Easter Eggers or Ameraucana?

[lomine]

ok, I understand the Amera"A"cauna, and its to my understanding the Amer"I"cauna is an easter eggers, Am I correct? I'm confused as where I ordered my pullets from, the list states Amer"I"caunas and Easter eggers available. should it not states Amer"A"caunan's ( if avail) and either Amer'I"caunas OR Easter Eggers?

In other words, are there Amer"A"cuna's, Amer"I"caunas and Easter Eggers?
or are there Amer"A"cauncas , and Amer"I"caunas known as EE?

Thanks.

Americana is a name made up by hatcheries after the Ameracauna breed standard was accepted. Their flocks that were previously under that name no longer fit that standard so they shouldn't be using it. Easter Egger is another name made up hatcheries, it's a very marketable name.

From my point of view, I think Americana would be used more for EEs that have that traditional look of muffs and beards. (Though I really don't like the use of the name as it's misleading.) These days you can get more EEs from mixes of other blue egg layers so they can have vastly different looks, but should still have the chance of laying a blue or green egg. For example, I previously hatched eggs from my brown layer hens sired by my Crested Cream Legbar rooster (blue egg only breed). I called them EEs because the female offspring would lay green eggs. However, Americana and EE are not names for a specific breed with a set standard, so really there's no set definition on when to use the names.

 

[nuthatched]

ok, I understand the Amera"A"cauna, and its to my understanding the Amer"I"cauna is an easter eggers, Am I correct? I'm confused as where I ordered my pullets from, the list states Amer"I"caunas and Easter eggers available. should it not states Amer"A"caunan's ( if avail) and either Amer'I"caunas OR Easter Eggers?

In other words, are there Amer"A"cuna's, Amer"I"caunas and Easter Eggers?
or are there Amer"A"cauncas , and Amer"I"caunas known as EE?

Thanks.

Only cackle hatchery has real ameraucauna, to my knowledge.

 

[kmcg727]

Americana is a name made up by hatcheries after the Ameracauna breed standard was accepted. Their flocks that were previously under that name no longer fit that standard so they shouldn't be using it. Easter Egger is another name made up hatcheries, it's a very marketable name.

From my point of view, I think Americana would be used more for EEs that have that traditional look of muffs and beards. (Though I really don't like the use of the name as it's misleading.) These days you can get more EEs from mixes of other blue egg layers so they can have vastly different looks, but should still have the chance of laying a blue or green egg. For example, I previously hatched eggs from my brown layer hens sired by my Crested Cream Legbar rooster (blue egg only breed). I called them EEs because the female offspring would lay green eggs. However, Americana and EE are not names for a specific breed with a set standard, so really there's no set definition on when to use the names.

 

[kmcg727]

Thanks for the info. Being new to all this... this was a topic I was so confused on... ( I know its not as important as all the other info I'm following up on, ( Care, Health, prevention, predator's etc... ) but I was confused by this and it was frustrating not being able to grasp the concept of it. lol. : ) I appreciate the information very much. Thank you!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Don't trust that any hatchery has Ameraucanas.
Cackle is for money not for quality.

 

[lomine]

Don't trust that any hatchery has Ameraucanas.
Cackle is for money not for quality.

The same could be said for any breed sold by hatcheries. Breeders are concerned with breed standards, hatcheries are concerned with egg count. Nothing wrong with either, but for the regular backyard chicken keeper getting more eggs may be more important than the chicken having the right colored legs.

For AMs vs EEs I think it's a bit different because of the egg color. If someone is researching AMs and wants blue eggs, but they actually get an Americana that lays a brown egg it could be pretty disappointing.

 

[Painted Calls]

If I ever had to use a hatchery, Cackle would be the one. They actually do have quite decent birds and pay more attention to quality. Especially when put next to other hatcheries. Y'all know who I'm talking about.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Only cackle hatchery has real ameraucauna, to my knowledge.

For the record, Meyer and McMurray also have true Ameraucanas. I don't know of any other major hatcheries that do off the top of my head, though.

And McMurray continues to insist on selling their Easter-eggers as Ameraucanas despite this, so you have to be careful getting the breed from them if you want true Ameraucanas. Meyer, like Cackle, properly calls theirs Easter-eggers.



Also of note regarding the quality of the birds between a hatchery and a breeder, Ameraucana or not, they will differ, sometimes quite drastically. Look at the difference between a hatchery Barred Plymouth Rock or Rhode Island Red and show-quality ones as some examples. Good breeders generally focus on improving their lines through only breeding the very best even if that means that they have to cull down to so few birds that they can't produce many chicks in a year, while hatcheries generally look to produce enough chicks to fill orders so there tends to be less selection in the quality of birds they keep and breed in the interest of being able to mass produce.

 

[Percheron chick]

ok, I understand the Amera"A"cauna, and its to my understanding the Amer"I"cauna is an easter eggers, Am I correct? I'm confused as where I ordered my pullets from, the list states Amer"I"caunas and Easter eggers available. should it not states Amer"A"caunan's ( if avail) and either Amer'I"caunas OR Easter Eggers?

In other words, are there Amer"A"cuna's, Amer"I"caunas and Easter Eggers?
or are there Amer"A"cauncas , and Amer"I"caunas known as EE?

Thanks.

I have noticed that some hatcheries are moving away from Americana to the more correct Easter egger over the past few years. Some if it is to differentiate between true Ameraucana and Americana. There are two hatcheries who sell both off the top of my head. Cackle and Meyer. More hatcheries are using Cream Legbars for their blue gene. This has dramatically changed the look of Americana/EE so perhaps this is another reason for the name change. Are they maintaining separate EE flocks with Ameraucana and Cream Legbars genetics thus have different names to keep them straight? Large hatcheries role is not to produce superior SOP birds. They are here to produce large quantities of decent layers to fill a demand for the general public. They offer a low cost low risk place for us to start. As customers demand more choices, more unique and rare breeds are introduced and offered. Yes SOP will decline over generations because they do not ruthlessly cull and when they do the price on that pullet can quickly double or triple. Most backyard keepers have no business investing in $20 day old chicks. But I'm getting off topic.