Ameraucana vs. EE

[Gindee77]

Quote:
Whatever Maisy is, she is just gorgeous!! She looks like I hope my Black sex-link chicks end up looking! She sure looks like my EE's! Well, except for her coloring. Is she laying yet? How old is she??

 

[catlikethief]

Quote:
Whatever Maisy is, she is just gorgeous!! She looks like I hope my Black sex-link chicks end up looking! She sure looks like my EE's! Well, except for her coloring. Is she laying yet? How old is she??

Thank you. I think I was wrong in my original post. I couldn't remember if she was almost 3 months or already three months. I'm pretty sure she is in the 3-4 month range. She is not laying yet.
She's a doll. She plays hard to get but when I do catch her, she's all about cuddling.

 

[coffeemama]

Well they don't make it simple do they?! It seems like you could still just call the Ameraucanas that were the wrong color/no muff/ect Ameraucanas. I mean a cochin that is an unrecognized color is still a cochin!

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

I call anything that does not conform to the ameraucana standard and/or any of its colour varieties an EE.

They probably call any off colour ameraucana EEs because it is a sign of possible inpurity in the bloodline.

Also I bet it helps in a way, if they called off colour birds purebreds, someone might claim their easter eggers(those things hatcheries sell) are a off-colour sport of this or that colour(and yes, sports can produce the proper colour with the right mate) and someone may get the Idea to use those birds in their breeding program, thus possibly messing up a perfectly good bloodline forever.....

I know I had a silver hen that i got from the hatchery a couple years back, her markings were pretty close to perfect(a bit too light in the chest but that occurs in the purebreds too) and many breeders were drooling over her, but when I crossed her with a purebred silver roo I got a rainbow of chicks, a couple resembling the parents but most were nothing identifiable.
Now I could have been mean and sold the babies that resemble the parents as off-colour silvers, but I thought this smutty blood will start and end on my farm. Sadly there are many breeders out there that would knowingly sell mutts as purebreds just to make a buck.
Although I must admit, on one hand I feel bad for the "victims" who buy the birds in believe they get the real thing, but on the other hand I believe you should do your homework before going out to buy breeds like these or any breed for that matter.

Anyhow, I think I have bothered everyone enough with my ramblings for now.

Anna

 

[Guitartists]

Sooooo, what you're saying is... any Ameraucana or Araucana chicks that I cull from my lines should be sold as EE's instead of pet quality breeds???? That sucks

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

I would call a chicken pet quality if it has a flaw in its build, like say a crooked tail or toe or something(a genetic oops, still a purebred of proper colour just not usable in the show-pen or for breeding). Off-colour usually means there are some very unwanted colour genes in the mix in the background somewhere, possibly pointing to a mutt heritage that I would not want to pass on.

Rouge colour genes from a colour cross breeding that happened like 10 generations ago is a pain in the butt.

The breeder I got my stock from crossed her BBreds over Silvers and Blues when she lost her BBred roosters. She got a couple of birchen like birds out of the mix and decided to try and make those a permanent true breeding colour(not a bad idea in general, we need more colours). Then I got my birchen and blue stock from her 5 yrs ago(not knowing about the colour crossing she did several years before) and every 5th or 6th chick I hatch is all red or a red/black or red/blue combo.

None of my breeder birds show any red, and they conform to the standard body wise and I have breeders who would love to trade birds since they also are working on getting birchen into the standard, my problem is I just simply cannot and will not give away any of my birds or add new good blood to mine until I get very few to no chicks of any other colour other the birchen, silver blue and columbian. Columbian crops up occaisionally since it takes the columbian gene to make silvers, have a friend who loves her flock of columbian ees and is happy about every additional one I give her

, as of this year she also is home to the most beautiful little red blue columbian ee pullet as well(I thought it was such a pretty chick and instead of going to auction I thought my friends flock could use some colour).

Now I have several generations of my stock that I bred back and forth to test who carries the dreaded red gene, and from what I can tell they all do, even the purebred looking blues(who are not around anymore, but their young ones are)........
I love this breed, and I want to see more purebreds, but EE's and such make it difficult. You really have to find breeders that had their bloodlines for years and know them inside out.

Thats why I feel so strongly on what should be called what.
I know I got an odd way of looking at things, but I hope you kinda get what I am trying to say....... english being my second language doesn't really help much either with such topics... :|

Anna