question on americanas, araucanas, EE

[cottagegarden]

At the end of the day we all have our own reasons for owning the chickens we do. If you are selling something to another person be it a chick or a car most people would appreciate it if you are as honest as possible, There isnt any right or wrong except the line of potentially hurting someone
accidentally or intentially. There is always a chance most people would even prefer EE's due to the lovely colors and varied egg colors. Thank you for helping other people know what they have when you sell it to them.

 

[chookchick]

There is another very good reason to understand the difference between Araucanas, Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers. I am going to sell eggs, and want a variety of colors. I definitely want to have some blue eggs. If I get Easter Eggers from a hatchery, they could lay green eggs, brown, pink, whatever, it is a crap shoot!. If I want blue eggs for sure, I need to get purebred Ameraucanas from a breeder that has established the egg color. They are also very different looking (almost all solid color) from Easter Eggers.

I could care less about showing, but I think it is horrid that the hatcheries are confusing this issue so much. It is left to the breeders and people on BYC to straighten this out, then they get a bad name for being "picky".

 

[havi]

Sorry to be off topic, but I couldnt help but rant just a little.


Quote:
I couldnt agree with you more. I wonder if we(BYCers) couldnt ralley together and email and write letters stating our concern. Asking them to change it to EEs. I saw a CL posting that the person was selling 'Araucanas' and I emailed them asking for pictures and where his stock came from, etc.. Come to find out they were EEs. When I politely told him there were in fact not Araucanas, but EEs he started sending me hate emails. Tell me how dare I email him and tell him his chickens were crap and only mutts, etc. I did no such thing and simply blocked him. I thought if he could get this upset over a little email, then he might have known they were not true Araucanas.

I was polite about it, I just thought if I were in his shoes then I too would want to know the truth, so I wasnt giving out false info.

 

[roosty]

I looked on the different hatchery websites and found this:

My pet chicken says::::
The Ameraucana breed was derived from blue egg laying chickens, but they do not have the breeding problems inherent to Araucanas. In addition, rather than ear tufts, they have muffs and a beard, and are very hardy and sweet. They lay eggs in shades of blue, and even have blue (or "slate") legs. Less rare than Araucanas, they are still quite rare and only available through breeders at this time. They should not be confused with Easter Eggers, which can lay blue and green eggs, and do not conform to any breed standard. However, many hatcheries continue to call their Easter Eggers "Americanas" (and other various misspellings). If you are interested in showing your birds, make sure that you have true Ameraucana or Araucana.


But Ideal says:::
Our Ameraucanas are purebred and represent the breed and variety; however, we do not guarantee or represent that they are of show quality.

The other hatcheries just dont say either way.

How can Ideal say that they have pure bred and dont? Isnt that false advertisement?

I dont care what people call their chickens as long as they are not trying to sell them as the wrong thing....I want what I paid for as Im sure everyone else does.
If your not sure what you have then assume that they are EE's until positively identified.

 

[Foxhound lady]

Got to read the description in their breed profile

"Ameraucanas, known as the "Easter Egg Breed", are a multicolored breed. They have beards, muffs and a normal tail with a tail head. They are often incorrectly called Araucanas, which have ear tuffs, are rumpless, and do not have a tail head which gives them a bunny tail appearance. Most of the chicks sold as Araucanas are really Ameraucanas, which are excellent, efficient producers of large eggs of many colors and shades including blue and green."

 

[Tailfeathers]

I'm not getting into this again except to let gapeachy know that she can do a search on the word "Ameraucana" and even me as an Author to see the volumes that have already been written on this topic.

With regard to "hating hatcheries", I think most on here would agree they have their place. However, as I've said many times one must understand the end goals of each - hatchery vs. breeder - to understand what is being strived for and what the end result is. Again, a search on BYC will show numerous posts I've made on that topic.

Finally, it seems to me that there was a fair bit of animosity in the tone of imfowl's replies toward breeders. Why would one get upset with the truth except for pure unadulterated pride? If you have a mutt, then you have a mutt. Does that make it any less lovable or valuable to you? NO! But it is what it is and there ain't no reason to rag on those who spend innumerable hours and tremendous effort to preserve, protect, and improve the breed for what it is supposed to be.

My advice is to just do your homework. Know what you want and why you want it. Then go to the source that can provide that. And yes, as has been stated many times, I agree - ALWAYS be honest and let folks know what your birds are if you are selling them or hatching eggs.

God Bless,

 

[imfowl]

It is what it is.

 

[gapeachy]

I did not mean to sow discord among the BYC brethren.....just wanted to know about the 3 breeds...i think you all answered my questions.....I am mainly just wanting colored eggs....and I also want hens to lay the dark brown chocolate eggs too...I think they are welsummers ,barnvelders and cuckoo marans....but I do know the difference in those breeds.......americanas,aracaunas and EE just seem complicated though....because they are all so different looking and different colors

 

[havi]

Quote:
Heres a good little page on a bunch of different breeds. Then if you want more info you can go to google or something and type in the breed. Hope it helps.

 

[orcasislandchickens]

I have Araucana. The black breasted red cock in havi's link is my bird, purcased from Sky Blue Egg. He and his hens are dandy birds. I love them dearly. That does not make me a snob. Also it does not mean I dislike hatchery birds, I think the bantam Easter Eggers are wonderful birds, as were my hatchery Bantam Orpingtons.

If you want colored eggs EE realy are nice. Even the possibility of a brown egg would not put me off as I like a colorful egg basket. Heck my birds have non SQ offspring all the time. You know what they are. YEP much as I love em, they are "Generic blue egg layers". Sold cheap or given away to put a little color in someone elses egg basket. Hatcheries should know better than to sell misidentified or mixed birds. But the araucana/ameracauna/easter egger confusion makes money I guess, as well as making people feel bad about their colored egg layers. I hate the "snob" appeal aspect of marketing.

Just my opinion but realy what something is "worth" realy depends on how well it does what it is "supposed" to do.

Edited to add: A good example of a purebred bird, one that meets SQ standards takes work, time, money and effort. I agree heartily with the know what you want and why comment.