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

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

They are all gorgeous.

 

[pinkyglory123]

Two things about my EEs-which I bought specifically to add the colored eggs to my baskets which customers LOVE! #1-I have lost hens to predators-both wild and domestic-but never an EE. A selling point for me who free ranges on 100 isolated acres. cochins and brahmas are the proverbial "sitting duck"-unfortunate since I love both breeds. #2-wish I had some lighter colored EEs. ended up with the mostly brown/black version. Do have a blue and gold and a silve laced black type color. I think I will look for light colored chicks when the feed stores have their chicks again. Just to add some color. My roo-white with red and feathered legs just fathered two chicks which appear to be out of a brown old english game bantam. no feather legs and light and medium red. Will see how they turn out. I have become an unexpected fan. Will be lurking the chick bins for yellow or very light EE chicks. Find the brown/black just a little boring. 3 out of five are that typical color. Sometimes your favorites don't work out and you find a new favorite that you never expected that does.

 

[buffalogal]

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Actually, designating a group of animals as a breed does not rely on having a written standard, it only requires that the animals are able to consistently reproduce 'copies' of themselves. In fact, pretty much every breed of animal or bird known to man developed without a standard; I can't think of one where someone sat down and wrote a standard first and then started to breed toward it, can you?

 

[buffalogal]

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Of course it "doesn't work"; the breed of cat known as Siamese has specific colors and markings and all over tabby ain't one of them. As you pointed out "A chicken cannot have most of the same traits, or even all but one, and be truly the same breed." Same is true for cats, cows and camels. The APA is like the AKC in that, while they are both respected organizations *in this country*, they are not the final word on what constitutes a breed of chicken or duck or dog for the rest of the world. There are plenty of breeds of animals where the external color is unimportant; Lamancha goats, Tibetan Terriers and Icelandic chickens, for example. It should be possible to develop a breed of chickens that specifically laid different colors of eggs, or, like the Icelandic, had different colors of feathers. That's not to say that EEs as we know them now are a "breed", only that it *is* possible to develop a breed where variety (like egg and feather color) is not only allowed, but encouraged.

 

[HHandbasket]

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Who said they thought they got a Quechua from a hatchery?

You've put a LOT of words in my mouth here. Never said my birds had the COLORING of the Quechua chickens... simply that the pictures in the link I posted look so much like my birds that they could almost actually BE my birds. There are a lot of pictures on BYC of a lot of chickens that resemble many of the birds in my yard... just was using a comparison, and you got all twisted in the knickers about it.

And I thought I'd share the link to the article of someone who did the research on them, which I found to be fascinating reading (I read it several months ago when it was first posted). Just thought it was neat, wasn't trying to argue with anyone or start anything, wasn't trying to do anything other than share something I thought was interesting, educational, and pertinent to the thread.

Apparently that was not the best idea.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

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Actually, designating a group of animals as a breed does not rely on having a written standard, it only requires that the animals are able to consistently reproduce 'copies' of themselves. In fact, pretty much every breed of animal or bird known to man developed without a standard; I can't think of one where someone sat down and wrote a standard first and then started to breed toward it, can you?

I'm talking about real chicken breeds defined by the APA standard. Not about general terms, or generally accepted definitions, or wild animal species/sub-species.

Well, yes, in a way - only without it being written. For instance, the doberman was created with a picture in mind; he knew what he wanted to breed for before he started creating the breed. He had a goal in mind, and bred for it. Standards don't have to be written before something is created.

 

[HHandbasket]

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X2

And sad to say, there are way too many of THEM posting on BYC in recent months, unfortunately.

 

[1 Bad Rotti]

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X2

And sad to say, there are way too many of THEM posting on BYC in recent months, unfortunately.

Thanks, I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one that doesn't have to keep up with the Jones.

 

[livin-green]

You know, to me it's not a matter of "keeping up with the Joneses"--it's matter of learning about chicken genetics and understanding how breeding works. Some people are just very analytical like that and thrive on the finest details of something. Honestly, I'm a little confused why some people are on this thread--"Differences EE, Ameraucana, & Araucana"--if they think they are all one in the same...??

In my opinion, the "fuss" about if they are true Ameraucana or Araucana is warranted because people, especially hatcheries, should not advertise them as Ameraucana or Americana or Americauna or....because if they are really EE then there is a chance they will lay brown eggs. That is why I did not choose "Ameraucana" from a hatchery--I already had plenty of brown eggs layers and I wanted a guarantee that they would lay blue. Green would have been cool, too, but again it's not a guaranteed egg color...it's all a gamble. At the time, like many backyard chicken keepers, I was limited on space & couldn't add very many more chickens. So I, for one, wanted to KNOW what I was getting because I couldn't keep adding chicks until I finally got what I wanted.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

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Great post!

Really, it's not about who's-who, who's got what, keeping up with somebody else, and especially NOT that "my birds are better than yours". It's a matter, to me, that these birds are being sold as purebreds when they are not - that some people are lying (including unintentionally) and people are being decieved.... And, I'm sure for those who breed true Ameraucanas and Araucanas, it's like a slap in the face when they are trying to uphold the standard - yet other people do not.

When somebody says "Your chicken is a mutt/mongrel" I don't see why so many people get their hackles up. There is nothing wrong with being a mutt or owning them. I've loved the EE babies I've bred and those I own, I love my mutt dog and cats. I'm a mutt, if you think about it. It's not a insult, it's just what they are.