Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[Wynette]

I guess if it seems to be an eBay issue, then buy directly from good breeders, then. I have never purchased eBay eggs because I just don't trust it. I know you can get some really good deals, but...to me, it's just not worth the potential issues than can happen. Just curious on this!

I hatched out, recently, some super cute blue and black Ameraucana from a friend; I thought egg color was good - not "robin's egg blue" but most definitely much more blue than green. I'm pretty excited to see how they grow!

You know what bothers me even more is seeing doctored pics. That's just wrong. I actually bought some hatching eggs once that, in the picture, were just gorgeous - very dark, robin's egg blue. When I got the eggs, I was very disappointed. But, I feel like I simply didn't ask enough questions, because the chicks that hatched were feather-legged. So....

Do any breeders offer to send shell samples upon request? I do for my Marans when folks ask about egg color. I will also save the eggs from the beginning of the laying season (that's when they are darkest for Marans) and send a shell sample along with each shipment so folks can see the genetic potential for dark eggs in the offspring.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

That's an interesting idea! No one has ever asked me for a shell sample, never thought of it....

 

[Wynette]

WOW! That really surprises me that no one's ever asked you for a shell sample. I just figured it was a routine thing, guess not, though! Interesting!! I send mine in a regular #10 envelope and I'm sure they get mighty squished in the mail, but - it doesn't take a very big sample to see the color.

 

[heatherscooby77]

I know about being upset about egg color. I was one of the people that ordered eggs from a hatchery and thought I was getting Ameraucanas. Instead I got washed out green, and tinted eggs. All I dreamed about was blue...............................................Needless to say the EEgger's are gone.

Now a couple of years later, after searching diligently, breeding, culling, I have blue eggs! They range from light baby blue, to a dark robin's egg blue. Whenever I see an actual robin's egg, it looks blueish green to me. Almost every Ameraucana egg looks blueish green to me..............So the ones that look light baby blue, are probably just a light robin's egg blue?????????????????

My next step is to join the Ameraucana Breeders Club, I want to buy an egg card, and maybe finally enter a bird in a show.

BTW, I am not snobby toward EEggers. I just really wanted to establish a nice flock of Ameraucanas.

 

[CRYSTALCREEK]

That's an interesting idea! No one has ever asked me for a shell sample, never thought of it....

I still have fragments of the first eggs that I hatched out from both Harry and Jean. I keep them for reference to compare to future generations and see if I'm making headway. They haven't faded during storage, so far.

Something you guys might be missing on intensity of the color is how it is related to productivity. Now this is not scientific, by any means, but the intensity of the color, in my experience, is a factor of how long that egg was in production. If it takes a hen two days to lay an egg, it might be darker than a hen laying daily. Egg color is more intense at the beginning of the lay cycle and gradually becomes lighter toward the end of the lay cycle. Although it has been argued that color does not change over time, I would somewhat disagree. I have had some pretty green looking eggs look nice and blue by the end of the lay cycle....these included....

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Hey, guys - I'm not often in this thread, but I have a question: some of you keep saying you are getting green eggs when you believe you are buying Ameraucana eggs, and they ought to be blue. You're saying some folks are attempting to "pass off" EEs as purebred Ameraucana. My question is...why would you not ask to see pictures of the stock before buying? Wouldn't you then know if you are getting something other than Ameraucana? Just wondering.

A HUGE problem with Ameraucanas is that folks simply don't know what they have aren't Ameraucanas because they were sold to them as Ameraucanas. I don't think it's always about fraud either. Some folks simply don't/won't accept the ABC definition of "Ameraucana". Just check out some of the threads on BYC if you have any doubts!!! "If it has muffs and a beard and lays a coloured egg, it's an Ameraucana." That is even what the 4-H teaches! "If it lays a blue/green egg it is either Ameraucana or Araucana." Nothing in between. "Hatchery sold it to me as Ameraucana. That's what it is." Colour has NOTHING to do with it as far as they are concerned. And folks just starting out don't necessarily know to ask to see the stock and know that it isn't an Ameraucana. I know I sure didn't when I bought my first EEs. Unfortunately, many of us figure the hatcheries actually know what they are selling. Even the APA judges look at me with rolling eyes when I use the term "Easter Egger".

 

[Ivywoods]

I have a chick question. I hatched a pure black chick. I am relatively certain it came out of a black ameraucana egg. There is a slight chance it came out of a different egg, but highly unlikely. My breeders are all well separated, so no crosses.

I've never even seen a chick this black. There is absolutely no white on it. The pics may make it look a little brownish or greyish, and there is a spot on it's head where the fluff is stuck down, but it is a pure black chick. Even the beak and legs are blacker than they appear in the pics.

What is going on here? Melanistic? Some sort recessive genetic thing? I'll admit, I'm no genetics expert, but I really wonder what the heck is the cause of this chick being so black. My black ameraucanas are all from John Blehm's stock.

 

[pips&peeps]

It could be a birchen, it could be a cross......

Did you buy chicks directly from John??? Alot of people say they have John Blehm lines, but bought them from someone else..... or bought them at a sale (which would mean they were his culls).

 

[Ivywoods]

It could be a birchen, it could be a cross......

Did you buy chicks directly from John??? Alot of people say they have John Blehm lines, but bought them from someone else..... or bought them at a sale (which would mean they were his culls).

Hi Jean. Yes, the breeder pair for this chick were purchased directly from John last spring as chicks. They have been separated from all the others since last fall, in a pen that is solid wood on two sides and chain link on the other two with netting over the top. I don't think there could have been any accidental breedings. I don't have any birchens on the place. I'm rather puzzled. I know it was an ameraucana egg, but I didn't mark it, thinking I could always tell the difference between the chicks. I have (in other pens) lavender, wheaten and silver. The silvers were not laying at the time this egg was gathered.

 

[pips&peeps]

What color legs does the breeder pair have? Black or blue?