Is he possibly an Ameraucana???

[tlatham72]

Danny D crowed for the first time today. Yay!

Do y'all think he might be a black Ameraucana? I got him at a few days old from a bin of bantams at my local feed and seed that were unsorted for breed or sex. He's about 10 -12 weeks now I think.

I tried taking pics that show his whole body, his legs, his beak, and eye color.

He's starting to get muffs and a beard. His beak looks curved to me. His legs I would call black, though, instead of slate blue. His eyes are kind of golden I think,

but they look more greenish in these pics. Can't see much of his comb yet. And I think his skin is white. His feathers have that beautiful iridescent sheen.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Danny D crowed for the first time today. Yay!

Do y'all think he might be a black Americauna? I got him at a few days old from a bin of mixed bantams at my local feed and seed. He's about 10 -12 weeks now I think.

I tried taking pics that show his whole body, his legs, his beak, and eye color.

He's starting to get muffs and a beard. His beak looks curved to me. His legs I would call black, though, instead of slate blue. His eyes are kind of golden I think, View attachment 2340642but they look more greenish in these pics. Can't see much of his comb yet. And I think his skin is white. His feathers have that beautiful iridescent sheen.

View attachment 2340643View attachment 2340651

He does look pure. However, that spelling is code for Easter Egger. It’s spelled Ameraucana.

 

[tlatham72]

He does look pure. However, that spelling is code for Easter Egger. It’s spelled Ameraucana.

That was actually my misspelling. He wasn't identified as any particular breed in the bin. I thought I had misspelled and was double checking when you replied. Lol

 

[The Happster]

No, Extremely unlikely.
Easter Eggers often come very close to looking like Ameraucanas, but since it wasn't bought from a breeder, it's just an EE. You won't get pure Ameraucana from a place like that. Regardless, a really beautiful boy.

 

[tlatham72]

No, Extremely unlikely.
Easter Eggers often come very close to looking like Ameraucanas, but since it wasn't bought from a breeder, it's just an EE. You won't get pure Ameraucana from a place like that. Regardless, a really beautiful boy.

Thanks! I do believe their unsorted bantams come from shipments from a hatchery. I have an Olive Egger from them from a batch labeled as such and they have had batches of labeled Easter Eggers. But their batches of bantams are always unsorted for breed or sex. One of my bantams from the same batch as Danny D is a Mille Fleur Belgian D'Uccle. And another is a Cochin. I also got two Sebrights from a different batch of their unsorted bantams.

Easter Egger is fine! LOL. I'm just trying to ID them all now that they are getting older.

 

[tlatham72]

No, Extremely unlikely.
Easter Eggers often come very close to looking like Ameraucanas, but since it wasn't bought from a breeder, it's just an EE. You won't get pure Ameraucana from a place like that. Regardless, a really beautiful boy.

Also, I'm new to all of this. Are Ameraucanas rare or expensive? I was just taking a guess from googling black chickens with muffs and a beard, etc. and it seemed to fit Danny D.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I do believe theirs come from a shipment from a hatchery

There are actually several hatcheries selling real Ameraucana these days and when sold by them will be identified by their color variety.. ie, black, blue. splash, lavender, etc. when not in a mixed batch bin.

If you know which hatchery your store gets their chicks from you could check their site and see IF they do carry Ameraucana in black bantam variety. Though I agree it is most likely an Easter Egger.. the bottom of the feet is where to check for skin color. Sometimes the difference may be as subtle as eye color. And some varieties will have darker slate legs perhaps.

No, Ameraucana aren't rare or expensive depending on your definition of both. You can get them at several hatcheries usually sexed for around $18-20 instead of the $4 range for EE... There are also many breeders and a list of them.. it's a matter of due diligence..
Ameraucana breeders directory..
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H9Ni3gym6Cwdwn72ijwkm7e61rzpDS5H3rCi2lC2EGA/edit

https://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Baby-Chicks/Blue-Black-Splash-Ameraucana-p1227.aspx

https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=BAMS

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/blue-ameraucana-chicken.html

ETA: Black is a gene that can hide or is dominant to many other feather colors.. therefor even in the "americana" pens.. it could be possible though not plausible to get a black boy conforming well to the SOP.

 

[The Happster]

I wouldn't say rare, just harder to get thanks to the hatcheries passing EE off as them. Certainly more expensive than EE.
It's really going to be hard to know for sure if he is Ameraucana - which I really doubt - I would think the only way would be to get a pure black Ameraucana female and see if the offspring have anything pop up.
But even then I'm not in the know enough to say whether that would actually work.