How To tell an easter egger from an araucana and an ameracauna?

[CatherineG]

I want a true easter egger that lays blue, green, and tinted pink eggs how do I know if I have a true easter egger that will lay those or the others or how to get the pink tinted eggs from the araucana or ameracauna?

 

[ging3rhoffman]

You can get them at feed stores right now. You can also order as few as 3 of them from hatcheries. I know Meyers in Ohio will ship you as few as 3 one day old chicks. The Ameraucans you can only get from a breeder, hatcheries dont sell them. I have 2 EE's and 2 blue cochins being delivered tomorrow morning from Meyers. Ive been so pleased with their chickens. They got to my door in 14 hours after they left Meyers.

 

[Judy]

Right. Hatcheries also don't sell Araucanas. They just call EE's Araucanas or Ameraucanas.

 

[sangel4you]

can someone post a picture of an araucana versus and ameracuana? or explain the difference? I looked at Meyers just two days ago and it said almost all of their birds were out...and they had no EE's or ameracuanas at all.

 

[speckledhen]

Araucanas and Ameraucanas only lay eggs in the blue color family. It's easy to find Easter Eggers because every hatchery sells them, no matter what they call them. But, EEs can lay brown eggs, too, being a mixed breed.

Araucanas are usually rumpless with ear "tufts" on one or both ears. hinkjc has pic of hers on her website.

Ameraucanas have tails, beards and muffs and only come in about 8 standard colors.

There are numerous threads on this issue! A search will give you more than you want to know.


Meyer's are Easter Eggers. No large hatchery that I know of sells Araucanas or true Ameraucanas.

 

[georgialee]

Okay, to get true ameraucanas or araucanas you have to get them from a breeder, not a hatchery. If a hatchery sells what they call ameraucanas/araucanas they're really EE's and will lay either blue, green or pink eggs most likely.

Ameraucanas have muffs and beards with a tail.
Araucanas are rumpless.
EE's are mutts - oftentimes very pretty and can come in all sorts of colors. Most have green-ish legs and rosecombs but not all. Most will also have poofy cheeks when they're chicks which is one way to pick them out at the feed store.

hope that helps a bit!

 

[speckledhen]

And mutt is not a derogatory term, just means it is a mixed breed chicken, so let's not get off on that tangent in this thread, please.

 

[ArizonaNessa]

Just because of the way that you worded your original post I feel the need to tell you that you are never going to find a chicken that will lay all three of those colors. If you buy what the feed store or hatchery calls an ameraucana (which is actually an easter egger) and that bird lays you a green egg it will forever lay you a green egg. If it lays a blue egg it will always lay that color. It is not going to lay blue one day and green the next and pink (brown) the next.

and before I forget

 

[sangel4you]

not to sound stupid, but what's rumpless?

 

[Anne]

Rumpless means the bird is missing vertabrae and therefore lacks a tail. This is one of my Araucana hens, displaying rumplessness and ear tufts:

To the OP: Both Araucanas and Ameraucanas are supposed to lay blue eggs. Easter Eggers, being of mixed heritage, may lay any color of egg. However, the likelihood of getting the exact colors you want when purchasing chicks from a feed store or hatchery is small. The more chicks you purchase, the higher the chance that one or two will lay the colors you're looking for. Please note that an individual chicken lays the same color of egg throughout their life, no matter what the breed or genetic heritage.