Are "Ameraucana" and "Easter Egger" the same bird?

[Chickassan]

I did, slate legs ,white feet bottoms no ear tufts but muffs and beard and no messy coloring. Well that messy coloring definitely disqualified my girl lol! Doesn't matter she's perfect.

No, Ameraucana's have slate colored lets and feet. EE's will have slate or green colored legs. You can easily look the standard up by googling. Mine aren't show quality, but I love them and their large blue eggs. Very friendly too.

 

[rlhagan56]

http://ameraucanaalliance.org/DnLd/Early History by Richard Orr.pdf

The history of this breed as accurate as there is. John Blehm in Michigan is a major breeder of Ameraucana's, which is where mine came from. There is nothing wrong with Easter Eggers, they are my second favorite breed for eggs, it just irks many people that feed stores, most hatcheries, and others try to sell them as Ameraucana's. And the breed name is spelled this way, there is no i.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

http://ameraucanaalliance.org/DnLd/Early History by Richard Orr.pdf

The history of this breed as accurate as there is. John Blehm in Michigan is a major breeder of Ameraucana's, which is where mine came from. There is nothing wrong with Easter Eggers, they are my second favorite breed for eggs, it just irks many people that feed stores, most hatcheries, and others try to sell them as Ameraucana's. And the breed name is spelled this way, there is no i.

Many feed stores sell them with the PROPER spelling. And the feed stores aren't chicken experts. They sell what they are told they are getting from the hatchery. So it's actually more about the hatchery misleading than the feed store. Feed stores are just a retail outlet for someone else's product. And they sell it as described by the supplier. Many feed store employees don't have any personal experience or very limited. You should ALWAYS get a second opinion on ANY advice given by them!

And yes I've bought good quality Ameraucana from breeders (even John Blehm lines)... and GUESS WHAT?!... Not even all of them meet the SOP! Breeding and doing so correctly is hard work. But when a chick hatches, you don't know if they will have some bleed through on their color pattern or not until they grow in.

In ALL of my breeds... some will hatch without the correct leg or eye color. Or even my PURE French Black Copper Marans hatched 1 chick without feathered legs. No, that's not a breeding quality or show quality bird now... but she is still a French Marans. Will she lay the correct dark enough color egg? I wouldn't know until 6 months later, but I didn't keep her in my stock either. Some say if your birds can't lay at least a 4 on the Marans color scale they are not Marans. I say hogwash, they are lower quality (maybe pet) that do not meet the standard. But they aren't all the sudden another breed. That being said... NO WAY will I keep a Marans that isn't capable of laying a 4, and to me it needs to be more often than not. But that is because I am breeding and egg color was one of the main reasons I went with Marans.

You will never get a show quality Ameraucana from a feed store for $3. And I haven't seen ANY that actually meet the SOP. A few hatcheries sell them for around $18. Breeders are often cheaper than that... even John Blem chicks are only around $10 (but unsexed).

I love the laid back attitude of the actual Ameraucana. They are great birds and beautiful. EE are such a mixed bag of personality, you never can tell. But I do think EE are CUTER and Ameraucana are PRETTIER.

Please note in my early days, I was one who was irked by the misrepresentation and have even brought it to the attention of my LFS owners. Now I decided it's mostly much ado about nothing and I won't be able to change the system. Everybody starts their chicken adventure and learning somewhere. And this seems to be one of the very first lessons... chicks aren't always the breed they are sold as. So if a particular breed is of interest (and important) you had better do your background work. I paid $20 each for day old straight run barnyard mix once, sold as Swedish Flower! Boy did I learn a lot that day. And guarantee I won't make that mistake again. It became much easier to discern what people were saying about what they breed after that, and read between the lines of what they do or DON'T say.

Please note my discussion is only about the feed store and hatchery EE/Ameraucana and not reflective of back yard breeders who might sell their blue egg laying mix breeds as EE, In which case I would agree they are mutts. Maybe how hatcheries get their birds, from people who HAD Ameraucana of differing colors and didn't keep them separate?

Either way, I agree EE are some of my faves. Not arguing, just sharing my take. I mean, I guess I kinda get it! It would be nice if the hatcheries would hold their contracted breeders to a higher standard. I can't even tell you how many Wyandotte's I've seen with a straight comb instead of rose. The breeders do it to fight the infertility associated with the rose comb gene. But the whole reason I got a Wyandotte WAS for the rose comb... and 1 had straight. It's more common than you would think. Does that make them not Wyandotte? Nope, just not quality according to the SOP.

And to the poster @YdogsflY who said "purchase a copy of the SOP"... Its fine if you don't have the time to share your info. But plenty of us here are willing to share the information we have. And I'm here to save money in addition to learning more about keeping my birds correctly. Why pay if the SOP is available for free online and it's the same document? That's like telling someone who's looking for help to go to the vet. That's what they would have done if they could they are here for a reason. It's because we are a caring and helpful community not trying to make a quick buck.

What causes EE to have green instead of slate legs is yellow skin instead of white. Which is often easiest to detect true skin color by looking at the BOTTOM of the feet.

Anyways, the great Ameraucana/EE debate rages on! They are both great birds with slightly different characteristics and unless you are intending to breed or want something a little more rare, then it probably won't have much bearing.

The easiest way I know of to tell what someone is breeding is that an Ameraucana breeder will ALWAYS have a color associated with their line(s).. like Lavender, Blue, Black, Birtchen, spash. Generally there will be no specific color associated with EE because it's random.

Now... let's see some pics!

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

The hen in my avatar picture is an Ameruacana. She has black legs, ear muffs and a beard, no wattles - has a pea comb, and lays green eggs.

 

[FowlStuff]

I wanted blue and green eggs this year. I bought Ameraucana chicks at the store, as well as purchased Easter Egger hatching eggs from a breeder.

The Ameraucana chicks were all females.

The dozen Easter Egger eggs hatched, and only gave me 3 roosters, no hens.

I wanted Easter Egger hens. Are the Ameraucana hens the same breed, and can I mate the Easter Egger with the Ameraucana?

Thanks

Easter Egger is not a breed of chicken. About the only thing one Easter Egger has in common with another Easter Egger is they carry the blue egg gene.
The FAQ page of our Ameraucana.org site explains what an Ameraucana is and what an Easter Egger is.
http://ameraucanaalliance.org/faq.html#One
http://ameraucanaalliance.org/faq.html#Seven