color of true ameraucana eggs-help!

[chkinut]

well, i hope i'm posting this question in the right section....maybe i should've posted it in the "breeds" section. i ordered some "True Ameraucana" hatching eggs from ebay a couple weeks ago. they even said they have the slate gray/blue legs. well, when i got the eggs in the mail, they did NOT look blue to me. they looked the same exact color of my EE eggs which are a light green (almost white-ish) color. i am so disappointed. don't get me wrong, i love the color that my girls lay. i was just looking for a true blue color. now i'm not excited about hatching these eggs. i will still do it of course, and i will still take good care of them and love the chicks....but i'm thinking of giving them all away cuz i can only have so many chickens where i live. i would've posted a picture, but we are currently waiting for our camera to come in the mail and it should be here in about a week. i guess my question is, is there any hope that these chicks could lay a beautiful blue egg? are true Ameraucanas eggs, kinda like Marans eggs? in that they lighten up as the laying season progresses? i'm looking for some hope, but i want the truth. oh, and the picture of the eggs on ebay was not taken in the best lighting. so i just trusted that these were true ameraucanas....i'm certainly no expert on the breed, but i was under the understanding that they lay ONLY blue eggs? i LOVE EE too! i'm getting 3 more this spring. i just wanted to definately have a blue egg layer and you can't bank on that with an EE. that's why i ordered these eggs. anyway, any advise would be greatly appreciated. thanks!
oh, if you go to the "post your 1st egg" thread and click on the very last page (pg 239), its the egg pic posted by "I-have-happy-hens"...thats what color these eggs look like.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I am sorry you are disappointed! So many people STILL list their EE as Amerauacanas.. Did you purchase them from a breeder? Where did you get their information from? What color are they/is it an approved SOP accepted color? If I wanted true Ameraucanas -I would join the ABC (Ameraucana Breeders Club) find a long time breeder/member and order eggs from them. It's a great place to start and there are breeders in many states.

If the eggs weren't blue, they are not from SOP hens and are EEggers.. The Standard of Prefection states: that their eggs are blue. Any other color would be a disquaifiation? And there are lots of different colors of blue eggs (note the chart on the ABC web page.)..

If I wanted more EEggers I would keep them, If not I would sell the chicks as EEggers and buy blue eggs.. Unlikely the hens from these eggs will lay blue eggs...

 

[Illia]

Did the "Ameraucanas" carry an APA recognized color, with slate or black legs?

Because chances are, with the egg color I saw on that thread, you may still have Ameraucanas. . . There are indeed breeders out there with much more poor of color than others. My first hatching eggs I ever got were sadly green to khaki colored, but, really, they were still from true to type BBS Ameraucanas.

Chances are, they will still lay that color of egg. Now, some Ameraucanas start out greener their first few days then get bluer, but a lot don't.

Techincally yes, they should only lay blue eggs though. . .

 

[chkinut]

Quote:
it sure sounded like they were breeders....when i re-read the explanation on ebay....it says they breed to the APA standards.....and that their birds lay a beautiful blue egg......i didn't read anything about an approved SOP color though. I will look into the ABC tomorrow and start researching. i thank you both for your input! live and learn i guess.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

The problem with ameraucanas is that what one person calls blue might not be what someone else calls blue. In fact, when you look at the ameraucana egg color chart acceptable color ranges from a grey to blue to green. The first eggs that mine laid looked green to me. They were gorgeous and really saturated, but I swore they were green. Mine came from a fabulous AM breeder and I knew they were pure. Over the course of the summer their eggs did fade to blue. The green went away almost completely. But those early eggs looked really green. One of them still lays a paler blue egg that is really close to my EE's minty green egg. I can't tell them apart unless both girls have laid that day.

All of that to say- ameraucana standard calls for a blue egg, but what that color actually is varies widely. The bulk of the standard and what most people seem to be breeding for is the shape and color of the birds themselves.

 

[chkinut]

yeah, i guess you're right....i mean when you see a brown egg, you know it's brown, although they can come in various shades. but blue eggs.....well, that's a whole different story....some can look greenish....etc....i was looking for that "without-a-doubt-blue" color. i tried to look for the egg color chart, but couldn't find it anywhere. and so far, any websites of breeders that i looked at, didn't show the color of their eggs....or didn't sell hatching eggs....etc. i will continue to research and look around. i'm not in a rush, and this is definately a learning experience!

 

[sourland]

I know very little about Ameraucanas, but don't some color varieties tend to lay a more greenish egg than others? I know about the standard, but I'm asking about the reality.

 

[chkinut]

Quote:
interesting question, one that i would like to know the answer to. oh, and another thing.....ALL 12 eggs are the exact same color. is that weird? cuz i know if you order brown eggs from the same breed even, they come in different shades of brown. these eggs looked like they were all layed from the same chicken. is that normal?

 

[halo]

My ameraucana eggs used to drive me nuts. Id see one outside in the box, pick it up, omg it was the most gorgeous blue. Id bring it in the house, put it in the carton, look at it later and wonder...is that the same blue egg I picked up earlier? Because now it looks more aqua than blue. It really is a difficult color to pin down. Its best for me to have several side by side to see the real difference. I get a lot that I would call aqua, not a sky blue, but a blue/green color. Lots of different shades of blue; I try not to stress over it anymore.

 

[cubalaya]

guess when you breed for color only, the egg color suffers. all of my 'mutts' came from blue eggs. they lay blue and green eggs.