Ameraucana versus Easter Egger

[WalnutHill]

Beards. Check.
Muffs. Check.
Slate shanks. Check.
Clean legged, four toes. Check.
Pea comb. Check.
Eggs that are blue to aqua. Check.
Breed two of the same together and you will get offspring that look like the parents. Check.
Ameraucana = set of standards.

Beards, maybe. Check.
Muffs, maybe. Check.
Slate, willow, or maybe yellow shanks. Check.
Clean legged, four toes. Check.
Pea comb, usually. Check.
Eggs that are blue to olive, or pink, or cream, or tan, or brown. Check.
Breed two that look alike together and you will get offspring that look like the parents. Maybe.
Easter Egger = no standards. May be "pure" in that no intentional outcrosses have been made for many generations, but more likely crossed with production breeds in recent generations, especially from hatcheries.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I was around and raising chickens back in the 70s and 80s.
Back then I bought a lot of hatchery birds. I sure dont remember hatcheries selling easter eggers then.
I saw my first blue egg layers in the mid 70s. They were Araucanas. I soon purchased some and began raising them.
The world was going crazy for them and the blue eggs. Most people didnt believe there was any such thing as a blue egg laying chicken. I was always looking for new stock and never seen or heard of any other blue egg laying chickens besides the araucanas.
They were a pain to breed since you had to work with lethal genes. We bred rumpless to tailed and there were plenty of tailed araucanas out there.
Because of the lethal genes and needing tailed birds for breeding but not being able to show tailed birds a change was coming.
Araucanas were showable in the late 70s. I showed them. By the early 80s Ameraucanas were hitting the scene. Ameraucanas where made using araucanas and were made to carry on the blue egg laying without dealing with tbe rumpless and tuffs genes. They were american made araucanas hince the name ameraucanas.
They were a big success and thats when they were being standardized as a breed and breeders were working to get them as a legit breed and a showable breed.
At the same time breeders were recognising the demand for the blue eggs and some started crossing them with other breeds because at the time it was thought that the blue egg gene was dominate and that crosses would also lay blue eggs.
Thats when I thought easter eggers came about. With all the crossing people started getting more variety in the shades of blue eggs and greens and olive eggers were being produced. Also the time I first heard of pink eggs.
The easter eggers became popular since you could buy a handfull of chicks and end up with a handful of different color eggs.
Thats just my experience with the Ameraucana, Araucana and easter eggers

 

[alexa009]

That is a easter egger, ameraucanas are one full color and easter eggers can be mixed colors.

 

[junebuggena]

I was around and raising chickens back in the 70s and 80s.
Back then I bought a lot of hatchery birds. I sure dont remember hatcheries selling easter eggers then.
I saw my first blue egg layers in the mid 70s. They were Araucanas. I soon purchased some and began raising them.
The world was going crazy for them and the blue eggs. Most people didnt believe there was any such thing as a blue egg laying chicken. I was always looking for new stock and never seen or heard of any other blue egg laying chickens besides the araucanas.
They were a pain to breed since you had to work with lethal genes. We bred rumpless to tailed and there were plenty of tailed araucanas out there.
Because of the lethal genes and needing tailed birds for breeding but not being able to show tailed birds a change was coming.
Araucanas were showable in the late 70s. I showed them. By the early 80s Ameraucanas were hitting the scene. Ameraucanas where made using araucanas and were made to carry on the blue egg laying without dealing with tbe rumpless and tuffs genes. They were american made araucanas hince the name ameraucanas.
They were a big success and thats when they were being standardized as a breed and breeders were working to get them as a legit breed and a showable breed.
At the same time breeders were recognising the demand for the blue eggs and some started crossing them with other breeds because at the time it was thought that the blue egg gene was dominate and that crosses would also lay blue eggs.
Thats when I thought easter eggers came about. With all the crossing people started getting more variety in the shades of blue eggs and greens and olive eggers were being produced. Also the time I first heard of pink eggs.
The easter eggers became popular since you could buy a handfull of chicks and end up with a handful of different color eggs.
Thats just my experience with the Ameraucana, Araucana and easter eggers

Prior to the 1980s, there was not Araucana, Ameraucana, Easter Egger distinctions. They were ALL called Araucana, regardless of their features. It wasn't till the Araucana and Ameraucana breed standards became recognized by the APA that the distinctions were made. The birds that met the standard for Araucana became known as the Araucana that we have today. The birds that met the standard for Ameraucana became the Ameraucana that we know today. Everything that didn't meet either standard became known as Easter Eggers.

 

[WalnutHill]

Prior to the 1980s, there was not Araucana, Ameraucana, Easter Egger distinctions. They were ALL called Araucana, regardless of their features. It wasn't till the Araucana and Ameraucana breed standards became recognized by the APA that the distinctions were made. The birds that met the standard for Araucana became known as the Araucana that we have today. The birds that met the standard for Ameraucana became the Ameraucana that we know today. Everything that didn't meet either standard became known as Easter Eggers.

Not quite. In order for a breed to be accepted as a breed by the APA, there has to be a breeding population that meets the proposed standards and breeds true at least 50% of the time and has been shown at APA shows to meet the requirements. There isn't a magic "name it and they will come". It takes years, often decades, of hard work by breeders to lock down the desirable traits and weed out the undesirable traits. Easter Eggers are not Ameraucana or Araucana, though they very well could have some of either breed, or even Cream Legbar, in their genetic makeup because they ARE NOT A BREED. They may have started as Ameraucana or Araucana culls but they've drifted.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Youre correct that up until the 80s (i say late 70s) all there was was Araucanas. But it was not like you say. All of a sudden in the 80s that Ameraucana and Araucanas became breeds and everything else became EE.
There were Araucana and they were already a breed and fit a standard. Of course there were poor ones out too. By the late 70s they were a recognized breed and were shown. Ameracaunas came directly from araucanas. Araucanas were a breed then and Ameracauna breeders were using tailed birds and birds without tuffs to create a breed that didnt carry the lethal genes that breeders had been hating working with/or around.
It wasnt picking from all birds at one time and going from there. Araucanas had to have been recognized at least 5 to 7 years before Ameracaunas were.
Idk when EEs became named EEs I know here we only had blue egg layers for years. Well at least in my world. I was showing and breeding to show. I do remember when you couldnt keep up with egg sales if you had blue eggs. At the time it was always the first time anyone saw actual blue chicken eggs when they showed up to buy some. Demand was high for ghe eggs but the birds were still pretty rare. People started crossing them in hopes of getting more blue eggs. I can remember the first time people talked about green egg layers, olive eggers, and the still mysterious pink eggs. People really liked the idea of getting chicks from one place that would lay a half dozen different colors and shades. I dont know how the rest of the world was but thats how it was here.
Again I was raising blue egg layers from the mid 70s and thats what I lived and saw.

 

[The Moonshiner]

APA admitted the Araucana in 1976 and the Ameracauna in 1984

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Yup. Araucana was just what people called the landrace (instead of EE) and what they were working on breeding into a breed. They wanted to use the original, recognizable name. That's just how breeds develop.

Maybe someday EEs will have a standard too and the landrace will start being called something else after that. Who knows?

Developing for show is very interesting.

 

[Providence Chick]

Beards. Check.
Muffs. Check.
Slate shanks. Check.
Clean legged, four toes. Check.
Pea comb. Check.
Eggs that are blue to aqua. Check.
Breed two of the same together and you will get offspring that look like the parents. Check.
Ameraucana = set of standards.

Beards, maybe. Check.
Muffs, maybe. Check.
Slate, willow, or maybe yellow shanks. Check.
Clean legged, four toes. Check.
Pea comb, usually. Check.
Eggs that are blue to olive, or pink, or cream, or tan, or brown. Check.
Breed two that look alike together and you will get offspring that look like the parents. Maybe.
Easter Egger = no standards. May be "pure" in that no intentional outcrosses have been made for many generations, but more likely crossed with production breeds in recent generations, especially from hatcheries.

We just bought a variety (of our choosing) to get a variety of colored eggs. Ameraucana's are still rare enough that we were only allowed to buy 3. As I understand it, based on our hatchery, Ameraucana's egg shells are blue all the way through, whereas an EE will be shades of blue, green, pink etc on the outside but inside will be white. We also got EEs, Welsummers, Speckled Sussex, Golden Cuckoo Marans, and Silver Gray Dorking. Looking forward to our first eggs to compliment our Buff Orpington girls.

 

[Kiki]

We just bought a variety (of our choosing) to get a variety of colored eggs. Ameraucana's are still rare enough that we were only allowed to buy 3. As I understand it, based on our hatchery, Ameraucana's egg shells are blue all the way through, whereas an EE will be shades of blue, green, pink etc on the outside but inside will be white. We also got EEs, Welsummers, Speckled Sussex, Golden Cuckoo Marans, and Silver Gray Dorking. Looking forward to our first eggs to compliment our Buff Orpington girls.

My Easter Eggers have blue eggs...all the way through.