I will admit that when we first embarked on this chicken journey I thought a chicken was a chicken. Once we started doing research we were amazed at all the breeds and their differences. My family and I quickly came to the conclusion that we needed an Ameraucana because it laid blue eggs and had a beard!
Meet Edna, our Ameraucana...or so we thought.
When Edna laid her first egg we didn't think much about the fact that it was actually more of a mint green than blue, but as time went on we began to wonder about her breed because her glorious beard wasn't coming in. Recently I came across an article written by Lisa Steele with Fresh Eggs Daily called Ameraucana vs. Araucana vs. Easter Eggers - The Blue Egg Layers and this is what I learned:
Ameraucana
Pure breed chicken, originating from South America, recognized by the APA since 1984
Pure breed chicken, originating from South America, recognized by the APA since 1984
blue eggs
pea comb
muff and beard
red earlobes
tail
blue legs
light foot bottoms
Easter Egger
Mixed breed chicken, not recognized by the APA
blue, green, tan, pink or yellow eggs
blue, green, tan, pink or yellow eggs
any kind of comb
muff, beards, ear tufts or none
any color ear lobes
tail or tail-less
any color eggs
any color foot bottoms
According to these descriptions, it appears our local feed store sold us an Easter Egger, not an Ameraucana. Why the mix up? According to The Chicken Chick, "...[Ameraucanas] are only available through reputable breeders, regardless of advertisements by hatcheries, and other large scale distributions sources." The Chicken Chick warns that if you see "Americana" being advertised, the misspelling is usually intended to imply that they are selling Easter Eggers.
In the end, Ameraucana or not, we love our Edna! Our biggest disappointment in our findings is the fact that she isn't going to have a beard.
Thanks for reading!
I hatched out a few chicks last year that I didn't know what they were. They had the colorings of an ameracuana, and one had the ear tufts, and they all hatched from greenish blue eggs, but sadly none of them laid greenish blue eggs themselves. I love them just the same, but had hoped to mix of the brown eggs with some pretty colors. Oh, well, maybe next years batch.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Let me know how your next batch turns out! ! would love to hatch my own one day!
DeleteWhatever I have, it is the sweetest bird. She has beautiful puffy cheeks and wants to be held., She was raised in the house for a long time to keep my special needs chick company so very used to people, blue eggs and smarter than most of our other chicks. She was supposed to be an araucana.
ReplyDeleteGetting them socialized seems to make a huge difference!
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