Is she an Ameraucana?

[DaviJones]

Thanks for all your answers!
I can't wait to see what see looks like when she's fully feathered!

I agree that she is probably an EE, love her to pieces though as she is the sweetest and most docile chick in this batch. Thanks again, I'll need to post pics when the little oddball is grown


Oh and thank you Folly's Place and The Angry Hen, your comments warmed my heart

 

[lomine]

Some people call them easter eggers olive layers ot Americans. they derived from the araucana, .hence the colored eggs but araucanas are much more expensive with way brighter prettier colored eggs, so an americana is kind of a downgrade mixed with araucanas down line that carry colored egg gene and the hens carry little puffs ear muffs by cheeks, however, im unsure i dont think the Americana roo always has little puffballs on his face?all hens I've seen eastereggers have little ear muffs/ puffs but not two ee roosters i have seen did not have them. Interesting but off topic

Americana is a deliberate misspelling of Ameraucana. Hatcheries do this to confuse buyers; I think because more people are becoming aware of the difference between an EE and an Ameraucana. Ameraucana, Araucanas, and the lines of EEs from hatcheries are all decedents of a blue and brown egg laying cross from Chile. Those birds had muffs, breads, and tuffs but the common link was the blue egg laying gene. The EEs from hatcheries are not simply an Ameraucana or Araucana mixed with something else. They are basically their own line it's just that no effort is made to breed for specific traits. That's why they look so different and lay different colors. EEs normally have muffs and beards but not always, and it's not gender specific. Ameraucana and Araucana on the other hand have been breed to have specific traits. And the breed standards are different outside the US so you have to take that into account. It's a complicated history for sure.

Hatcheries know the difference but they still mislabel their birds. Feed stores should know the difference but they normally just label the chicks as whatever the hatchery called them. If a person buys birds labelled Ameraucana at a feed store, they are going to call the chicks from those birds Ameraucana when they sell them. They may or may not be knowingly deceiving people.

Of course "backyard" breed EEs might very well be a mix of an Ameraucana (mine are) or even a Legbar (another blue egg layer) and some other chicken. Oliver Eggers are a bird that has a gene for a blue egg and one for a dark brown egg to get a dark green egg. They might not have any Ameraucana at all if they come from Legbars.

 

[drumstick diva]

EE

 

[Chickassan]

It's a little Easter egger but they're neat little birds just because you never know exactly what you're going to get. I had a suprise one but i never thought she was ameracuna, she was supposed to be a buff Orpington. The color was right, legs were right then she sprouted muffs and a beard and layed green eggs lol! Not an Orpington but I'm kind of happier she's not.

 

[venymae]

...

Of course "backyard" breed EEs might very well be a mix of an Ameraucana (mine are) or even a Legbar (another blue egg layer) and some other chicken. Oliver Eggers are a bird that has a gene for a blue egg and one for a dark brown egg to get a dark green egg. They might not have any Ameraucana at all if they come from Legbars.

This I can attest to as I hatched some hens for olive eggers from a Purebred Auracauana Roo and some hatchery RIR. Later these Olive Egger hens were crossed with a Legbar Mix Roo...and I just call them Easter Eggers at this point!

 

[DaviJones]

It's a little Easter egger but they're neat little birds just because you never know exactly what you're going to get. I had a suprise one but i never thought she was ameracuna, she was supposed to be a buff Orpington. The color was right, legs were right then she sprouted muffs and a beard and layed green eggs lol! Not an Orpington but I'm kind of happier she's not.

That's crazy! I'll have to watch my Orpingtons
Although score on the green eggs, love those

 

[Chickassan]

This is her, she's a weird looking Easter egger.

 

[venymae]

@Chickassan Just noticed your signature line. 10/10 I approve!

 

[DaviJones]

She's a beaut! Her coloring is somewhat like one of my Buff Orps, maybe I'll get lucky and get some green eggs

Lol, I'll try not to get my hopes up though

 

[Killer Tomato]

The lady I got my chicks from got them from a local feed store, and claimed they were Araucanas. Knowing what the store had available, I kept correcting her, "You mean, Ameraucana, right? Or Easter Egger?"

Nope, nope, nope, she insisted they were Araucanas. I let her have her way -- I was getting the chicks at $2 a piece, she could call them Flying Spaghetti Monsters, as they were mine now, and they're Easter Eggers!

So, depending on where you got your chick, and by the price you paid, you'll probably know what you've got! I vote Easter Egger -- she's adorable, and she looks just like mine.