I don't think these are actually Araucana - so what DO we have?

[rpar003]

My friend bought 8 of these female chicks from a hatchery. As you can see, they weren't all female! They were sold to her as Araucanas, which she particularly wanted because she wanted the different color eggs. They've just started laying - and she's getting all brown eggs.

So, what do you think?




The rooster has a definite green tinge, and the hens do also. We were meant to have a barred rock she got for me, but her daughter became very attached. So we're minding the rooster (until she figures out what to do with it!) and I'm introducing this other one to my small flock. But I'd really like to know what I have! Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[rojororeo]

Interesting! I haven't the slightest, but am also trying to ID one of my chickens who looks very similar!
Though mine appears to be much younger. On another forum, people think my girl is a Welsummer. Here is a pic of her.

 

[PotterWatch]

I would guess hatchery-quality partridge rocks.

 

[rojororeo]

I think I agree, at least about my girl. I just went and had a better look at her, and she has that exact same patterning to her body feathers that the partridge rocks have. Does hatchery quality mean to look for issues? I assume not, as they are all hatchery chicks, the frequent way most get theirs, right?

 

[PotterWatch]

All hatchery-quality means is that they won't win at a chicken show, lol. They conform, sometimes loosely, to the breed standard in that they have the basic coloring and lay the right color egg, but they aren't a show quality bird. That works just fine for most of us.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I think I agree, at least about my girl. I just went and had a better look at her, and she has that exact same patterning to her body feathers that the partridge rocks have. Does hatchery quality mean to look for issues? I assume not, as they are all hatchery chicks, the frequent way most get theirs, right?

Hatcheries rarely produce birds that come close to meeting the breed Standard. Hatcheries mass produce birds, they do not selectively breed. Hatcheries also make mistakes and "stuff happens".

Hatchery quality Partridge Rocks would be as good a guess as any.

 

[rojororeo]

Thanks PotterWatch! These are my first chickens, only for a couple of months now, even, and I am learning so much. I see the term all the time, and figured it was like that.... like a backyard bred dog, lol. Funny I have no issue with that in a chicken, but refuse to support the dog or cat version of it... i am just happy to know that my chickens have much happier lives than anything massively done like egg companies...
I love to sit out and watch them.
I gave them some live grasshoppers the other day in celebration of our first eggs, and they are all my best friends now! The rooster brings them to me every time I go in their yard, to make sure I don't have goodies!

 

[Fred's Hens]

All hatchery-quality means is that they won't win at a chicken show, lol. They conform, sometimes loosely, to the breed standard in that they have the basic coloring and lay the right color egg, but they aren't a show quality bird. That works just fine for most of us.

Not so much on the conform. The hatcheries tend to use the expression, when pushed about such things, that "they 'represent' the breed".

I do like your word loosely. LOL

Hatcheries tend have chicks available. They ship right to your post office. The birds are usually healthy. They are extremely affordable. Those things are what hatcheries do well. They sell chickens. This what hatcheries do well.

It isn't just that hatchery stock isn't "show" quality, as there are other features of the breed, such as size, development, meat carcass, personality that also should be associated with the breed to be true to it's original creation. Hope that helps.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Those look like hatchery partridge rocks to me also. One thing about hatchery EEs, "Ameraucanas/Auracana" besides who knows what the breeding flocks consist of breed wise, is they say they can lay any color egg, so I have at times gotten the impression that sometimes when you order these and they are short on "real" EEs they just throw in whatever breed they have extra of... since they do advertise they can lay brown, pink, tinted etc eggs and that they vary in type and color.

 

[rpar003]

Thanks everyone! They do look like Partridge rocks, don't they! Now I'm off to find out what they're like, temperament and all wise.