Ameraucana 2

[Pampered chicken girl]

CALLING ALL AMERAUCANA OWNERS!
I thought it would be a great idea to have a thread specifically for talking about Ameraucanas. So if you have a Ameraucana join in, share your stories, advice, and everything you know! We can't wait to hear from you!

 

[sourland]

The breed is Ameraucana not Ameriucana. The hen pictured is an Easter Egger.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

The breed is Ameraucana not Ameriucana. The hen pictured is an Easter Egger.

Whoops sorry I guess I spelt it wrong she is full bred Amerucana

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Where did you get her and what makes you think she’s pure?

 

[cluckmecoop7]

From a friend and she has the blue legs unlike my Easter Eggers who have green legs and fits the breed standards

My Olive Egger, Easter Egger, and Wellsummer all have green/blue legs. It doesn’t mean they are pure.
Looks like you have a very pretty EE.

 

[sourland]

Whoops sorry I guess I spelt it wrong she is full bred Amerucana

Not an Ameraucana as she is not any of the accepted color varieties.

 

[KarynVA]

So are the Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers very similar, sounds like? If so, are there any characteristics that differentiate one from the other in terms of keeping as a backyard chicken? For example, egg laying frequency, weather hardiness, broodiness or not, overall health/ genetics.

 

[NNYchick]

Ameraucana are a breed of chicken recognized by APA / ABA that when breed pure by standard of perfection will breed true to standard.
An Easter Egger is a mixed breed that carries the blue egg gene. They will not meet breed standard. When bred it will not breed true. Hatcheries have muddied the waters by labeling mixed colored egg layers as Ameraucana or Americana.
You can find more information on the breed Ameraucana at the club websites AmeraucanaAlliance and Ameraucana breeders club.
Here is a post from MR Neumann club president and breeder that explains why Ameraucana breeders are so passionate about keeping Ameracauna pure and labeled correctly.
“Long before Ameraucanas existed, there were mongrel birds that laid blue eggs. In the 1970's, some of these mongrel birds were used and crossed with various show quality fowl of other breeds and Ameraucanas were intentionally created, standardized and admitted to the ABA and the APA.

This is like somebody who goes into a wild forest, carefully selects and cuts all the right trees, joins them up in a strategic way, and builds a log cabin in the forest.

But then, here comes some people who never watched the person building the cabin. They come along and say..."Hey...those logs. Those are the same as the trees. The forest is actually a log cabin too!"
No. No it's not.

Ameraucanas have the deep misfortune of being built upon a large number of dominant genes. The pea comb, the white skin, the blue eggs, the beards and muffs..and sex linked dark shanks for pullets. Folks when you cross ANY hen of ANY breed to an Ameraucana, you're gonna get an Ameraukinda that has a pea comb, beard and muffs, white skin and the hens will have slate shanks and lays blue/green eggs. No other breed is going to produce offspring so superficially similar to it when crossed with a totally different breed of chicken. And many of these birds end up being bred as Ameraucanas and they bring genetic problems back into the gene pool of standard birds. So while serious Ameraucana breeders are meticulously going through the gene pool with their net, scooping up debris, breeding to standard. People come right behind them and dump more garbage into the pool!

It is for this reason that the bar is set high for the difference between the two. If experienced breeders are telling you that your birds are Easter Eggers, they are doing so in an effort to preserve the breed and to keep the gene pool free of debris that makes more work for everybody. To newbies and inexperienced poultry keepers, this may seem "exclusive" or "snobbish" but without preserving a high standard of what is or isn't an Ameraucana, the breed would simply be overtaken by the forest from which it was originally derived. It is extremely difficult to produce standard birds out of Easter Eggers. I know this because I've done it. I've got the T-shirt. We are not trying to rain on your parade. We're trying to stop your parade from going off the road.”

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

So are the Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers very similar, sounds like? If so, are there any characteristics that differentiate one from the other in terms of keeping as a backyard chicken? For example, egg laying frequency, weather hardiness, broodiness or not, overall health/ genetics.

The genetics are different but unfortunately for physical characteristics there is none this is why so many people end up with Easter Eggers when they think they're getting ameraucanas. Their temperament is about the same too.

 

[KarynVA]

Thank you NNYchick and Pampered chicken girl. Very helpful info!