Ameraucana versus Easter Egger

[JKGooch]

Not that it matters at all, but the feed store sold these chicms as Ameraucanas. Of course I have no experience distinguishing chicken breeds. Are they really Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers- or one of each. Chick 1 has very blue legs and a blonde head.

Chick 2 has blue grey legs and a much fluffier face. She also happens to be my all time favorite chick, and we named her Beauty.

 

[Kiki]

Easter Eggers.
You may find this thread interesting:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/differences-ee-ameraucana-araucana-pls-post-pics.128806/

 

[drumstick diva]

EE

 

[junebuggena]

Feed store = Easter Eggers.
Ameraucana cost a lot more than the average chick, and ALWAYS have a color/variety specified.
With an Ameraucana, you know exactly what to expect. Color, size, temperament, egg color all completely predictable. BORING!
With Easter Eggers, you never know what that chick will end up looking like. You don't know what sort of personality it will have. And best of all, the mystery of "What color egg will she lay?" Plus, they tend to lay better than Ameraucana.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Definitely EE. The top one doesn't have the muffs or beard, the bottom one has yellow legs.
Whenever you buy ameraucanas from a non-breeder, assume they are Easter Eggers.
When you buy them from a breeder, assume they are easter eggers unless they've got a good reputation and the pictures seem to meet breed standard images online.

EEs are great birds. They are not purebred birds, I raise them myself. They're wonderful birds, but they will never be what Ameraucanas are.

I like to compare them to all the poodle crossbreeds out there. Your EEs could be the chicken equivalent of a goldendoodle, a labradoodle, a maltipoo, a cock-a-poo, a shnoodle... You'll always know that they're probably part poodle (as EE are always probably part ameraucana/landrace), they will probably be great animals, but you will never actually have a poodle with all it's poodle-y traits.

 

[junebuggena]

as EE are always probably part ameraucana/landrace

False. The vast majority of Easter Eggers don't have any Ameraucana in them at all. It's the other way around. Easter Eggers were used to create the Ameraucana and Araucana breeds that we have today. The Easter Eggers are the landrace. The Ameraucana is the refined, standardized version.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I literally said they were at least part landrace or ameraucana. A lot of ee are crossbreeds. You're just saying the same thing I said and arguing semantics. Like that guy from The Office meme.

 

[junebuggena]

The vast majority of Easter Eggers are hatchery sourced and not mixed breeds at all. Saying that they are mixed or all at least part Ameraucana is just plain false. It's not semantics at all. It's the history of the breeds and fact. Easter Eggers came first. It wasn't till the mid 80s that a group of breeders decided to come up with a standard for the Ameraucana to breed towards. Easter Eggers have been bred by hatcheries for over a century. It's the Easter Eggers that are the poodles, to use your analogy, and the Ameraucana that are the 'designer mixes'.

 

[perchie.girl]

 

[ChocolateMouse]

K.

I guess dogs that are part wolf then aren't really mixed breeds at all.

Whatever.