female Ameraucana chicks

[keesmom]

I did contact the hatchery and they insist that they are Ameraucanas. Here is the link to what they sold me. https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/americanas.html. I appreciate all the help. Yes I am happy that they are happy and healthy, but I bought them to sell them when they came of age because Ameraucanas are so popular right now especially in small back yard flocks. Where we live cities and suburbs have started allowing up to 4 in a backyard flock and since that limits people they want as exotic birds as they can get. Plus I paid around $4 a piece for "what I believed and thought" were Ameraucanas. I could have gotten random laying chicks for a lot less if I did not care about the breed.

The price is a clue. Some hatcheries do have true Ameraucanas (Cackle, Meyer, MPC) but pullet chicks range from $15-25 each instead of $4.

I do like my EEs. Each hen tends to lay a uniquely colored egg.

 

[Lee Nelson]

I bought these as day old chicks. I know pullets are more. When I go to sell these as fresh laying Ameraucanas I get $45 a piece for them. I contacted the hatchery and they absolutely insist that they are Ameraucanas so I don't know what to believe.

 

[Cyprus]

I bought these as day old chicks. I know pullets are more. When I go to sell these as fresh laying Ameraucanas I get $45 a piece for them. I contacted the hatchery and they absolutely insist that they are Ameraucanas so I don't know what to believe.

Hatcheries don't even know what true Ameraucana chickens are. It's a marketing scam.

 

[keesmom]

I bought these as day old chicks. I know pullets are more. When I go to sell these as fresh laying Ameraucanas I get $45 a piece for them. I contacted the hatchery and they absolutely insist that they are Ameraucanas so I don't know what to believe.

The $15-25 IS for day old pullet chicks from MPC, Meyer or Cackle. Though Cackle does have an assorted blue egg layer deal for $8.95 each. You could get blue, black, splash, buff, white or lavender Ameraucanas, or even cream Legbars.

 

[Lee Nelson]

With all due respect, I mean that, if hatcheries are selling/labeling chicks that they are not then it seems they would fold, or at least get fined for selling something that is not what they say. I have to believe that they are held accountable to some local, state, or federal laws. All businesses have to answer to some sort of higher organization.

 

[Lee Nelson]

I would like to thank you all for your sincere efforts in helping me. If I seemed cross, I apologize. I learned A LOT. Apparently whatever I bought will breed true to blue egg color and that is what I care about and what others who are buying care about. 15 years ago I noticed that people were more interested in the ornamentality of the bird rather than the eggs they laid. Now they are more interested in the color of the egg laid but not interested in what the chicken looks like. Go figure. Many years ago I entered an Ameraucana rooster that won first place. And guess what, no one wanted to buy him. I had a hard time giving him away! I love Ameraucanas and would like to breed them. Has it become that political?

 

[Lee Nelson]

I don't mean to be contradictory, but the definition of day old chicks and pullets is not the same. Day old chicks are day old chicks. The definition of pullet (which I sell) is "a young hen, especially one that is under a year old" I am just trying to wrap my mind around all this information and some of it seems inconsistent.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

It always has been. Just look at a bird like a Bresse. You can only advertise it as a Bresse if it was hatched and raised in in France. Otherwise you have to advertise it as an American Bresse. There's a world of difference between a svart hona and an ayam cemani to the trained and economical eye - one is usually worth $300/bird one $1000/bird. That matters of course. And hatchery chickens have always been a totally different animal than the same breed hatched for show to the breed standard. (There's a whole thread on hatchery birds VS show birds on this website that's popular and worth looking at.)

You can't just present some random mutt as an AKC purebred german shepherd without getting called out and you can't present easter eggers as ameraucanas without some backlash.
That anger you felt, that denial at being duped, the bargaining... (surely it can't be real that I've been ripped off? I spent lots of money on these! Shouldn't these people be punished for ripping people off?). Those are valid feelings. When you realize you didn't get what you thought you were getting you feel angry, confused, and realize your product is worth a lot less.

So yeah, it matters if you are passing those same bad feelings and wasted money onto other people.

Unfortunately easter eggers and ameraucnas are particularly hotly debated because they are a newer breed (not officially in the APA until 1980's). Which is where some of the mystery of the breed comes from. For example one legal issue is that these companies have lines that go back 60 years that they've been advertising as ameraucanas since before amerauacanas were an official breed. When the breed standard was written down, the companies didn't change their lines, breed to a standard or do anything to change their birds - they just bank on the consumer assumption that their birds were correct. Now they have a horrible reputation for Ameraucanas because you're right - they rip people off.

So, like, you can advertise your easter eggers as easter eggers that you guarantee to lay blue eggs... (Though I would not do that unless you also understand the simple dominant genetics behind the egg color and actually know it's guaranteed...) You can even sell these as ameraucanas if you so insist. Lots of people do on sites like Ebay. They get a horrible reputation for it and would be laughed out of a poultry show, but they do it. But it's up to you if you value the money you spent on these chicks over professionalism, reputation, and not passing on the bad feelings you got from finding out you got ripped off onto other people.

And - accidentally or not - ripping people off will always get people up in arms for the same reason you were upset.

 

[Lee Nelson]

Excellent reply Chocolate Mouse. Very helpful. No I am not going to "pass off" my birds; I am not too angry. I can keep them and very easily sell my eggs, and I WILL sell them as EE's unless I see evidence otherwise since people love the green egg laying aspect of the breed. What has me scratching my head is the inconsistency of some of the replies.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I think it's just a slip of terminology in that one post. They meant female chicks. Some people refer to any female chicken under a year as a pullet. Some people use it for only female chickens between 12 and 20 weeks old. Language is diverse, complicated and fluid. Words change.
If you wanna get specific dictionary definition is pullet: "a young hen, especially one less than one year old."
And "hen" is:
"a female chicken especially over a year old
broadly : a female bird"
So technically you can't say either cause a pullet must be a hen (over a year) and a pullet (under a year) at the same time? So a term like 'pullet chick' in reference to a female chick is not all that strange.
Words are weird like that.