Ameraucanas: Am I off base here?

[Alexandra33]

I feel like I've heard this somewhere, and an just wanting to make sure it's true.....a mixed color Ameraucana is still a pure Ameraucana, but if you wanted to show it, you'd need to classify it as an Easter Egger because it's not a recognized variety? I've been answering questions for someone on Facebook, and this in particular confused him. Just hope I'm not leading him astray here.

 

[RobertaD1]

The best thing for anyone who wants to show their animal is to check the breed standard for their particular animal. Sometimes they read more like stereo instructions, but it will give them links and email addresses they could send pictures to to see if they fit.
(my brother is a Hog Judge... ive been down this road a few times)
http://ameraucanabreedersclub.org/standard.html
This isthe link to the Ameraucana Breed Standards.
http://www.ameraucana.org/Ameraucana Chickens
And another link.

 

[The Moonshiner]

It depends who you ask. Many ameraucana breeders will tell you once you mix colors or have an unrecognized variety that it isn't an ameraucana any more.
Others like myself believe that makes it a mixed color but its still an ameraucana.
As far as showing you didn't mention what type of show but if its an APA show youre incorrect. It wouldn't show as an easter egger because EEs aren't a breed. EE is just a label placed on a wide variety of chickens.
If you have a bird of a certain breed but not of a approved variety (color) it is shown as that breed but shown in the "all other variety" class instead of a specific variety class.

 

[Alexandra33]

Thank you both so much for taking the time to answer my question and provide links. No, it's not an APA show.....this individual, as far as I'm aware, isn't showing at all. His question was simply whether or not a mixed color Ameraucana is still a pure Ameraucana. I'd just thought for sure I'd heard a breeder say something about an unrecognized color or "imperfect" Ameraucana being considered an Easter Egger in the real world, and wanted to cover my bases if so. I appreciate the clarity given on this subject.

 

[RobertaD1]

I think the definition of a TRUE Ameraucana is so broad! Im someone who will pester the crap out of an expert to find out for sure...LOL
If they are planning to show... those things can be expensive, and to have a good start helps! So, if in the future they want to know.. or even you... Its easy to know for sure
It always has amazed me what people will spend to show an animal!

 

[The Moonshiner]

In the APA world if a bird isnt a recognized variety and doesn't fit the breed's standard then it isn't that breed.
But the APA world isn't the real world. Just like self blue (lavender) ameraucana. For years they were said they weren't ameraucanas.
Now the APA has accepted that variety so now the same birds are ameraucana.

 

[nicalandia]

At one point All Ameraucanas were Easter Eggers. For such a young breed(younger than me) many people think they appeard out of thin air.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I'm older then the ameraucana breed as known by the APA myself.
I bought blue egg laying hatchery birds and at the time they were all called araucanas.
A few years later the name ameraucana (and americana) started being used and the differences of the two was being set.
I sure don't ever remember the name easter egger coming out before either and not for a few years later.
Did you? Always curious why people think ameraucana and araucana came from easter eggers when EE is just a label put on birds well after the fact.
I get the argument that the first birds weren't of any standard but they came here called araucanas not Easter eggers.

 

[nicalandia]

Always curious why people think ameraucana and araucana came from easter eggers when EE is just a label put on birds well after the fact.

After the Fact? In the 1970s many hatcheries were selling Easter Egg chickens, these Easter Eggers where used by many of the original breeders of the different Ameraucana varieties, for example Wayne Meredith the creator of the Large Fowl Wheaten Ameraucana.

http://schroederpoultry.com/breeder-spotlight-wayne-meredith/

"Towards the end of the decade, Mike Gilbert had perfected his bantam line of Wheatens, and sought out Wayne’s involvement. Wayne put one of Mike’s large, bantam Wheaten cocks over a LF Wheaten-colored EE hen, and the rest was history. Of course it took several generations to perfect the cross. This large fowl variety was accepted by the APA in 1984"


http://ameraucana.org/Ameraucanca FAQ
The 9 recognized varieties of large fowl (LF) Ameraucana chickens were originally developed by three breeders: Mike Gilbert of Wisconsin; Wayne Meredith of Wisconsin & John W Blehm of Michigan.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Ya after the fact.
What I'm saying is that when these blue egg laying chickens came here they were known as Araucana.
Araucana and/or Ameraucana did not come from Easter Eggers.
Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers came from Aracaunas.
Hatcheries where I was were selling Araucana for years before anyone was calling birds easter eggers and when the ameraucanas were being developed no one was using the term Easter eggers as their source. They were still calling them Auracanas.
The term "Easter egger" chickens was coined in a newspaper article and then in the National Geographic in 1948 in an article about a breeder and a flock he termed as easter egger chickens.
The birds had been known as Araucana for decades before that and it took decades before the hatcheries started using the EE term.
My point was the araucana came first and to say aracauna or ameraucana came from EEs is backwards.
People are placing the EE label on birds that were already named way before the EE label was even coined.