Question re: Araucana/Ameraucana/EE

[LoupGarou]

I purchased some eggs off of eBay that were advertised as purebred bantam Aruacana eggs. The picture showed a hen(?) with a bluish body and a rusty-colored head and the bird had no tail/feathers on its rear, which I take to be rumpless. The first chick that I hatched has dark fluff with what might be partridge-type markings on its head. Its legs are not yellow, but I wouldn't characterize them as being green, either. It also seems to have a smooth rump. I wouldn't know a muff, tuft, or beard if it bit me on the tuchis, not at this point, since this is my first-ever chick.

I'll try to get a decent picture of him/her later, but up till now I've not managed. Is it possible that this bird really is a true Araucana or is this an Ameraucana/EE chick? It's all the same to me, really, since I'm not interested in showing them--I just want colored eggs for my future decorating business.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If the egg was blue and you have a rumpless bird, I would say you most likely have a true araucana. Araucana folks aren't nearly as picky about unrecognised varieties as ameraucana folks, however, from your desctiption it doesn't sound like it is a standard variety--a photo would help.

Tufts are small clumps of feathers that grow out of a peduncle--sort of like a skin tag--usually on the cheeks, but they truly can be anywhere (part of the reason the gene is fatal). Not all true araucanas have tufts--since it is fatal in a double dose, live birds with tufts only have one gene, meaning that only half the offspring will inherit tufts.

Suze

 

[klf73]

tufts

muff/beard

 

[LoupGarou]

The egg was very light blue, but it was a true blue with no green in it. The auction that I won is similar to the one at the link below. Apparently, my chicks will most likely not have tufts, but one of the seller's hens has tufts so . . .

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...its=S%2BI&itu=UCI%2BSI&otn=4#ebayphotohosting

My next question would be: if I wanted really blue eggs, would it be ethical for me to find an Ameraucana breeder who has birds that lay such eggs and cross them, since I'm not going to be reproducing fertile eggs to sell? Or since it's a purebred Araucana and they seem pretty hard to come by, would that be considered wrong?

 

[klf73]

I say they're your birds, do what you want. There are quite a few breeders of true araucana on this board though if you want to just get more. Hinkjc, geareduplyn, shaffer, birch run farm(LF)
amazondoc (bantam)
As long as you don't sell them as pures if you cross them go for it if you want....