Differences EE, Ameraucana, & Araucana * Pls post pics*

[livin-green]

Totally agree, MrsSmith! Many EEs are very beautiful birds and it is fun to see what you end up with, but I also totally agree that people should tell the truth about what they are selling.

Personally, I have an Olive-egger project that I started last summer and also have some Light Brahmas on the way to create some EEs this fall. It's fun to see what you get and to have a rainbow of colors in your egg basket! But, "facts is facts" and technically these will be mutts...hopefully very pretty mutts, but mutts nonetheless.

Here's a photo of an OE rooster that I hatched last August.

 

[Urban Chaos]

...so most likely, the "Ameraucana's" that my feed store got from Privett are EE's? Does not matter in the long run, but I am curious.

 

[HHandbasket]

I don't think they have to be pure ameraucanas to lay blue eggs, either. My EE, Lola, lays not only the largest eggs of all my girls (average 2.3 to 2.4 oz), but they are the bluest eggs I've ever seen! She's also one of the top 2 most reliable layers in my flock. She looks EXACTLY like the images of the Quechua fowl from which araucanas and ameraucanas are descended and which still live in South America (there is a WONDERFUL thread about it here on BYC wherein a user did a tremendous amount of research, and here's a link to that thread -- very educational and wonderful reading).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4878641

People can say what they want about ameraucana vs. auracana vs. Easter egger, but my supposed "Easter Eggers" resemble the original Quechua species 10 times more than ANY ameraucana I have ever laid eyes on. In fact, two of the photographs of Quechua fowl noted in the above article look so much like my two Easter Eggers, Lola and Bertha, that those could *almost* be actual pics of my girls!

I think that speaks volumes as to how "mongrel" my EE's really are (aren't).

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
That is correct. But they are just adorable & I'm sure you'll love them all the same!

I think it really only matters if you're - A) picky retentive and like to split hairs with people; and B) planning to sell or show your birds. I agree, though... if they aren't selling ameraucanas, they shouldn't label them as such.

I did notice that our local feed store did change their sign over the bin for those chicks, and it says, "Ameraucana/Easter Egg chickens" or something like that. Not quite accurate, but still a step in the right direction.

It's kinda like... my dog's a chocolate lab, but she's a mutt. Has a basic chocolate lab face and coloring and temperament. When I took her to the vet and they entered her breed in the computer, they put "chocolate lab". However, she's NOT a show dog, is still basically a mutt, but when people consider what breed she is, it's "chocolate lab mix". Why can't an Easter egger be called "Ameraucana mix", obviously not a show quality or APA Standard of Perfection, but your average garden-variety, backyard chickeneer isn't interested in "perfection", just nice birds that lay pretty eggs.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
I saw Privett's last year at a local feed store. They are definitely Easter Eggers.

 

[cashdl]

The Quechua coloring you are speaking of is a color in many breeds of chickens. The muffs and beards are dominant, so is the coloring. That coloring is seen in many game fowl and many many chicken breeds, such as the brown leghorn. Just go to a poultry show and look at all the hens. Just because your EE displays the coloring does not make it a Quechua. It is another example of trying to make your bird something it is not. Since the coloring is dominant and the blue eggs are dominant, and the muffs and beard are dominant, it is very easy to breed EE's with other breeds and still come up with something that resembles an EE. That is pretty much why so many people are confused.

If you did research on the Quechua, you would also see that they were a bantam sized bird and many had small crests. Most also had smaller beards and muffs than what we see today. They usually laid a tan egg. Kermits article points out the the Modern Quechua is different than the original Quechua in many respects. Other breeds were used to improve the strains. But the basic type visually has prevailed. You should really read Kermit Blackwoods articles about the different breeds and not just pick out the parts that you think apply. He has written quite a few.

I have EEs. I love them. While mine have similar coloring to the Quechua hens, the Brown Leghorn hens, the BBR hens of various breeds, I don't claim that they are decended from any of them. My EEs are fairly big birds, with huge beards and muffs. One lays a big brown egg, which would actually be closer to the color the Quechua were thought to lay. Several lay green eggs, and a couple lay blue eggs. My birds actually resemble the Favorelle except for the coloring and the feathered legs, but there not. They do have the winter face like the Favorelle though.

All the irritation, I think stems from the fact that people don't like to be made a fool of. They buy birds that were supposed to be one thing and then turn out to be another, so then they try to make them be something more important. They are chickens, which for the most part, all chickens are just mutts. Now when you can get your chicken mutts to breed exactly the same every time then you can move towards calling them a breed which the ameraucana club has done.

I would suggest if you think you have a Quechua you got from a hatchery, post a photo to the thread. He is can point out the finer details and let you know. Just as with the Araucana, the ameraucana, and the EE, there are little details that set them apart.

Lanae

Lanae

 

[cashdl]

As I wait to get hammered on for my post. I didn't mean to make it sound so mean. sometimes I hate talking over the internet, cause no one can see my smiling face.

I thought I would post a couple of pics

This is my favorite EE. She lays a gorgeous blue egg, but only when I don't have her in a pen with a rooster. I wanted to try to get chicks out of her with her coloring and she held all her eggs till I moved her back to the layer pen.

Some of my eggs from my True Araucana Flock. There is quite a variation in color.

My favorite Araucan roo, even though he is cleanfaced.

A gorgeous double tufted roo of mine.

My favorite hen. I just hatched two of her babies out of my favorite roo. They are so pretty they seem to be glowing in the sun. You can see her backside in the favorite roo pic. This pic was taken when she was 3 months old. Her tufts are even prettier now.

Lanae

 

[speckledhen]

I think EEs are awesome--have both EEs and BBS Ameraucanas from a respected breeder's show lines. My only beef is a hatchery's labeling practices when some buy what they think are Ameraucanas with intent to breed and/or show. That just leads to disappointment and lost time.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Since we really can't know exactly what is going on within the hatcheries, I just wish the need for absolutes would go away.

There may well be strains of Easter Eggers within some of these hatcheries that have remained pure, without outcrosses to other breeds, for a number of years now. By definition, those strains could be called a breed, albeit all of you seem to think a breed is only a breed if it has an APA standard. (I guess my beloved Orloffs are mutts, too, then.)

I'm sure some hatcheries cross their EEs with other things. I'm sure some breeders have selectively outcrossed their Ameraucanas to achieve desired traits, too.

"Easter Egger" should be a vague term that denotes either unknown parentage or known crossbreeding, not a concrete term meaning, conclusively, the bird in question is a cross-bred mutt chicken.

 

[babyrnlc]

Glad I found this thread! I love showing off pictures of my birdies!

Here is my Olive Egger, Pamela.

My EE chicksSold as Ameraucana, but I knew they werent and they were only $1.25 each lol!)