Araucanas before the APA?

[GardeNerd]

I am sorry if I put this in the wrong section.

So I have an older neighbor that had chickens back from the mid 1970's to early 1980's when his girls where young. He said all they ever raised were Araucanas because they loved the colored eggs.

I am aware the breed was accepted to the APA in the mid 1980's, but only with certain colors and traits considered standard from that point. Therefore, any "Ameraucanas or Araucanas" from a hatchery are almost always considered easter eggers (by breeders, folks that show, etc.) because they don't necessarily conform to the standards set by the APA. I will never breed or show, and when folks ask me what my hens are I point out the "Easter Egger."

But how about my neighbor's hens he used to keep? I have been wondering, since folks called them all Arucanas back then, isn't he correct in calling his that and not Easter Eggers?

He likes to come over and chat about the chickens. Any suggestions on how to look at this? I am almost to the point my EE is an Araucana whenever he is visiting. What about pre 1980's Araucanas?

 

[amazondoc]

uhhhhhhhh...................

Good question!

 

[klf73]

well, I look at it this way....
many breeds are around for a long time before they are recognized. The araucana we see today were introduced to the World Poultry Congress in 1918. They may not have been accepted(by the APA) but they existed. I have spoken to some old timers around here too that claimed the had *real araucana* way back when....but when show pics of ameraucana they say....yeah, they looked like that but were all different colors

Obviously they had easter eggers.....but I have learned some people get mad if you try to *educate* them, even if it's done VERY nicely....others accept the information and think it's interesting(especially when I show them my rumpless/tufted guys)
I think the regular Joe called any of the blue layers araucana.
It depends on your relationship with your neighbor, but if it were me I would show him a pic of a tufted/rumpless araucana and ask if he had those. It really is no big deal in the grand scheme of things because it really doesn't matter.....does it?

 

[NYREDS]

To many people any chicken that lays a blue or green egg ia an Araucana & that is probably true of your neighbor.
If his birds were rumpless, tufted & layed blue eggs they were Araucanas-if yhey had tails they weren't.
The breed existed long before the APA admitted it to the Standard.

Oh,BTW klf73 is right it doesn't really matter what your neighbor called his chickens.

 

[wilds of pa]

One point, the araucana existed long before there was an APA..

~Wilds~

 

[Marlinchaser]

Quote:
Not necessarily true, if they dont have tufts or tailess they are still considered Arucana, just not show quality. Many have clean faced and tailed in thier breeding stock.

 

[klf73]

that is true..I have a few of those....
If they are muffed/bearded they are NOT araucana though(at least not in the US)

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

I was going through old pictures at my grandmothers house the other day and I saw some real araucanas. When I asked my grandmother about them she said that they were araucanas and they laid the most beutiful blue eggs. The funny thing is is that she said that her family got them from my other grandparents when my parents were still kids and she said that my other grandparents got them from a hatchery 'back east'. The birds were all different colors and patterns it looked like (black and white photo) but there were rumpless birds and tufted birds. She said that she also had some 'rumpies' as a kid that were just normal chickens without a tail and they laid all sorts of colors of eggs. I was looking in an old book from the early 1900's and it mentions them, it said that they have various comb types and colors and lay whatever color of eggs. And if I remember correcly there is rumpless fowl listed in my 1898 standard.

 

[klf73]

makes you wonder if the hatcheries sold the real deal at one point

from a business standpoint there is no money to be made in the real thing in volume, IMO. The lethal gene associated with the tufts seems to cause too much loss to be worth it...

 

[GardeNerd]

I will casually ask if he has any pictures. I would assume they came from a hatchery or feedstore since there just aren't any breeders around the LBC, even back then, since we can't have roosters.

He has heard of the term Ameraucana before, but he says they were all called Araucanas when he had them. I would never correct him, since it is not very neighborly. Even if he did start keeping chickens again, I don't feel it would be my place to "educate" him unless he wanted to enter them in a show or something.

So if the hatcheries were selling them to customers back in the 70's or earlier and calling them Araucanas then, why do some folks get upset now that they still call them that? Do the hatcheries have to follow the APA standards in their breeds?

I wonder, because I know many breeds hatcheries sell, do not perfect meet the standards of the APA and don't qualify for shows as a result, but folks don't get upset about hatcheries calling a hatchery stock Buff Opington a "Buff Orpington" or a BA "Black Australorp." Then why so much controversy around what they call their Araucanas/ Ameraucanas/ Easter Eggers?