EE or Ameraucana?

[JacinLarkwell]

So I've recently seen a lot of birds dubbed EEs because they weren't a recognized color for Ameraucanas.

So my question is: If a bird is genetically pure for Ameraucana, but comes from a pen of mixed colors, does that still mean that they are considered an Ameraucana? Or are they automatically still just an EE because their color isn't accepted by the standard?

 

[RaineyTN]

You can call it a project ameraucana, pet quality or whatever. most ameraucana people would call it a cull

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I know breeders would call it a cull, but at that point I want to know what designates a mixed color Ameraucana to EE status when everything is pure for Ameraucana.

 

[RaineyTN]

Most people just call anything that doesn’t fit a standard that lays a colored egg an EE. Technically yes it’s an ameraucana that doesn’t fit any standard. If you breed a Rhode Island Red to a Rhode Island white it’s just a mixed breed sex link.

 

[ChickenLeg]

The ameraucana standard calls for a bird to be an ameraucana it must meet the SOP and breed true to its color at least 50% of the time. When you cross varieties you get a lot of different modifiers, color patterns, and e locus differentials. Therefore, its hard to call anything thats a product of a mixed pen a true ameraucana unless you can breed it with the same color pattern and the results are the same 50% of the time year after year.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

The ameraucana standard calls for a bird to be an ameraucana it must meet the SOP and breed true to its color at least 50% of the time. When you cross varieties you get a lot of different modifiers, color patterns, and e locus differentials. Therefore, its hard to call anything thats a product of a mixed pen a true ameraucana unless you can breed it with the same color pattern results 50% of the time year after year.

So even if someone was breeding purebred Ameraucana, but letting the birds all mix in one pen, they shouldn't call them anything but EEs or mutts?

I've never seen other breeds called mutts because it was two color varieties of the same breed mixed. They're just mixed colors of a pure breed

 

[ChickenLeg]

So even if someone was breeding purebred Ameraucana, but letting the birds all mix in one pen, they shouldn't call them anything but EEs or mutts?

I've never seen other breeds called mutts because it was two color varieties of the same breed mixed. They're just mixed colors of a pure breed

Thats just how the standard of the breed is written, all breeds have different standards. I personally call em easter eggers when I cross different varieties that arent compatable, but some varieties can be crossed and stay pure.. like if they were black, blues, splashes, and whites all in a pen they all can breed together and be called ameraucanas.. even though some of the e locuses might be slightly different, youd just have to select for the correct e locus on the chicks down to give you the best results as grown birds.

 

[DarJones]

If you are going to breed to a standard, you should either get birds already bred to that standard and maintain them as a pure breeding line or else breed your own line until it meets an existing standard. There are other options such as a breeder introgressing a novel gene into an existing breed or a breeder breeding a new breed according to a personally developed standard.

I'm doing the novel gene into an existing standard by introgressing the blue egg gene into a Silver Laced Wyandotte background. I've been at it since hatching the first chicks in 2014 and expect to take another 3 or 4 years to get them up to my expectations. I want show quality Silver Laced Wyandottes that lay blue eggs. They still have quite a few feather variations to select against. Would I call these birds Ameraucanas because they lay blue eggs? No because they do not carry other traits such as muffs/beards typical of Ameraucanas. Would I call them Silver Laced Wyandottes? No because the Wyandotte standard specifies brown eggs only. I'll wind up with a unique name for them, but by any name, they are beautiful birds!

 

[nicalandia]

So I've recently seen a lot of birds dubbed EEs because they weren't a recognized color for Ameraucanas.

So my question is: If a bird is genetically pure for Ameraucana, but comes from a pen of mixed colors, does that still mean that they are considered an Ameraucana? Or are they automatically still just an EE because their color isn't accepted by the standard?

Is what I call EE shaming, what I find interesting is that the Amerucana creators used Easter Eggers(which have been in the USA about 40 years before the creation of the Ameraucana breed) to create them.

 

[ChickenLeg]

I think the easter egger heritage is why the breed true 50% of the time is in the the standard. Helps seperate it from its EE ancestry and this 50% rule helped get them more widely accepted in the show circuits as a legit breed