My purebred Ameraucana hen laid a tan egg!!! D=

[EMaker]

Quote:
Yes, they are, and they were developed from EEs, as a matter of fact. Even today, to develop new colors like lavender, other breeds are being bred into the Ameraucana gene pool. That makes them mutts. No judgment from me; ALMOST ALL breeds were developed from intermixing other breeds, but if we're all going to be truthful, then yes, Ameraucanas are technically mutts, too. Maybe the term "mutt" shouldn't be used in such a derogatory fashion.

No, they weren't. Hatcheries took true Ameraucana chickens and crossed them with other egg layers to get a blue egg layer that was a proficient layer. Now, people cross Ameraucana chickens with all sorts of other breeds just for fun or for a pretty chicken.

Then, every breed there has ever been is an inbred mutt, by what you said.

_________________________________

NO, they most certainly did NOT. I suggest you pay a visit to the Ameraucana website and read up on the history of the breed. Ameraucanas were created from EEs, largely from Quechua stock (which came from McMurray's orginal flock of blue egg layers). You are absolutely, and thoroughly, INCORRECT. And YES, in order to create a new breed, one generally crosses two other breeds, and then breeds to increase the likelihood of certain traits, which results in inbreeding, or in other animals, linebreeding. Do your research!!

Ameraucana chickens were formed using a series of breeds, including Araucanas. As were every other chicken breed on this earth.

<----Well, yeah, that IS indeed my point. However, Araucanas were NOT used to create Ameraucanas. Again, visit the Ameraucana organization website and do yourself a lil' reading on the history of the breed!!!

 

[EMaker]

Quote:
I have solid white EEs, with green legs, beards and muffs. The hens lay blue eggs. I breed the hens, and have for four generations, to my solid white bearded, muffed EE roo, and I get solid white, bearded, muffed, green legged, blue egg laying hens from the female progeny. Are they still mutts, or do I now have purebreds? Come on. Ameraucanas are indeed mutts, as are my solid white EEs. But the point is, SO WHAT?! And p.s., if some Ameraucanas lay egg colors other than blue, they are not in fact breeding true! So, mutts.

 

[EMaker]

pips&peeps :

Ameraucanas are nothing more than inbred mutts and, as such, most anything can happen.

Aren't most breeds of birds the same? All had to be developed from something.............................​

YES!!!​

 

[EMaker]

Quote:
That is a better way to say it than "purebred", I agree.
BigDaddy'sGurl,
If I had an Ameraucana hen who laid a brown egg, I would not call her an Ameraucana because she does not conform to the SOP any longer; I'd most likely dub her an Easter Egger. For example, though my own hen, Tiny, came out of a BBS Ameraucana flock and has the proper leg and eye color, she lays a brown egg. I do not call her an Ameraucana. I do sometimes call her an Ameraucana/Sumatra/EE/Whatever-the-Heck-She-Is, LOL.

The OPs hen may have come out of what is, to all appearances, a pure Ameraucana flock. Since she is laying a brown egg, if it is actually her egg, I do personally feel she should not be reproduced as an Ameraucana nor called an Ameraucana. If it was my hen, I'd remove her from the Ameraucana flock and she'd just be one of my layers. Even if the OP chooses to continue calling her an Ameraucana, which she is by appearance, and even shows her as one, it would be crazy to breed her into the lines, considering she'd mess up the egg color of the Ameraucana flock, especially if this person is going to sell chicks or birds in the future from that flock as Ameraucanas.

All of the "what to call her" stuff is separate from why the brown egg popped out in the first place. Genes are sometimes unpredictable, to say the least. Something in her genetics isn't right in the egg color department.

Yes, that is a much, much better way to refer to it. Thank you.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, if there was an SOP for a white blue egg laying EE, then yours would pass, I guess.

Why all the venom? Good grief, the OP just wanted to know why what she/he thought was an Ameraucana is laying a brown egg and folks are getting all riled up. This bird can't be called an Ameraucana because she lays a brown egg so at the least, she's a non-SOP bird if you don't like the term EE. That doesn't make ALL Ameraucanas mutts. Not sure what your point is, but you sound way too angry over a chicken. It is a chicken we're talking about. I and others were trying to help the OP explain what could have happened with the bird. Folks are getting all crazy over terms when the OP just wants to know why the bird who should be laying a blue egg isn't.

 

[EMaker]

Quote:
Not the point. It was an analogy based on the discussion about "purebred" as a definition. An SOP is entirely different concept than purebred, and I think when referring to Ameraucanas, SOP is far more apt than purebred. Thanks to the poster who suggested SOP as a term/

 

[PepsNick]

It's a chicken.

 

[EMaker]

Quote:
Actually, my point is that it does make Ameraucanas mutts. They are created by crossing other breeds and to this day, they do not breed true. (This particular hen is not the only non-blue egg layer Ameraucana) While they may conform to a standard of perfection, they are not purebred by true definition.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Quote:
Don't these threads always turn into an argument? I see both sides of the fence get their unmentionables in a wad over the Ameraucana versus EE debate. My solution for myself to save a lot of bickering and heartache is to simply own neither.

So far as the OP is concerned, however, I feel really bad for them because they own a bird that they were assured would meet all areas of the SOP and who obviously doesn't. I would assume that he/she paid a goodly sum of money for the bird or eggs and is now disappointed, as would I be. It's a lose-lose situation all around, not only to the current owner but also to the seller who probably truly believed they had SOP breeding birds.

 

[EMaker]

Quote:
Yup. As I wrote, earlier, these are chickens we're talking about, not racehorses! Who cares if it's a purebred?!