Need Info on Ameraucana Leghorn Crosses

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I am planning to order my Ameraucanas from a hatchery, and theses are the pics they give. Are these true Ameraucanas? Sorry I'm not great at defining them, but I hope to get better
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And they give drawings too, I don't know if those would be helpful or not
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Those are Easter Eggers, not Ameraucanas. They are essentially rainbow egg laying mutts, you'll have no consistent production quality, egg color or size most likely. Based on your stated goals, this is a bad plan.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I am planning to order my Ameraucanas from a hatchery, and theses are the pics they give. Are these true Ameraucanas? Sorry I'm not great at defining them, but I hope to get better
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And they give drawings too, I don't know if those would be helpful or not
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These are Easter Eggers. Few hatcheries have Ameraucanas. Problem with EE, is they will likely only have one copy of the blue egg gene and some lay green, tan or pink eggs.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Like minds....

 

[NatJ]

I am planning to order my Ameraucanas from a hatchery, and theses are the pics they give.

What hatchery?

 

[lomine]

Cackle and Murray McMurray both sell true AMs. Cackle has a big variety of colors. I haven't ordered from either, but based on the picture, I wouldn't buy from McMurray. It has all the traits but it's kind of a sad example. If that's the best picture they can get I wonder about the rest of their breeding flock.

There may be more hatcheries that sell true AMs but these are just two I found in a quick google search. When looking at hatcheries your first clue to them being true AMs is that they are labeled with their color. Second clue is price; if they are $3-4 they are probably EE. And of course check out the pictures. You should get to know what I true AM looks like. Don't go by pictures that come up in internet searches because many of those pictures are incorrectly labelled. Check out the AM breeder clubs websites. They have picture galleries with each color type and examples of what they should look like as chicks, hens, and roosters.

I'll also second the sentiment that Legbars are better layers than AMs. My Crested Cream Legbars significantly outlay my AMs. My AMs are my worst layers, but I have them for their blue eggs and I love the way they look so it's not a big deal to me.

 

[NatJ]

Cackle and Murray McMurray both sell true AMs.

"Ameraucanas" from Murray McMurray are usually considered Easter Eggers.
If you read their description, they say they've been raising Ameraucanas since before it was an accepted breed. I'm thinking that when the breed did become official, they continued with their same flock without actually making them meet the then-new standard

 

[EmmaRainboe]

Are these true Ameraucanas?

Most certainly not.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Meyer also has BBS Ameraucana at $23 a pop!
At that price, you may as well get from a breeder.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Cackle and Murray McMurray both sell true AMs. Cackle has a big variety of colors. I haven't ordered from either, but based on the picture, I wouldn't buy from McMurray. It has all the traits but it's kind of a sad example. If that's the best picture they can get I wonder about the rest of their breeding flock.

There may be more hatcheries that sell true AMs but these are just two I found in a quick google search. When looking at hatcheries your first clue to them being true AMs is that they are labeled with their color. Second clue is price; if they are $3-4 they are probably EE. And of course check out the pictures. You should get to know what I true AM looks like. Don't go by pictures that come up in internet searches because many of those pictures are incorrectly labelled. Check out the AM breeder clubs websites. They have picture galleries with each color type and examples of what they should look like as chicks, hens, and roosters.

I'll also second the sentiment that Legbars are better layers than AMs. My Crested Cream Legbars significantly outlay my AMs. My AMs are my worst layers, but I have them for their blue eggs and I love the way they look so it's not a big deal to me.

Meyer Hatchery is another one that has true Ams. They also have Easter Eggers and other “designer” type breeds with various names that are all definitely still just Easter Eggers but they do also sell actual Ams. I’ve gotten almost all of my birds from them though never the Ams.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Meyer also has BBS Ameraucana at $23 a pop!
At that price, you may as well get from a breeder.

Yeah, my thoughts as well! Some of their “rare” breeds A. Aren’t even rare and B. Are so expensive even more so than true breeders!! I’ve seen breeders selling birds of various breeds for like $15-$20 and they’re actual quality birds. And of course they also go way higher too but if you can get a better bird for cheaper, why go hatchery you know? But I like them for the more basic breeds haha