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

[horsecrazychicklovingkid]

Quote:
AMERAUCANA chickens are not inbred mutts.
AMERICANA or EASTER EGGER chickens are inbred mutts.

( By the way I am not yelling, just clarifying what I am stating )



I'd like to know just which breeds you are referring to. Every breed had to be formed somehow from other chickens, they didn't just appear like they are now.

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.

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

 

[horsecrazychicklovingkid]

Quote:
Sumatras are white or lightly tinted egg layers, not brown. If yours lay brown, they have something else in their background, sorry. Research Sumatra egg color on the web and you'll see only white listed, not brown. My brown egg laying Ameraucana with Sumatra blood has a pea comb, too. It was a surprise to see that egg, but no matter. I wasn't planning to breed her anyway.



BBS stands for blue, black or splash.

pips&peeps :


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

Exactly. Y'all need to stop verging on snotty, for crying out loud. Why pick on Ameraucanas? All developed breeds have something else in their backgrounds whose genes can pop out at some future point-Wyandottes have Cochin ancestry, which is why you see single combs and feather stubs on the legs on occasion. Good grief, it's pretty much the same with all chickens. Some weird aberration can pop up in most any line at any time.

Because you don't have pedigrees and unauthorized matings can occur, sometimes you just dont know why a trait comes out in a bird. As I always say, genes are like leprechauns, playing tricks on you when you least expect it.​

Oh come on now...it seems to me that on this forum, it's the Ameraucana folks who are the snotty ones (not all, mind you, but a good many) who constantly slap the word "mutt" in the faces of the EE people. Truth is, Ameraucanas are mutts, too...and yes, so are most breeds. Everyone should lose the snottiness, in my opinion. They are chickens, for goodness sakes! Not race horses!! Lighten up everyone!

I only said EEs were mutts because the word "mutt" was slapped on a breed that I raise and show, mine are real pure-breds.

 

[horsecrazychicklovingkid]

Alright everyone, if you aren't going to talk nicely with me about my pure-bred Ameraucana hen that laid and tan egg, then leave. If you want to discuss what is pure-bred and what is not, then go make a new thread for it.

 

[onthespot]

I took another look at Marshmellow, and I think her comb looks a little pink still for egg laying. Are you sure she laid the egg? She doesn't quite look old enough.

 

[EMaker]

Quote:
Oh come on now...it seems to me that on this forum, it's the Ameraucana folks who are the snotty ones (not all, mind you, but a good many) who constantly slap the word "mutt" in the faces of the EE people. Truth is, Ameraucanas are mutts, too...and yes, so are most breeds. Everyone should lose the snottiness, in my opinion. They are chickens, for goodness sakes! Not race horses!! Lighten up everyone!

I only said EEs were mutts because the word "mutt" was slapped on a breed that I raise and show, mine are real pure-breds.




No, I'm sorry, but they are not. No Ameraucanas are truly purebred. You've missed the point. No one is insulting you or your birds; PLEASE don't take my comments as being insulting. It is not my intent at all. It is simply a fact that Ameraucanas and almost all other breeds are in fact mutts. Crossing existing breeds is how new breeds are developed! Also, I am not doubting that your bird conforms to the Ameraucana standard; I'm NOT implying that your hen is a first generation mutt! Ameraucanas have often been known to lay egg colors other than blue. My comments were directed to the discussion about the Ameraucana breed in general, not to your particular hen.

 

[speckledhen]

C'mon, now, no fights here, folks! No name calling, no accusations of stuff that happens in other threads. Keep to the subject at hand. (I'm not officially moderating, just asking everyone to chill for the sake of the thread)

First, let's clarify the term "mutt". A pure breed breeds true. That is no longer a "mutt" if it is generations out far enough to breed true and the traits are set. Wyandottes are not mutts. Plymouth Rocks are not mutts. Rhode Island Reds are not mutts. Ameraucanas are not mutts. A mutt just means a crossbred bird. Any bird who breeds true is no longer considered a crossbreed, even if several breeds were used in the creation of it in the beginning.


The subject at hand is why this person's supposed purebred BW Ameraucana laid a brown egg, if, in fact, she did. It was suggested that maybe she isn't even the one laying the egg, but we can only go on what the OP tells us. Genes are funny things and can pop up at any time many, many generations down the line. It doesn't necessarily mean she wasn't what you thought she was. Go back and read about my own hen, Tiny, who came from a lovely blue egg from a BBS Ameraucana flock--I saw those birds and nothing led me to believe there was anything impure about the parent stock, but somewhere in her ancestry, way back, was some Sumatra blood and she looks more Sumatra than Ameraucana, except for her red face, and she lays a tan/brown egg.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

I agree with everything you said Speckled Hen, but in a way, if a bird is purebred but still has a "throwback" gene that makes them not seem so pure, are they really purebred? If this hen is a SOP Ameraucana but lays the wrong color egg, that isn't "breeding true" anymore, is it? Not to argue, just thinking that doing so kind of makes it no longer a SOP Ameraucana...

 

[halo]

I really dislike the term "purebred" for chickens, any chickens. There is no paper trail to show a pedigree, and there is a lot of crossing in EVERY breed to improve size, color, laying ability, egg size, type. So there are no purebred chickens. There are chickens that are bred to conform to the Standard of Perfection. A chicken hatched from 2 different breeds can be shown at a show and win, as long as it looks like the breed it is entered as. A chicken that lays a brown egg is not an Ameraucana by virtue of what the definition of an Ameraucana is, as far as Im concerned. I have hatched a few clean faced Ameraucanas, and I do not use them as breeding, nor do I call them Ameraucanas. They are my laying hens. That being said, my Ameraucanas have NEVER laid a brown egg...I would be horrified if they did, and would know there had been another breed crossed to them in a close generation, whether intentionally or otherwise.

 

[speckledhen]

There are chickens that are bred to conform to the Standard of Perfection.

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.​

 

[bargain]

I was given some green, blue, and pale pink eggs to hatch for someone. It's a subtle pink, very pale.! How long has she been laying?