anyone know what Ideal "Ameraucanas" actually are? *pics*

[bibliophile birds]

i ordered 5 "Ameraucanas" from Ideal Poultry and then found out that they are really EEs. i'm fine with that (wish they were just clear about it though), but i'm wondering if anyone knows what they actually are crosses of. i ask because 2 of mine (which i actually think are both hens) are MASSIVE. they are the 2 biggest chicks i have. a few of the others are starting to catch up, but only now that they are 4 weeks old. one dwarfs my Wyandottes and Brahmas and is quite a bit bigger than my Orpingtons. the other is just a bit bigger than the Orpingtons, but still large. i'm just thinking that if i could recreate these, i'd be making some good money. GIANT chickens that lay COLORED eggs... sounds like a winner.

here's some pics.

Chickzilla, 3 weeks (that's an adult's hand, not a child)

Chickzilla, 3 weeks (all those chicks are the exact same age, and 2 of them are differently colored, and much smaller, EEs, also from Ideal)

Chickzilla, 4 weeks (with an Orpington, on flat ground)

Blondie, 3 weeks (on left, Orpington on right)

Blondie, 4 weeks (in the back, with a Wyandotte, smaller EE, and 2 Brahmas)

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

I don't know anything about Ideal, but I was surprised at how large my new EEs are too. My 4 week old EEs from MPC are MUCH larger than the 3 buff orpingtons I got from the feedstore (they're the same age also and are about the same difference in size as your pic). All but one of the EEs is feathered out like your chickzilla. I have one naked EE - has her wings, but not much else - same size as the others, just can't seem to grow her feathers.

 

[bibliophile birds]

it's so strange. all the research i did suggested that Ameraucanas (which i thought was what i was getting from Ideal) weren't all that large, maybe around 6-7 lbs. and Orpingtons and Brahmas are supposed to get around 10-11 lbs. but these EEs are big birds...

i've been reading a lot about chicken genetics so, of course, now i'm trying to guess at all these genotypes based on physical traits and compare them to standard breeds... i'm not getting very far.

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, they are basically a mix of EE's that lay eggs that are not white. Be it green, tinted, brown, pink, blue; each line of birds is unique so to say but all result in an EE which is a rainbow layer. So with egg color variation comes size variations.

And technically speaking since you are reading about genetics, genotypes are what the bird has in it's genes, while a phenotype is what you see. A bird can have a awesome phenotype that is "pure" but a genotype that contains recessive traits.

The "standards" just breed true to type and have been accepted as a "breed" so to say. And if you get birds from a hatchery, the chicks you get will be mostly true to breed, but often not quite true to the standard because they were optimized for production over show.

 

[tadkerson]

for your easter eggers to lay a blue or green egg they should have a pea comb.

Looks like you have some white birds, a few buff, a black and a couple silver birds.
The one silver looks to be columbian the other silvers could be pencilled. I do not know which ones are the easter eggers????.

Tim

 

[AZKat]

Have you contacted ideal and asked them what their EE's are crosses of?

 

[fowltemptress]

Quote:
Is that true? I had EEs in high school and could have sworn they all had single combs. I need to scrounge up pictures, obviously. I hate it when my memory fails me.

ETA: I scrounged up a picture of my favorite hen from back then (and if I remember anybody I should remember her), and sure enough, she had a pea comb! I must be extraordinarily unobservant to have missed that.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

You need to also consider that Brahmas and Orpingtons are generally seen as slower growing birds. What takes longer may just make them bigger.

 

[bibliophile birds]

thanks everyone!

>silkiechicken

yeah, i know that the physical characteristics are the phenotype. that's what i meant- that i was using phenotype to guess at genotype. i don't think i was very clear though.

>tadkerson

i've got several different breeds, which are the other chicks you are seeing. i'm just asking about the 2 EEs, the gray and white one and the blond one.

>azkat

stupidly, no. for some reason that very obvious idea never crossed my mind. maybe, deep down, i thought it was some closely guarded industry secret. it's amazing the things you just don't think of sometimes. i'll try that tomorrow.

> rodriguezpoultry

i thought about that, too. and like i said, the others are starting to catch up. it was just strange that these 2 were SO much bigger than everyone else. the Orpingtons are rapidly filling out but they still aren't as solid as the 2 EEs.

 

[bibliophile birds]

also, the other EEs (the ones in the pics with the barred wings) are so much smaller. given that those all have the same markings, which are very different from the 2 big ones, i figured they were from one particular cross and the big ones were from another (or even 2 different other crosses).