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While I understand the motivation for this comment, frankly I'm growing weary of people falling back on this rather than actually assessing the birds in question. Yes, MOST LIKELY the farm store got them from a hatchery, but that is not a certainty. You cannot know for sure that the store does not have access to a local breeder with "real" Ameracaunas. The only reason I bring this up is because this kind of blanket judgment is the sort that gets serious breeders a reputation for being "stuck up." It's presumptuous to make such comments without even looking at the birds. IMO, a more helpfu, courteous, and knowledgable response would be to look at the birds, comment on what characteristics indicate they are EEs (the roo's color, etc.), and then perhaps mention that MOST farm stores sell hatchery birds and TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE none of the commercial hatcheries have pure Ameraucanas, or at least not birds that meet breed standards. Please, let's not fuel the perception that serious breeders are arrogant and condescending...
I personally don't feel that Stacykins was trying to sound arrogant or condescending, and it would be very good information for the OP to know if the OP were aiming to get a purebred animal. The sin is on behalf of hatcheries that they mis-lable their birds. I have actually sent information to a couple of hatcheries online, and all I ever get is a curt "Thank you for contacting us." They know that they're mis-labling, but they don't care.
I am not a breeder myself, but I often let new posters know that you cannot get an Ameraucana from a hatchery because it is the unfortunate truth. Of course, most people who are ordering from a hatchery don't have plans for showing their birds. I didn't when I ordered my EE, but my hatchery is a quality one and the bird I got is hard to tell apart by the untrained eye from a Silver Ameraucana. Sometimes I'm tempted to take her to a local fair as an Ameraucana just to see if the judges can catch it
. But I care about not perpetuating the mis-lable, so I never give in to my little shoulder devil.