Araucana, Ameraucana or EE?

[Sailing Dede]

I recently perchased two birds that were sold to me as last years stock, both hens, both Araucana's. He said the white/splash one laid a pale green egg and the dark one a lovely blue.
He said they had both hatched from seperate batches of hatching eggs he had bought off of ebay. He has used the dark one, a little two vigorously, with an Araucana cockerel, to produce his own Araucana hatching eggs, which he in turn has sold on ebay. This is why the dark one is so damaged as she was only recently removed from the breeding pen, and he clearly hadn't put a saddle on her.
I felt very sorry for her, so purchased her and he offered the splash one, so I took them both. They are both pretty dirty as they were kept in a muddy field and it has been raining alot recently (jolly English weather
I have ordered a saddle for the little dark girl so my other hens dont peck her bald patch.

What do you all think I have here? Any words of wisdom will be greatly appriciated!

 

[missred871]

I hate to be the one to tell you that you were lied to, but you were. Those are EEs, I posted something a couple of days ago in this section under a different topic about a grey hen someone had, so if you want an explaination of differences between the breeds it is there. They are pretty birds though

 

[Sailing Dede]

They both have tufts and beards. The dark one definately has a crest. I have found one egg, a pale green, in the nest box so far, and I dont know who it came from.

 

[missred871]

so you dont have to go looking for it here is the passage I wrote for the other person about hers, she didnt know the differences in breed, but I will let you know if anyone says that the hen lays an egg any color but blue, it is DEFINATELY NOT an aracauna

Hope this helps you

here it is:

An Aracauna is a breed that came from Europe, it is identified by its tufts and can come with or without a rump (I know that sounds funny lol) they ALWAYS lay a blue egg and come in true colors


An Ameracauna is a breed that was invented in the US and you can find the Breed Associations page online to explain that particular breed further if you want. They always lay a blue egg and come in true colors (examples: blue, black, partridge (i think), white, etc)

An EE is a chicken that has ancestral ameracauna genes lol that sounds weird. What I mean is, Once upon a time, some one crossed an Ameracauna with a (for example) Rhode Island Red. The chicks that hatched from those two were first generation EEs. Depending on what the EEs have been crossed with will depend on their egg color. There is no standard for them, they usually have green legs but also have slate or yellow, or pretty much any color, this depends on the breeds they have been crossed with. Also they can have muffs and a beard or just muffs or just a beard or none at all. Thus, the reasoning for them being a mutt breed. However, they can lay eggs from light green and blue, to olive green, tannish green and turquoise, even pink. They are true Easter Egg layers. They come in all colors and are kind of the crayola chicken of all chickens lol.

 

[missred871]

Quote:
problem is they arent tufts, they are actually muffs I will see if I can find you a good pic of an aracauna

 

[missred871]

here is a salmon aracauna hen see how the tufts stick out far and curve upwards?

and some aracauna eggs



(hen photo is from aracauna breeders club website)

 

[schellie69]

Quote:
If I am understanding right you live in England if so then their SOP is way different then here. I don't even think Ameraucana's are available in England. If you are not in England then I would vote EE's

 

[missred871]

Quote:
If I am understanding right you live in England if so then their SOP is way different then here. I don't even think Ameraucana's are available in England. If you are not in England then I would vote EE's

I believe the OP is in Europe, however even with the standards differentiating, the photo I posted of the aracauna hen is of ENGLISH standard by the Aracauna Breeders Club from their website. So they are EEs.

 

[puredelite]

Missred871, More correctly the EE's were around long before the Ameracauna's, in fact Ameraucana's were developed from EE's by selective breeding for color, body type and egg color. I have had EE's since the '70's when they were erroneously labeled as Araucana's because they layed a blue egg. I believe that the Ameraucana's were not delveloped until the early 80's. It does appear that what SailingDede has are EE's altho the original International Breed Standard of Araucana's does include both a tailed and rumpless variety as well as beards/muffs, crest and even different comb types. This info is taken from a Jan. 1973 issue of the "Araucana World" the International Araucana Society's newsletter. Whatever SailingDede chooses to label them they are still nice looking hens! Charlie

 

[missred871]

well all that is too much information for someone who knows absolutely nothing about the differences in breed, the passage I typed was for someone just starting out with chickens who bought them from tractor supply. I prefer to simplify as I see a lot of complicated answers on this forum and things tend to get mis-interpreted a lot because of it. However I thank you for that info I hadn't read anything about bearded and muffed Aracaunas. But that issue you speak of existed before I did so that may explain it lol.

I too agree, they are pretty birds.