If you know your bird lays a white egg you are being deceptive if you attempt to enter it as an Ameraucana because one of the major breed characteristics of Ameraucanas are their blue eggs. You may be working on trying to improve your birds but you obviously aren't there yet if your "Ameraucana" is not producing at least the beginnings of a blue egg. And I don't believe I'm the only one that thinks egg colour matters because birds have been disqualified at shows for laying incorrectly coloured eggs. Not just worth some points but worth ALL the points.
I've already addressed the "deceptive" accusation. It's pretty hard to be deceptive when dealing with a bird that could lay an egg right in front of the judge. Like duh!
Second, it's pretty hard to say that "you obviously aren't there yet" when the bird is getting BV written on the coop card. LOL
I have never been to a show yet where birds have been disqualified for laying incorrectly colored eggs. I'd like to hear the specifics. What show? What birds? What judge?
Not only have I never seen it at any of the shows I've attended but I've never heard anyone else say that. Not the folks at the shows. Not the folks over at ABC or any of the other four breed clubs I belong to. In fact, I've never read anyone else on BYC say that.
So, let's get this right. Most everyone knows that the blue color diminishes later in the season depending on how often the bird lays and that the older a hen gets the lighter the color may be too. So, let's say I get a Champion of the Show Wheaten or Blue Wheaten (in my dreams!) hen and she starts out laying a REALLY blue egg. And let's say I show her for five years. And, oh my goodness, the 5th year I show her she goes and lays a white egg in front of the judge! Now that bird should be DQ'd?? Same bird all five years. Hogwash.
Moreover, anyone who's been breeding birds, for any length of time at all, that lay colored eggs knows full well that egg color can change. Welsummers lay dark eggs. It's a breed characteristic. But just the stress of a show can put the egg color off. As well as heat, cold, sickness, and a host of other things that I don't think anybody has figured out yet. So a Welsummer lays an egg in front of a judge that's just not quite enough to meet his definition of "dark", and it should be DQ'd? Poppycock.
I don't remember now what the SOP says about Barnevelders but, if you look online, most descriptions say they lay "dark" brown eggs. Not in the USA. I've yet to see one that does. It's something we're all working on. So one of my Barnies, which have won BB at the last four shows I've been too, lays an egg and it's not "dark", so the judge should DQ it? Ridiculous.
If one just thinks about it, the whole make up of egg color is still very much a complete unknown and everyone who's had colored egg layers for any length of time at all knows the color can change. So why in the world would any judge - who knows a whole lot more about birds than most of us, if not all of us, ever will - why would any judge DQ an otherwise breed correct bird because of the egg it lays? The answer: It's pretty doubtful they would.
Is blue egg color important? Sure it is. But when you elevate egg color above everything else, especially for showing the birds, you simply don't understand the basics of breeding and showing at all.
God Bless,
