Easter Egger's and Ameraucana's = same thing

[Alissa802]

Very probably. The easiest way to tell is do they meet an APA color.

For example if you get a BARRED rock, it's a barred plymouth rock. A WHITE leghorn, a BUFF orpington, a BLACK australorp, etc.
If your chick came in a bin without a specific color label (Such as Blue, Black, Splash) it was probably a mixed breed/landrace chicken, not a bird that meets an APA breed standard.

Also if they have green or yellow legs and not slate or grey legs.

 

[Alissa802]

These are a few. They are all roughed and bearded. I guess for my purposes it doesn’t really matter. Just don’t like to be sold something they aren’t

 

[Alissa802]

These are a few. They are all roughed and bearded. I guess for my purposes it doesn’t really matter. Just don’t like to be sold something they aren’t

*muffed

 

[Alissa802]

An americauna is the same as an americana, they both don't exist. Are you talking about ameraucanas or araucanas?

I spelled it wrong. The birds were listed as Ameraucauna (is that right?) actually I think my phone corrected it because it just tried to change it again.

 

[black_cat]

I spelled it wrong. The birds were listed as Ameraucauna (is that right?) actually I think my phone corrected it because it just tried to change it again.

Ameraucana is a breed.

 

[MysteryChicken]

@Overo Mare @OneHappyRooster @Rhodebar Lover @MysteryChicken
If you can contribute anything on MY SIDE of the discussion it would be welcome.

I'm late. I didn’t get a notification. But I'm on @nicalandia's side.

 

[NagemTX]

I'm late. I didn’t get a notification. But I'm on @nicalandia's side.

Me too Mystery.

 

[Reave]

Chickens all have open studbooks like rabbits, right? So wouldn't the difference mainly be whether they are being bred "to a standard" or not? A hatchery can have both colorful egg birds bred in random pens and theoretically "pure" (for such as that definition can ever exist in animals with open studbooks, which I think it's awesome that they are kept open) examples of the same birds, but since they are breeding for egg laying ability over anything else, you usually get smaller, weedier-built chickens compared to people that care more about keel depth, tail set, etc. So they wouldn't be winning shows either way.

I forget if it's 4 or 8 generations, but I think with both rabbits and fowl (may be more livestock species) you can register it as a purebred after a certain number of generations go by... That's how we get "more" colors in breeds that don't currently have 'em. It causes a headache trying to breed unwanted traits back out, but that's penalized on its own just fine by judges adhering to standard.

 

[NatJ]

Chickens all have open studbooks like rabbits, right? So wouldn't the difference mainly be whether they are being bred "to a standard" or not? A hatchery can have both colorful egg birds bred in random pens and theoretically "pure" (for such as that definition can ever exist in animals with open studbooks, which I think it's awesome that they are kept open) examples of the same birds, but since they are breeding for egg laying ability over anything else, you usually get smaller, weedier-built chickens compared to people that care more about keel depth, tail set, etc. So they wouldn't be winning shows either way.

I forget if it's 4 or 8 generations, but I think with both rabbits and fowl (may be more livestock species) you can register it as a purebred after a certain number of generations go by... That's how we get "more" colors in breeds that don't currently have 'em. It causes a headache trying to breed unwanted traits back out, but that's penalized on its own just fine by judges adhering to standard.

In the USA, chickens do not have a studbook at all. And I've never heard of anyone registering a chicken.

If you take a chicken to a show, either it looks right or it doesn't. If it looks wrong, it gets disqualified. If it looks right, that is all there is to it: no checking of ancestors at all.

Of course if you want to breed chickens it is important to know if they come from a line that breeds true for the traits you want, or if they are likely to produce a bunch of variable offspring, but that is not because of anything imposed by any external authority.

Yes, I think you're right about the main difference being whether they're bred to a standard or not. And given how many other hatchery "purebreds" are how far from their standard, it does seem a little odd to make such a big deal about Ameraucanas and not all the other breeds. (I grant that most of the other breeds are at least trying to belong to a recognized color, while mixed-color flocks of "Ameraucanas" are not doing that. I've never seen a hatchery selling "Wyandottes" or "Leghorns" that have many colors mixed and interbreeding in the same flock.)