What exactly is an Easter egger?..English Ameraucanas??

[featheredplanets]

Hi, hope someone can spare me their time to tell me the answers to these questions

I see a lot of posts here about Easter Eggers, Ameraucanas, Americanas and Araucanas. Are the EEs just a hybrid of the Ameraucana? Can I find some here in England? I have seen mostly F1/F2 olive eggers and the Cheshire blue hybrid.

I would like to buy some Ameraucana hatching eggs next year but can only find these Araucanas...? As far as I researched and looked at peoples opinions, Araucanas only have the ear tuffs or none and can be rumpless or tailed? Ameraucanas have muffs and a beard, like D'Anvers. But I can only find these crested, muffed, bearded lavender or black chickens going by the name of Araucana. Can Araucanas be crested? Can Ameraucanas be crested?? Is the first image an Araucana? Am I just totally misunderstanding the breeds? Please educate me, sorry if I sound dumb I'm really confused

Araucana 1 (breeder on preloved)

Araucana 2 (thanks google)

 

[Sneebsey]

In the UK, we have two kinds of Araucana. The more common is the bearded, crested, tailed breed which you can see in the first picture (and also in my DP). The second is called Rumpless Araucana here, but just Araucana in the US, that is what is pictured in the second photograph.

Ameraucana aren't present in the UK; we have the Araucana instead. Easter Eggers is a general term that can be used to describe any bird that lays blue or green eggs, usually a cross of Ameraucana in the US, or (tailed) Araucana in the UK.

 

[featheredplanets]

In the UK, we have two kinds of Araucana. The more common is the bearded, crested, tailed breed which you can see in the first picture (and also in my DP). The second is called Rumpless Araucana here, but just Araucana in the US, that is what is pictured in the second photograph.

Ameraucana aren't present in the UK; we have the Araucana instead. Easter Eggers is a general term that can be used to describe any bird that lays blue or green eggs, usually a cross of Ameraucana in the US, or (tailed) Araucana in the UK.

Okay, thank you! I just wanted to make sure I understand

 

[lazy gardener]

You will find variation even in pure breeds in the SOP from one country to an other. Here in the US:

Araucana: rumpless, or tail less, has the ear tufts. Lays a blue egg.These birds are rare. And expensive.

Ameraucana: Always has a tail, always has muffs and beard. Conforms to a SOP which includes leg color, feather color, always lays a blue egg.

Easter Egger: Can be any color. Can have beard and muffs, or have a "clean face". Egg color can be blue, green, aqua, or any shade of brown.

To make things even more confusing, hatcheries in the US are allowed to get away with mislabeling these breeds. (EE is not actually a breed. It is a back yard mutt which hopefully is bred to have the muffs, beards, and lay a blue egg, though there are no guarantees.) Anyhow, hatcheries get away with selling EE and calling them Araucana, Americana (they can't even spell that name right!) or Ameraucana.

All that being said, I have had both Ameraucana and EE in my flock, and would choose EE over an Am any day of the week b/c they tend to be better layers.

 

[FowlStuff]

Here is a FAQ from my site regarding North American chickens...

Aren't Ameraucana, Araucana and Easter Egg chickens the same?
"Ameraucana (often misspelled "Americana") and Araucana chickens are both relatively new breeds and both lay blue eggs. They are different breeds with different characteristics that are defined in the APA and ABA standards. Easter Egg Chickens or Easter Eggers are not a "Standard" breed (they really aren’t even a “breed” of chicken). They are mixed breeds (aka mutts or mongrels) that happen to possess the gene for blue eggs. Just like a mixed breed dog may make a great pet but be disqualified if entered into an AKC sanctioned dog show, mixed breed poultry may be great for the backyard/barnyard but they are not “Standard” bred for exhibition and would be disqualified if entered in an APA sanctioned poultry show. Only standard breeds are meant for exhibition."

Also check out the article about Ameraucana chickens that I wrote for Backyard Poultry magazine, back in 2007.

There is much more helpful information on the subject on our Ameraucana Alliance FAQ page.

 

[lazy gardener]

As far as I know, Araucana are anything but "new breeds". They originated in South America. Here's an interesting article about them.

http://cashsblueeggs.com/araucanahistory.htm

 

[Squishychicken]

arucana: tufts and beards, blue eggs need to buy from a breeder(expensive and rare),sometimes rumpless,standards colors

amerucana: beard,blue/slate legs,blue eggs,standard colors,must be bought from breeder

easter egger: cross between a blue egg laying breed and any other breed,beard,no certified colors although there is common ones, range of eggs from blue,green,pink,brown or white, often green legs but any color is possible,often known as Amerucanas or Americanas at hatcheries

 

[FowlStuff]

As far as I know, Araucana are anything but "new breeds". They originated in South America. Here's an interesting article about them.

http://cashsblueeggs.com/araucanahistory.htm

The Araucana became a recognized breed in North America in the late 1970s as I recall, making it a very recent breed.
The mongrel Easter Eggers that we referred to as Araucanas before that time were not a breed...just barnyard/backyard chickens.

Aren't Araucanas the "original" breed of colored-egg chicken?
"Although the APA Standard claims some Araucanas came from South America it isn’t true. The ABA Standard is correct in stating that Araucanas, as described in our Standards, originated in the United States.Historical evidence does not support the notion that only one type of chicken laid colored eggs in their native South America. No genetic linkage exists that would require colored-egg chickens to be tufted or rumpless. It is true the first recorded imports from Chile combined the traits of rumplessness, ear tufts, and colored eggs - but those birds resulted from a single breeder combining several strains and subsequently misrepresenting them as native fowl. An artist's depiction of the earliest imports in a 1927 National Geographic article served to perpetuate this myth. The Ameraucana breed was formulated and standardized in the Midwest of the U.S., to provide a colored egg fowl possessing more practical and true-breeding characteristics.

Ameraucanas were recognized as a separate and distinct breed in the early 1980's by the APA and by the ABA."

The British Araucana is closer to our Ameracuana than it is to our North American Araucana.

 

[Sneebsey]

British Araucana have been around since the 1930s, after being developed from birds found in Scotland from a Chilean shipwreck. These shipwrecked birds also developed into a landrace of sorts, called the Shetland. I agree that the British Araucana is closer in type to the Ameraucana, as they were bred to have the blue egg gene, but with more production qualities. The Cream Legbar was then bred from British Araucana, among other breeds, to continue this trend toward production type.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks for the history lesson. I find the development of breeds or varieties to be fascinating, whether it be animal or plant based! Especially when you look back to the origination of the breed/variety, and see where selective breeding has taken it.