The AMERAUCANA thread

[FBMcrazy8]

Exactly, they’re true Ameraucanas just different project colors. Every color was pretty much a project color at some point or another! You’ll definitely have to post some pictures of your Mottled and Isabel’s when you breed those, I would love to see them!

Second this!

 

[FreedomFarm13]

I find it so odd that some show people say they’re not Ameraucanas simply because they’re not one of the accepted colors. Splash isn’t an accepted color yet it comes from breeding blues and blacks. Isabelle comes from breeding wheaten and lavender! Both of those also breed true. Although you breed them back to the original parent color to improve feather quality for them, I say those are absolutely true Ameraucanas, including the mottled project color you have.

I 100% agree. Most are willing to call Splash and Splash Wheaten real Ams because it's a naturally occurring variant of the accepted varieties and breeds true. I think the only reason they aren't accepted is because they're so hard to hold to the standard as they're so variable in pattern and such. And most are ok with the Mottled and Isabel varieties because they are being seriously bred toward the standard by many breeders out there and are actually heading in the direction of being accepted by the APA as true Ameraucana varieties. Not to mention after just a generation or two, they breed true. I think that is the main difference between an Ameraucana and an Easter Egger: a stable color variety that breeds true. The project varieties are vital for advancement of the breed, IMHO, because they give us something to strive for and get excited about, not to mention give us even more reason to better improve the varieties that are already approved. In case you couldn't tell, Ameraucanas are my passion. I just love them and want to work to improve them all and create several project varieties myself. I LOVE AMERAUCANAS ❤

 

[Antiocheggers]

Honestly, if you wanted to say yours are Ameraunca, nothing in this world says you can’t. Just by the standers, you can’t show them. And it doesn’t sound like you would be doing that anyway. My 2 that have the muffs and beards, could I guess by considered Amerauncana in some way but I’m just sticking with EEs on them. Who knows when my Ameraucana cockerel has babies with them, I might get what is called standard chicken….

 

[Antiocheggers]

Second this!

I agree and no I'm not going to show them. But this is great to have this conversation with so many different people. Love it

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Horses and dogs have pedigrees that can be traced to prove their purity even if they don't look right for their breed; chickens are not pedigreed in any way because it is impractical to try to do so with the way chickens are kept. Appearance is therefore everything in the chicken world. If it doesn't look like a specific breed, technically it is not that breed, even if both parents were. Most people will still consider it that breed, referring to it as mixed color or off-standard, but by the rules of the standard, it is not technically that breed because its appearance is incorrect. That is by the strictest definition and I am not necessarily saying I agree with it.

Something worth noting is that traditional Easter-eggers from hatcheries aren't even mixed-color Ameraucanas. The Ameraucana breed was selectively bred from what we know of today as Easter-eggers back in the mid 1900s, with the founding breeders selecting for a specific set of traits to make a uniform breed. Hatcheries cling to the name because that's just what they were called before the Ameraucana breed was standardized in specific colorations, just like they were all called Araucanas before that breed was standardized. Since it is now in the standard and those birds do not conform to the standard, they are, as a technicality, not Ameraucanas. It has been long enough that hatcheries should have adapted, but some stubbornly refuse to and continue to cause confusion with the breed.

Another thing I think is worth noting is that only the very strictest will say that if the variety is not in the standard, it's not an Ameraucana. A lot of people recognize project varieties as Ameraucanas, as long as they are an actual variety with the proper shank and skin color, proper comb, are bearded, etc. and not just a mixed variety or some other sort of mutt that someone is trying to pass off as a true breeding variety. One of the 'rules' for a variety that is acceptable to the standard is that it must breed true 50% of the time. In other words, breeding that variety together should consistently produce at least 50% of that variety again. So with Blue as an example, Blue x Blue gives you 50% Blue and 50% not Blue, but it is considered to breed true.

A lot of people are really strict about it, though, because the Ameraucana is a relatively new breed (admitted in the late 1970s as I recall, but I don't know the exact year off the top of my head), and with some hatcheries still selling their Easter-eggers as Ameraucanas despite how long they've been in the standard, and naive keepers buying them and also trying to breed and sell them as Ameraucanas, the breed struggles a bit. I think it's perfectly understandable as someone who is passionate about a breed that people get confused about a lot that you'd be very protective of that breed and what makes a specific bird 'count' as one. Being that I'm working with silkied Cochins, which are frequently accused of just being Silkie x Cochin mixes when they are most assuredly not, I fully understand this struggle.

Anyway, sorry, I've been lurking and thought I would try to explain a few things as I understand them regarding why things are the way they are with this breed in particular.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

I understand this is the same in the great dane world. Who sets this standard for chickens?

Apa, American poultry association

 

[FBMcrazy8]

I agree and no I'm not going to show them. But this is great to have this conversation with so many different people. Love it

Same here! Lol it so lonely only talking to kids…most of the time it’s attitude anyway

 

[FreedomFarm13]

Horses and dogs have pedigrees that can be traced to prove their purity even if they don't look right for their breed; chickens are not pedigreed in any way because it is impractical to try to do so with the way chickens are kept. Appearance is therefore everything in the chicken world. If it doesn't look like a specific breed, technically it is not that breed, even if both parents were. Most people will still consider it that breed, referring to it as mixed color or off-standard, but by the rules of the standard, it is not technically that breed because its appearance is incorrect. That is by the strictest definition and I am not necessarily saying I agree with it.

Something worth noting is that traditional Easter-eggers from hatcheries aren't even mixed-color Ameraucanas. The Ameraucana breed was selectively bred from what we know of today as Easter-eggers back in the mid 1900s, with the founding breeders selecting for a specific set of traits to make a uniform breed. Hatcheries cling to the name because that's just what they were called before the Ameraucana breed was standardized in specific colorations, just like they were all called Araucanas before that breed was standardized. Since it is now in the standard and those birds do not conform to the standard, they are, as a technicality, not Ameraucanas. It has been long enough that hatcheries should have adapted, but some stubbornly refuse to and continue to cause confusion with the breed.

Another thing I think is worth noting is that only the very strictest will say that if the variety is not in the standard, it's not an Ameraucana. A lot of people recognize project varieties as Ameraucanas, as long as they are an actual variety with the proper shank and skin color, proper comb, are bearded, etc. and not just a mixed variety or some other sort of mutt that someone is trying to pass off as a true breeding variety. One of the 'rules' for a variety that is acceptable to the standard is that it must breed true 50% of the time. In other words, breeding that variety together should consistently produce at least 50% of that variety again. So with Blue as an example, Blue x Blue gives you 50% Blue and 50% not Blue, but it is considered to breed true.

A lot of people are really strict about it, though, because the Ameraucana is a relatively new breed (admitted in the late 1970s as I recall, but I don't know the exact year off the top of my head), and with some hatcheries still selling their Easter-eggers as Ameraucanas despite how long they've been in the standard, and naive keepers buying them and also trying to breed and sell them as Ameraucanas, the breed struggles a bit. I think it's perfectly understandable as someone who is passionate about a breed that people get confused about a lot that you'd be very protective of that breed and what makes a specific bird 'count' as one. Being that I'm working with silkied Cochins, which are frequently accused of just being Silkie x Cochin mixes when they are most assuredly not, I fully understand this struggle.

Anyway, sorry, I've been lurking and thought I would try to explain a few things as I understand them regarding why things are the way they are with this breed in particular.

Agree completely. Very eloquently put. I'm obviously one of those passionate types because I care so much about them and having the truth be widely available to anyone who wants to learn. I am also very open minded and feel that if you love your bird just the way it is and don't plan on selling it as something it's not, you can call it whatever you want. I'm only opposed to EEs being sold as Ameraucanas and confusing newcomers to the breed who may end up being disappointed if their "Ameraucana" doesn't lay blue eggs, or doesn't have a beard, etc. That's my real concern. But if you love her, then she's perfect just the way she is ❤

 

[Antiocheggers]

Horses and dogs have pedigrees that can be traced to prove their purity even if they don't look right for their breed; chickens are not pedigreed in any way because it is impractical to try to do so with the way chickens are kept. Appearance is therefore everything in the chicken world. If it doesn't look like a specific breed, technically it is not that breed, even if both parents were. Most people will still consider it that breed, referring to it as mixed color or off-standard, but by the rules of the standard, it is not technically that breed because its appearance is incorrect. That is by the strictest definition and I am not necessarily saying I agree with it.

Something worth noting is that traditional Easter-eggers from hatcheries aren't even mixed-color Ameraucanas. The Ameraucana breed was selectively bred from what we know of today as Easter-eggers back in the mid 1900s, with the founding breeders selecting for a specific set of traits to make a uniform breed. Hatcheries cling to the name because that's just what they were called before the Ameraucana breed was standardized in specific colorations, just like they were all called Araucanas before that breed was standardized. Since it is now in the standard and those birds do not conform to the standard, they are, as a technicality, not Ameraucanas. It has been long enough that hatcheries should have adapted, but some stubbornly refuse to and continue to cause confusion with the breed.

Another thing I think is worth noting is that only the very strictest will say that if the variety is not in the standard, it's not an Ameraucana. A lot of people recognize project varieties as Ameraucanas, as long as they are an actual variety with the proper shank and skin color, proper comb, are bearded, etc. and not just a mixed variety or some other sort of mutt that someone is trying to pass off as a true breeding variety. One of the 'rules' for a variety that is acceptable to the standard is that it must breed true 50% of the time. In other words, breeding that variety together should consistently produce at least 50% of that variety again. So with Blue as an example, Blue x Blue gives you 50% Blue and 50% not Blue, but it is considered to breed true.

A lot of people are really strict about it, though, because the Ameraucana is a relatively new breed (admitted in the late 1970s as I recall, but I don't know the exact year off the top of my head), and with some hatcheries still selling their Easter-eggers as Ameraucanas despite how long they've been in the standard, and naive keepers buying them and also trying to breed and sell them as Ameraucanas, the breed struggles a bit. I think it's perfectly understandable as someone who is passionate about a breed that people get confused about a lot that you'd be very protective of that breed and what makes a specific bird 'count' as one. Being that I'm working with silkied Cochins, which are frequently accused of just being Silkie x Cochin mixes when they are most assuredly not, I fully understand this struggle.

Anyway, sorry, I've been lurking and thought I would try to explain a few things as I understand them regarding why things are the way they are with this breed in particular.

Agree completely. Very eloquently put. I'm obviously one of those passionate types because I care so much about them and having the truth be widely available to anyone who wants to learn. I am also very open minded and feel that if you love your bird just the way it is and don't plan on selling it as something it's not, you can call it whatever you want. I'm only opposed to EEs being sold as Ameraucanas and confusing newcomers to the breed who may end up being disappointed if their "Ameraucana" doesn't lay blue eggs, or doesn't have a beard, etc. That's my real concern. But if you love her, then she's perfect just the way she is ❤

Thank you this has been so educational. So do Easter-eggers lay Blue eggs also?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

They can. Being that they come from a background of mixed genetics, they can also lay green eggs, and on occasion one doesn't inherit the blue egg gene and lays brown eggs instead. I think white eggs are technically possible as well, but I've never personally heard of a hatchery Easter-egger laying white eggs.