Why Are EE really not Considered a Breed to Show ??

[Michael OShay]

We have had many EE from them in the past and all the birds we got looked just like these parent flocks and we always had blue/green eggs never brown or pink. Since the chicks look like the breeder flock doesn't that say they breed true, at least for their type? Are Cackles birds just production bred Ameraucanas? Or are they cross breds that have been bred so long they now breed true? I haven't had experience with EE form other hatcheries.

Cackle's EEs are not production bred Ameraucanas. They don't fit the APA color standards for Ameraucanas, they don't lay only blue eggs which is required of Ameraucanas, and they don't have the slate blue legs of true Ameraucanas. Cackle's EEs all look so similar because they have been inbreeding the same EE stock for so long. It's alway the reason your not getting any beige or pink eggs. They really need an infusion of more new birds, including some true Ameraucanas and chocolate egg layers into their stock.

 

[Michael OShay]

No I am not trying to get EE's accepted into the APA, I am just very curious of how the EE came about. Who decided to cross certain breeds to develop the EE Was it hatcheries was it a mistake was it a scam to get people to believe they were getting Amracaunas ?

I'm not sure who was the first to breed EEs, but some of the older hatcheries such as Dunlap and Murray McMurray have been intentionally breeding them for almost 100 years as they realized there would likely be a demand for their various colored eggs. And boy, did they turn out to be right. Statistically speaking EEs are not the largest selling type of chicken in the United States. More EEs are sold annually than any other breed or hybrid.

 

[enola]

Hatcheries sell what the public expects to be able to buy. It is called 'supply & demand'.

I think Easters eggers just 'happened' because chickens don't care if their 'mate' is the same breed or not. So when a rooster with blue egg genes mated with a hen that layed brown eggs, the first Easter egger hatched.

Like I mentioned before I got my first Easter egger in the 60's. I don't know if they were caller Easter eggers then or not.

Does any one know when Ameraucanas were accepted by the APA?

 

[Michael OShay]

Does any one know when Ameraucanas were accepted by the APA?

The APA accepted Ameraucanas as a breed on Jan. 1, 2012.

 

[chickbrad24]

Hatcheries sell what the public expects to be able to buy. It is called 'supply & demand'.

I think Easters eggers just 'happened' because chickens don't care if their 'mate' is the same breed or not. So when a rooster with blue egg genes mated with a hen that layed brown eggs, the first Easter egger hatched.

Like I mentioned before I got my first Easter egger in the 60's. I don't know if they were caller Easter eggers then or not.

Does any one know when Ameraucanas were accepted by the APA?

But it just really funny how some hatcheries advertise there EE's as true Ameraucanas so did TSC that is how I got my 1st EE's. I knew they were not Ameraucanas because before I got any of my chickens I did at least 2 years of research and I still research n research. I also have read SOP on many breeds its like a foreign language to me lol.

 

[1muttsfan]

Funny but not in a ha-ha way. They have misled many people.

It is likely that EE's came about for purely economic reasons, as said above - there was a market for colorful, pretty birds that layed colorful, pretty eggs, and lots of them. For a group of birds to be a breed they have to conform to a set standard, carefully devised by a group of knowledgable breeders. No matter who you buy a bird from, it should conform to that standard. A small group of birds endlessly inbred would eventually come to resemble each other quite closely, but genetically they would be a mixed up mess.

I quite like this quotation -

The Rare Breed Survival Trust defines a breed as: 

      "A group of animals that has been selected by humans to possess a set of inherited characteristics that distinguishes it from other animals within the same species. In case of poultry, breeds must be recognised by a governing body and accepted as a standardised breed according to British Standards. Colour variants will normally be considered as part of the same interbreeding population unless there is evidence of genetically distinct origins and these variants are not interbred".

 

[1muttsfan]

by the way, I think this is the most civilized discussion of EE's I have come across yet. Bravo folks.

 

[chickbrad24]

I know, I have seen some threads where people have been down right rude and somewhat nasty when someone dose not know what breed of chicken they have. Or especially when some gets an EE and calls it an Ameraucana.

 

[chickbrad24]

Someone should develop a Blue Laced Red Ameraucana. How Gorgeous would that Chicken be !!!!

 

[Michael OShay]

Statistically speaking EEs are not the largest selling type of chicken in the United States.

Oops, I meant to say "are the largest selling type of chicken in the United States." Sorry about the typo.