Toying with the idea of Ameraucanas BUT...! (vent)

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I've been toying with the idea for a couple of months now of adding a pen of Ameraucanas. But I guess I am misinformed or something, because I keep expecting breeders to actually breed their Ameraucanas to the standard. Instead I see auction after auction with pix of nice Ameraucanas EXCEPT all the colors are in one pen and the breeder is offering eggs from this mixed pen. Does that not mean that most of the resulting chicks will be EEs and NOT Ameraucanas just because they will likely be miscolored?

Why would someone with honest-to-goodness Ameraucanas breed them this way?!? Isn't that totally disrespectful of all the hard work of the original breeder that they bought their stock from? It takes years of work to improve a strain and then along comes somebody who IGNORES everything you've worked so hard to do!

I'm just not getting this mindset. It's like buying a show-quality Dobie and a show-quality German Shepherd and intentionally breeding them to get....mutts! The world doesn't need any more mutts!

While I openly admit there is very VERY little likelihood that any of my birds WILL ever end up in a show ring, I STILL feel an obligation to the breeds I do have to breed them to their standard and to do my best to IMPROVE the quality of my stock.

Why breed at all if not to improve the breed?!?

Just color me MYSTIFIED!

 

[spook]

Not to give "lip" but a guy chicken friend of mine just lets them all run together until you choose the hen and roo that you like. If you are going to eat eggs, then why bother pairing, unless he is advertising anytime you walk on you get pure Amera's.
Most people do not understand the diff between EE, Amera and a Arau. Keep asking how they switch their roos, like I said the guy I know, trades out roos to keep them happy so he can have his flock of "mixed" hens until he wants to raise a spacific breed. Has cages along the ceiling with diff roos and if he is breeding, they go into a private type area.
This is only just a thought- you saw his arrangements. You will find a lot of folks that figure if you don't know better, then its your tough luck (wrong!!!!).
I'd suggest you asked some of the true breeders on here if you can have a batch of eggs and you can get any spacific color, type and level of show that you desire.
Good luck!

 

[SusanJoM]

Okay, so you're miffed, but it sounds like you know enough to sort out who does and who does not know what they are offering. Just be careful.

It's not hard to get the real thing if you know what you are looking for and what questions to ask. Most of the people offering Ameraucanas simply do not know that what they have are not the real thing. They went to the feed store and bought chicks labelled Ameraucanas and they trusted the seller. Or they bought true/pure Ameraucanas and didn't understand that the progeny from two different colors isn't actually a true Ameraucana anymore.

It's not hard to go awry in this particular field; misinformation is rampant.

Relax and buy smart.

Susan

 

[WisconsinChick]

Edited to remove irrelevant post

 

[spook]

Eh, personally me and my mutts get along fine, they lay eggs and we eat them. That is why you must learn what you want and why you want it, go from there.
A guy once told me I had special hens, I agree'd, he didn't know his hat from a hole in the ground telling me a lie (I knew better even if he didn't). The world runs on mutts, pedigree's are for those with the money to brag about it, I'm a mutt and proud of it, lol.

 

[Shaffer]

Hawk,
Go to the Ameraucana Club site and look at the breeders list there should be someone near you. Also there are several breeders on here that do sell pure bred hatching eggs and contact one of them.
As far as the people selling the eggs that are not up to snuff they have researched and know exactly what they are selling except maybe for a few exceptions. Those sites have all kind of sellers, that is why it is buyer beware, it is an auction. I buy some antiques and what is advertised as antiques many times is reproductions on some of the sites and at the live auctions I attend. HS

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. If I take the plunge, I sure will go to a recognized breeder with good stock. If I do this, it will be for the long haul because I intend that my flocks will be better when I leave than they were when I got them.

 

[steffpeck]

If you are looking for Ameraucauna's PM pips & peeps, she has some nice birds, and does a fabulous job shipping eggs!! I have 2 weeks left till my babies hatch.