Ameraucanas from Meyer

[indianaducks]

I've heard its hard to get true ameraucanas - are they purebred from Meyer Hatchery? I have some chicks from there and am wondering if they are true ameraucanas?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Sounds like it! Meyer Hatchery is one of the hand full of hatcheries that does have true Ameraucanas and properly labels their Easter-eggers, so if you got them from them, then yes, they're Ameraucanas.

 

[nuthatched]

Meyer does sell purebreds, they're $40 a pop, that's why it's hard to get some by accident.
Can you post pictures of your chicks? Did you order a mystery package?
What color are their legs?

 

[indianaducks]

Meyer does sell purebreds, they're $40 a pop, that's why it's hard to get some by accident.
Can you post pictures of your chicks? Did you order a mystery package?
What color are their legs?

Perfect I thought they were. I ordered them as ameraucanas (not an assortment) and paid like $22/chick. So assumed they were pure but then saw lots of posts about how it’s hard to find true ameraucanas and was worried. Their legs are the slate color. I will try to get pics in a bit. I have some other chicks that like to hog the spotlight when the phone camera comes out

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

FYI for those looking at McMurrays who claim on the FAQ that theirs are true Americaunas, and not EE. some have beards or muffs or both and $4 a chick, your getting an EE.

 

[nuthatched]

Perfect I thought they were. I ordered them as ameraucanas (not an assortment) and paid like $22/chick. So assumed they were pure but then saw lots of posts about how it’s hard to find true ameraucanas and was worried. Their legs are the slate color. I will try to get pics in a bit. I have some other chicks that like to hog the spotlight when the phone camera comes out

ah, the lavenders are $40, the bbs are $20, I had to check, I'm sorry.
You do have pures.
Cackle hatchery has purebred too.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

The Ameraucana was the result of selectively breeding what we now know as Easter-eggers until they were uniform in appearance and thus could be standardized, yes. Not all came from McMurray, but the birds that McMurray has would be related to the breed in that they're effectively a branch on the same family tree. What they have that they're claiming are mixed color Ameraucanas, those are actually the result of continuing to breed those ancestral Easter-eggers without that selection toward uniformity. This does not make them Ameraucanas, any more than it makes Barred Rocks the same thing as Dominiques because they are similar in appearance and Dominiques were used to develop Barred Rocks.

As far as determining what's a true Ameraucana versus a mislabeled Easter-egger, beyond correct spelling and price point, Ameraucanas should also always be sold as a variety, not just as Ameraucanas. Blue Ameraucanas, or White Ameraucanas, or Lavender Ameraucanas, as a few examples. When they're not sold as a variety, not uniform in appearance, or worse yet said to lay a variety of egg colors rather than just blue, then they are most assuredly actually Easter-eggers.

 

[indianaducks]

If they're labeled Americana, they're EEs.

Mine cost over $20 each and were labeled as ameracauna. That's why I bought them. I am fairly sure they are pure/true but was just verifying theirs are.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

FYI for those looking at McMurrays who claim on the FAQ that theirs are true Americaunas, and not EE. some have beards or muffs or both and $4 a chick, your getting an EE.

They have some actual Ameraucana chicks and some EEs/Americaunas

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

They're specific colors. I'll check when I get home to be sure but pretty sure it's Murray McMurray

I have a catalog, too but maybe I’m wrong.
I read in the FAQ on their site where they deny having EE- no mention regarding color, so I assumed. Their blues are higher in price but then so are all of their blue or lavender breed
Here’s my girl from McM…Karen.
She’s a lovely girl, beard, muffs, slate legs, blue-green eggs. I call her an EE just because of the price point. I don’t care on way or another personally but would like yo know that hatcheries are not falsely advertising.