Easter Egger Sexing "tips and tricks" *Pictures Included*

[Wishing4Wings]

It’s an “Americana” from Hoover’s. They say it comes from “Araucana and Ameraucana mix.” https://hoovershatchery.com/Americana.html

They sent you the wrong bird then. "Americanas" have green (possibly slate) legs, pea combs, beards and muffs. Some will be missing a trait, maybe 2, but not all of them.
Somebody made a mistake.

 

[chirpyderp]

They sent you the wrong bird then. "Americanas" have green (possibly slate) legs, pea combs, beards and muffs. Some will be missing a trait, maybe 2, but not all of them.
Somebody made a mistake.

My understanding is that Americanas are just random mutts I guess it’s neither here nor there at this point because it’s looking like a rooster anyway.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

My understanding is that Americanas are just random mutts I guess it’s neither here nor there at this point because it’s looking like a rooster anyway.

I don't believe they are random mutts. They have been fairly consistently bred over the years, depending on the hatchery, of course. I got my first ones over 35 yrs ago, and they were pretty much the same as the new pullets I have now and all the others in between. They are basically non standard Ameraucanas... the wrong color and larger than the Standard of Perfection describes an Ameraucana, so would be disqualified at a poultry show. With the exception of one Welsummer hen, I don't think I have ever had a hatchery bird meet it's definition in the Standard of Perfection. There are no pedigrees in the poultry world. If your bird does not meet the description of the standard, it is not of the breed. We still call our other hatchery birds by their SOP names, even though they do not meet the standard. For some reason, the hatchery Ameraucanas got different treatment. Maybe since they are one of the more recent additions to the SOP...

 

[chirpyderp]

I don't believe they are random mutts. They have been fairly consistently bred over the years, depending on the hatchery, of course. I got my first ones over 35 yrs ago, and they were pretty much the same as the new pullets I have now and all the others in between. They are basically non standard Ameraucanas... the wrong color and larger than the Standard of Perfection describes an Ameraucana, so would be disqualified at a poultry show. With the exception of one Welsummer hen, I don't think I have ever had a hatchery bird meet it's definition in the Standard of Perfection. There are no pedigrees in the poultry world. If your bird does not meet the description of the standard, it is not of the breed. We still call our other hatchery birds by their SOP names, even though they do not meet the standard. For some reason, the hatchery Ameraucanas got different treatment. Maybe since they are one of the more recent additions to the SOP...

This is the info I’ve found about the “Americana” breed. It’s a play on Ameraucana and it’s a marketing ploy.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

This is the info I’ve found about the “Americana” breed. It’s a play on Ameraucana and it’s a marketing ploy.

I did not know there was an EE Club of America! That's pretty much true, but I question their use of the word "hybid" to describe the breeding stock of larger hatcheries. Might be true for backyard breeders and for some of the new designer blue egg layers, but hybrid implies the crossing of 2 distinct breeds. "Americanas" are produced from birds with the consistent traits of an EE that your article described.
The other thing I question is their assertion that they "must breed true" to be an actual breed. Owners of landrace breeds like Swedish Flower Hens or Icelandics might take exception to this. It's true that the APA requires the test of breeding true, but in many parts of the world, landrace breeds are considered true breeds because even though colors may vary, the shape, size, physical structures (combs, clean legs, etc.) of the breed are uniform.
A long time poultry breeder described good breeding this way... you have to build your barn before you paint it. The physical body (slope of the tail, width of the back, silhouette of the breast, etc) is the primary consideration in good breeding. The colors you decorate them with come second. That's sort of how I see hatchery bred EEs. The foundation is pretty consistent and I love the variety of color. To me, that's the best thing about them, after the eggs, of course.

I'm sorry there was a goof and you didn't get an EE. Hope you get one in the future. Definitely one of my favorite "breeds."

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

I think a healthier perspective is to ask questions of the hatchery concerning the origin of their EEs and determine how close or removed from the SA Landrace breeding pool they are.

Some where on BYC one of the original breeders of the SOP Amercauna came out and explained the history of hatchery EEs and the name variations it was not a marketing ploy nor were the birds mutts. It is the direct result of breeders disagreeing on how to create an SOP for a Landrace, which genetics they wanted or did not and APA politics.... the APA insisted on name changes, spelling changes and depending on when a Hatchery got their first birds that resulted in the name variations, the APA kept changing what they wanted to distinguish better from Araucana which was approved first... this meant many Hatchery lines suddenly didn’t meet SOP (and breeding programs by the folks trying to get approval had to be changed) or were based on birds breeders needed to cull out of the flocks in favor of the new requirements... trust me reading all the hoop jumping it took to get the non lethal gene breed version created is many and clearly meant to frustrate the original Amercauna breeders trying to get approval. The two SOP breeds come from the same pool of birds imported to USA... the old Hatchery non SOP lines are very representative of this pool and come from the first breeding flocks of the proto Amercauna and Araucanas and he was none to happy with modern breeders calling them mutts, being rude to folks with them, bad attitudes, and point blank said they should be encouraging preservation breeding of the pools of proto birds for both Amercauna and Araucana future genetic needs at Hatcheries, and encouraging owners of EEs to move their flocks toward SOP standards but perhaps with different colors.

I have no idea which thread it was on, but the politics of getting the Amercauna and thus history of why Hatcheries use certain names is all there. It was not marketing. This original breeder wanted the Hatcheries that had bought the breeding pools to maintain them for future use.

If you spend the time to look at all the pictures of EEs on all the threads you will realize a surprising consistency of feather colors and patterns, genetic traits like leg color, comb, eye color... only when crossing out does things change alot. I think the Landrace genetics are still very strong in specific Hatcheries still.

I think calling them a Landrace is more correct Or just go with Non SOP.

Anyway I miss my Landrace EEs, (they got stolen along with some other layers), we are replacing the flock latter this year, this time we are going to try Bantams out. So it will be interesting to see how the bantams are. We also ordered CL’s and CL crosses this time to see what they are like... I think CL crosses are a type of EE. Even purebred CLs get more than blue eggs from the Chilean hen in their genetics. WTB‘s are a specific line of EEs too created using several breeds... Tom posted the breeds he used on BYC, wish I could find the thread again, eventually I will get some of his line/breed to evaluate.

We plan to breed our own EEs down the road, for fun and pretty eggs.

Anyway my two cents on Hatchery Lines.

 

[chirpyderp]

I think a healthier perspective is to ask questions of the hatchery concerning the origin of their EEs and determine how close or removed from the SA Landrace breeding pool they are.

Some where on BYC one of the original breeders of the SOP Amercauna came out and explained the history of hatchery EEs and the name variations it was not a marketing ploy nor were the birds mutts. It is the direct result of breeders disagreeing on how to create an SOP for a Landrace, which genetics they wanted or did not and APA politics.... the APA insisted on name changes, spelling changes and depending on when a Hatchery got their first birds that resulted in the name variations, the APA kept changing what they wanted to distinguish better from Araucana which was approved first... this meant many Hatchery lines suddenly didn’t meet SOP (and breeding programs by the folks trying to get approval had to be changed) or were based on birds breeders needed to cull out of the flocks in favor of the new requirements... trust me reading all the hoop jumping it took to get the non lethal gene breed version created is many and clearly meant to frustrate the original Amercauna breeders trying to get approval. The two SOP breeds come from the same pool of birds imported to USA... the old Hatchery non SOP lines are very representative of this pool and come from the first breeding flocks of the proto Amercauna and Araucanas and he was none to happy with modern breeders calling them mutts, being rude to folks with them, bad attitudes, and point blank said they should be encouraging preservation breeding of the pools of proto birds for both Amercauna and Araucana future genetic needs at Hatcheries, and encouraging owners of EEs to move their flocks toward SOP standards but perhaps with different colors.

I have no idea which thread it was on, but the politics of getting the Amercauna and thus history of why Hatcheries use certain names is all there. It was not marketing. This original breeder wanted the Hatcheries that had bought the breeding pools to maintain them for future use.

The most destructive thing towards maintaining the primitive pool proto genetics of Hatchery lines that originally produced the two SOP breeders for future breeding emergencies or concerns or even color patterns is this constant “mutt” chant. The Landrace version of the pool will eventually be destroyed as it will encourage Hatcheries not to maintain those breeding pools of proto breed.

If you spend the time to look at all the pictures of EEs on all the threads you will realize a surprising consistency of feather colors and patterns, genetic traits like leg color, comb, eye color... only when crossing out does things change alot. I think the Landrace genetics are still very strong in specific Hatcheries still.

I think calling them a Landrace is more correct Or just go with Non SOP.

Anyway I miss my Landrace EEs, (they got stolen along with some other layers), we are replacing the flock latter this year, this time we are going to try Bantams out. So it will be interesting to see how the bantams are. We also ordered CL’s and CL crosses this time to see what they are like... I think CL crosses are a type of EE. Even purebred CLs get more than blue eggs from the Chilean hen in their genetics. WTB‘s are a specific line of EEs too created using several breeds... Tom posted the breeds he used on BYC, wish I could find the thread again, eventually I will get some of his line/breed to evaluate.

We plan to breed our own EEs down the road, for fun and pretty eggs.

Anyway my two cents on Hatchery Lines.

That’s very interesting! I’m very confused as I’m reading that Americana is just another term for an EE, but another person has said my bird is not an EE. I’m also reading that Americanas/EEs (???) can have any combination of physical characteristics, but again I’m being told my bird doesn’t have any of the characteristics so it can’t be an EE. Do you have any insight then into what type of bird I have?

It was sold to me as an Americana from a bin of probably 40 identical chicks. How can an entire shipment of chicks be incorrect? It’s from Hoover’s. Here’s their description: Our Americana will give you an assortment of colors from turquoise, to olive, to light brown. The Americana breed comes from the Araucana and Ameraucana mix and has different color plumage variations. It is because of this genetic combination that our birds are not meant for exhibition.

It’s the little chipmunk-looking fella here:

Here at 5 weeks:

 

[Wishing4Wings]

That’s very interesting! I’m very confused as I’m reading that Americana is just another term for an EE, but another person has said my bird is not an EE. I’m also reading that Americanas/EEs (???) can have any combination of physical characteristics, but again I’m being told my bird doesn’t have any of the characteristics so it can’t be an EE. Do you have any insight then into what type of bird I have?

It was sold to me as an Americana from a bin of probably 40 identical chicks. How can an entire shipment of chicks be incorrect? It’s from Hoover’s. Here’s their description: Our Americana will give you an assortment of colors from turquoise, to olive, to light brown. The Americana breed comes from the Araucana and Ameraucana mix and has different color plumage variations. It is because of this genetic combination that our birds are not meant for exhibition.

It’s the little chipmunk-looking fella here:
View attachment 2633041
Here at 5 weeks:
View attachment 2633043

What are the other 2 lighter chicks (yellow and gold) at the top?

 

[chirpyderp]

What are the other 2 lighter chicks (yellow and gold) at the top?

Buff Orpington and Calico Princess

 

[Wishing4Wings]

It was sold to me as an Americana from a bin of probably 40 identical chicks. How can an entire shipment of chicks be incorrect?

Somebody mislabeled the bin. Wouldn't be the first time. If all the chicks were identical, they weren't EEs. EE chicks would be a variety of colors.
Did you buy them at TSC, by any chance?