Perhaps you can see just fine because you know what you are looking for. I see a very dark bird body with light reflecting off the feathers. I do not see any pattern in the feathers. I do see gold color in the feathers around the head and neck, but it seems mottled with black, like a splash rather than penciling or lacing.
My attitude was explained fully in a PM, but since you brought it up I will just say here in reponse that when you are telling a newbee who believes she does have a "true" Ameracauna that she, in fact does not, you could be tactful about it. Your response came like a slap on the face, especially since I had looked at the club website, this thread, and everything of authority I could find on the internet.
Perhaps the root of the problem lies in the APA holding the breed standards hostage. I cannot afford $54 for a full book just to read about one breed of chicken. Not your fault of course (and kudos for getting permission to at least post a portion on the club website), but another contributing factor is that your club website does not show juvenile stage of growth (in addition to my above comment on the specific photo you posted). Pullets, to me, just look like a mess. You could consider adding pullet stage as well as posting close ups of feathers from the various parts of the body that are perfect and that are faulted for comparison to alleviate confusion and help protect those super double secret breed standards
Kikiriki,
I haven't been following this threat for a few days so haven't read the conversation prior to this.
I'm sorry you feel offended. I see it a lot on this web site--people come on here with their feed-store chickens that they believe are purebred Ameraucanas only to find out they have Easter Eggers which are basically crossbreds, in other words mutts. Believe me, I can understand your disappointment.
You have no idea how many people just like yourself come on here and are disappointed. They have either been sold a crossbred (Easter Egger) knowingly by the supplier or the supplier/breeder doesn't realize they have a mongrel bird.
There is no excuse for Easter Eggers ever being sold in a feed store as anything other than an Easter Egger because feed stores buy their chicks from big hatcheries who darn well know better. Hatcheries spelling Ameraucana with an "i" (Americana) is just plain fraud.
The other group who sell mongrels as purebred are people like yourself who bought what they thought was purebred and then bred from them.
A blue egg-laying gene does not make the breed Ameraucana. Easter Eggers should actually out perform Ameraucanas as layers. If I were breeding an Easter Egger, I would breed a blue-egg-laying bird that carries two blue-egg genes to a production white-egg layer. All the resulting pullets would lay blue eggs AND probably be a superior egg layer in size and number. There is a lot ofupside to Easter Eggers.
Many on this list are very serious breeders/exhibitors. It is tiring to repeatedly explain why a person doens't have a purebred Ameraucana. Sometimes experienced Ameraucana fanciers only give a simple two-word answer, "Easter Egger," with no explanation. A lot of feelings get hurt with curt replies. That said, "curt" is in the eye of the beholder.
Sometimes the owner of an Easter Egger will argue with those that are intimately involved with the breed. I understand the frustration the serious breeders/exhibitors (who might also be the founders of this lovely breed) feel when they have to look at pictures of mongrel birds over and over again. As an Ameraucana fancier, it is heartbreaking to see so many obviously mongrel birds passed off by sellers as purebred. I have almost never seen this in the other breed I am involved with.
You can't blame the APA for this confustion because it doesn't allow the standards to be copied. Seeing the standard in print is not necessary, because the varieties (colors and feather patterns) are standard for all chickens. The description of a wheaten will be the same regardless of the breed. The standard is important to get an idea of the shape, but most Easter Eggers can be identified simply by their color/feather pattern. A brown red Ameraucana is the same color as a brown red Old English Game. You can find those descriptions in other places besides the APA's SOP.
I hope this takes a bit of the sting out of how you feel about us right now.
