeders, but as with anything, do your research before you buy. The link for the Ameraucana Breeders Club breeder's directory is in my signature line and I'm sure someone will post the Ameraucana Alliance one, as well.

Cross-posted from the "Real Ameraucana Group" on Facebook... While I'm thinking about it , let's talk about another question that comes up frequently and is equally difficult to answer. "Is this bird an Ameraucana?" Sometimes, it is easy to tell and a quick answer will often follow. However, I have to remind myself that there are two major criteria to a pure bred..anything - chicken, dog, horse, lizard, etc. Does it look like whatever it should be look like AND Will it breed true? In other words, looking at a picture of a bird is not sufficient information to tell if it is a true Ameraucana. Without knowing what it's parentage was, or what it has already produced - the answer can only be based on appearances. And, we all know that appearances can be deceiving. A couple of years ago - and a few still last year - I was all into purposefully creating Easter Eggers and Olive Eggers. By the time I decided to focus strictly on my real Ameraucanas, I had some second and third generation EEs and OEs. If I had been so inclined, I could have sold some of those OE pullets as pure brown red Ameraucanas to the unsuspecting! Their appearance, especially to those less versed in the Ameraucana SOP, was very close to what a nice brown red pullet should look like. Of course, they would never have bred true - too much garbage in their ancestry that would come out sooner or later. But if I had posted a picture of one of them here and asked, "is this a true Ameraucana?", there are many, based on appearance alone, that would have said yes. Again, I don't want to stop the questions, I just want us all to think about our answers. Including me, I've been guilty of it myself. In order to give a qualified answer, there needs to be more information - where did the bird come from? What is it's parentage? Has it produced and what were the results? From the responses to those questions, someone can start to give a responsible answer. First of all, if it came from a hatchery - even those that say they are selling "Ameraucanas" - you probably have an EE...or a very poor specimen of Ameraucana, in a few very rare cases. If the person selling the bird says it is an "AmerIcana", then it is an EE. If the person selling the bird says it is an Ameraucana, but can't specify which variety - chances are it is an EE.

While we are here, Can anyone help me with the breed? It might be a mixed

A standard Ameraucana will only lay some shade of blue, no green. She COULD be a mix of those but there doesn't have to be any Ameraucana parentage to have the Ameraucana look. The Ameraucana breed was developed FROM birds that we would now call EEs. EEs won't breed true (meaning you won't get the same color or pattern as the parent birds) but if the parents carry the muff, beard, blue genes it is likely that the offspring will have the general appearance of a standard Ameraucana. And if BOTH parents have those genes, I think the offspring WILL have the same characteristics. But you never know what genes are hiding under those feathers and will express themselves in some of the chicks. Clarification and corrections by those REALLY in the know are welcome

Here are several posts from a few days ago. Lots of helpful information here

 

[Miss Ameraucana]

If a person has pure Ameraucanas crossing blacks and blues will give you 50/50 blacks and blues

 

[junebuggena]

Building on that I have a question, or maybe two... If you have a bird that is a mix of two Ameraucanas (let's say a Blue and a Black), is it still an Ameraucana or an Easter Egger? I would think Easter Egger but maybe not? Would the 'future generations' of those hypothetical Blue/Black mix birds always be considered EEs, or could you somehow breed a pure Black or pure Blue Ameraucana back from them? I Hope those aren't ridiculously obvious questions, sorry if they are.

Breeding a Black to a Blue isn't really crossing varieties. They are both technically the same color/pattern (extended black), the Blue just happens to have a single dose of a dilute gene that turns black coloring into 'blue'. The Blue gene only affects black coloring, not the overall pattern.
Same thing with Wheaten and Blue Wheaten. Both are the same color/pattern so can be bred together.

 

[marchick]

From our wheaten, blue wheaten

Where did your hens come from? I have 9 week old BBS and lavenders dirrect from Paul Smith. I hope some of them lay eggs like that!!! Beautiful!!!

 

[JulesChicks]

Building on that I have a question, or maybe two... If you have a bird that is a mix of two Ameraucanas (let's say a Blue and a Black), is it still an Ameraucana or an Easter Egger? I would think Easter Egger but maybe not? Would the 'future generations' of those hypothetical Blue/Black mix birds always be considered EEs, or could you somehow breed a pure Black or pure Blue Ameraucana back from them? I Hope those aren't ridiculously obvious questions, sorry if they are.

This would be breeding within an accepted APA variety - in this case Blue/Black/Splash Ameraucana (usually abbreviated BBS). There is also Wheaten/Blue Wheaten/Splash - (WBS), these are what I have. I believe there are 8 total accepted varieties (color/pattern) within the Ameraucana breed - if it doesn't match a variety (splash are still considered pure) and if it doesn't breed true, it's not an Ameraucana. See one of the association pages for pictures of examples of each variety within the breed. Here's a good one: http://www.ameraucana.org/gallery.html Ok, technically they call out Black and Blues as separate varieties, and Wheaten and Blue Wheaten as well, but they can each be bred together and still be pure (Wheaten to Blue Wheaten and Black to Blue). Splash is not an accepted variety, meaning you can't show it, but it is still pure and you can use them in your breeding program. Hope that helps!

 

[JulesChicks]

Where did your hens come from? I have 9 week old BBS and lavenders dirrect from Paul Smith. I hope some of them lay eggs like that!!! Beautiful!!!

x2! Those are my dream eggs! I have both breeds but mine are not like that!

 

[Duckies Girls]

This would be breeding within an accepted APA variety - in this case Blue/Black/Splash Ameraucana (usually abbreviated BBS). There is also Wheaten/Blue Wheaten/Splash - (WBS), these are what I have. I believe there are 8 total accepted varieties (color/pattern) within the Ameraucana breed - if it doesn't match a variety (splash are still considered pure) and if it doesn't breed true, it's not an Ameraucana. See one of the association pages for pictures of examples of each variety within the breed. Here's a good one: http://www.ameraucana.org/gallery.html Ok, technically they call out Black and Blues as separate varieties, and Wheaten and Blue Wheaten as well, but they can each be bred together and still be pure (Wheaten to Blue Wheaten and Black to Blue). Splash is not an accepted variety, meaning you can't show it, but it is still pure and you can use them in your breeding program. Hope that helps!

This helps a lot! I've tried reading up on the genetics side, and what happens when you cross the colors, but there's so much involved it's easy to start overthinking everything I've seen BBS Ameraucana before, but I've also found them listed as Blue and Black individually on the ameraucana.org website, so that made me wonder if they were one in the same or different. The same with Wheaten/Blue Wheaten, I couldn't figure out if one was a variation of the other or if they were two entirely different classifications. I swear, I'm a professional 'over-thinker' regarding almost everything.

 

[Duckies Girls]

Breeding a Black to a Blue isn't really crossing varieties. They are both technically the same color/pattern (extended black), the Blue just happens to have a single dose of a dilute gene that turns black coloring into 'blue'. The Blue gene only affects black coloring, not the overall pattern.
Same thing with Wheaten and Blue Wheaten. Both are the same color/pattern so can be bred together.

Fascinating! So, the black and blue are basically the same color/pattern, but a dilute gene essentially fades the black to look blue. Is that why Wheaten and Blue Wheaten are the same? Looking at pictures of the roosters on the ABC website, the Wheaten appears to have black feathers, and the Blue Wheaten appears to have blue. I never would have thought they were that similar except for a dilute gene! Very cool, thanks for the lesson!

 

[DnDFarm]

Fascinating!  So, the black and blue are basically the same color/pattern, but a dilute gene essentially fades the black to look blue.  Is that why Wheaten and Blue Wheaten are the same?  Looking at pictures of the roosters on the ABC website, the Wheaten appears to have black feathers, and the Blue Wheaten appears to have blue.  I never would have thought they were that similar except for a dilute gene!  Very cool, thanks for the lesson!

Then splash is the further dilution of blue, hence BBS