How do I know if my Americauna hen is mature?

[ChickenGirl555]

I just remembered, it's Winter and therefore the days are shorter, so it may be light that's causing her first egg to have a later "due date".

 

[kfrank12]

I spoke with the lady we got our girls from and she said she deals only with pure breeds from hatcheries so it is definitely and Americauna and not an EE. I just ordered a light for the coop that should arrive tomorrow. Hopefully that will help her move things along! I have a blue laced as well that I think might still have a good month ahead of her before laying. Once one of them starts, its hard not to get impatient for the rest to follow suite!

 

[aart]

I watched our Americauna go into the nesting boxes yesterday to check them out, then proceeded to kick the pine shavings out of the box and "rearrange" them if you will.

This is the best sign that a pullet egg is very close to being laid.

I spoke with the lady we got our girls from and she said she deals only with pure breeds from hatcheries so it is definitely and Americauna and not an EE.

Not likely, very few hatcheries sell pure Ameraucana...they call them that(unless you read the fine print), but they're not pure.

You think she is an EE and not an Americauna? Is there a huge difference other than the blue vs green egg color?

I do. Some EE can lay a good blue, have had several, others will lay green, brown, pink, cream.

 

[paintedChix]

I agree with Aart. I've had Ameraucana - (Black/Blue/Splash & Lavender) from several different lines/breeders. I'm currently a member of the Ameraucana Alliance. I've also had many hatchery "Ameraucana" (not, they have been EEs) and none of them came close to breed SOP for true ameraucana breed.

While your girl is VERY LOVELY, she is not the an accepted breed standard color. She also is a little "light" in the beard & muff department - though her comb is wonderful!

Does she have the slate legs(not all EEs have them all the way down OR on the bottoms of their feet)? Some EEs have "willow" colored shanks - though those are more often seen in Olive Eggers (a cross between a blue egg layer and a brown egg layer - not necessarily Ameraucana or EE for the blue).

My 3 BBS ameraucana girls just started to lay last week. They were hatched March 12, 2018. I no longer have the black roo or one of the splash roos - they were fighting right before Hurricane Florence whipped through. We think they both died of heart attacks/heat stroke. They both showed damage from fighting - lacerations, 1 eye swollen shut, feathers missing. Having hatched in March - they are currently 8 months old. I don't remember our first ones from a different breeding line in 2014 taking this long to lay. I will be going through and separating out the boys from the girls - leaving the 2 blue & 1 splash girl (hatched 3/12) & the 3 lavender girls (hatched between 3/29 & 4/11 - 2 different hatches & not laying yet either) together. I'm really looking forward to getting more eggs from them and hope to get enough next spring to get some hatching eggs - to build my flocks.

I have 2 blue & 1 splash boy and 4 lavender boys (I think). I will be deciding which ones I'm keeping in Jan/Feb, then will split the girls up and put roos in with them... First I need them all to start laying reliably, though.

Waiting patiently for any eggs is difficult!! I've got several other breeds as well - only a couple of girls are laying so far... I FEEL YOUR PAIN, LOL.

 

[paintedChix]

Here is a link to pics of the accepted colors. From there you can check out the website.

http://ameraucanaalliance.org/photos.html

Here is the link to the Ameraucana Breeders Club picture gallery - the two were one and split in 2015.

http://ameraucanabreedersclub.org/gallery.html

 

[kfrank12]

Welp, ya'll were right! Not a true breed and most likely an EE which is totally fine. We've gotten about 7 mint green eggs from her over the last 1.5 weeks!!

 

[paintedChix]

And just so you know - my purebred Ameraucana are known as the "CRAZY birds" around here and our EEs have always been the sweetest!!