# Ameraucana chicks? CAN ANYONE IDENTIFY THIS?



## ddschicks (May 11, 2017)

Hello,
so I ordered chicks from IDEAL poultry and they came in today. I had four ameraucanas, two welsummers, and two barred rocks. The barred rocks are black, and therefore easy to identify, and the welsummers are lighter brown so they also stand out. I assumed the other four were my ameraucanas. One, however, does not look like the other chicks and it is much darker. Is it the wrong breed, wrong gender, or just an EE?

















Any ideas? does anyone else have pictures of ameraucanas and how they changed from chick to hen?


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## ddschicks (May 11, 2017)

...my pictures did not work im guessing? how do you upload a photo on here? I googled how to make an image into a URL and a couple places said to use tinypic.com but I guess that doesn't work on here? is there an easier way to post pics?


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## ChickenCowboy02 (May 11, 2017)

Click "upload a file" It's near "post reply" I had trouble with that too!


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## Ol Grey Mare (May 11, 2017)

Ameraucana from Ideal are going to be Easter Eggers -- because Easter Eggers are mixed breed birds there is often a great variance in their appearance as chicks and adults.  The irony being that even in their description of the breed the give a nod to the often used misrepresentation of "Araucana" but then go on to blow the "breed description" of Ameraucana that they claim their birds to be:


> Ameraucanas, known as the "Easter Egg Breed", are a multicolored breed. They have beards, muffs and a normal tail with a tail head. They are often incorrectly called Araucanas, which have ear tuffs, are rumpless, and do not have a tail head which gives them a bunny tail appearance. Most of the chicks sold as Araucanas are really Ameraucanas, which are excellent, *efficient producers of large eggs of many colors and shades including blue and green*.


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## wishing4wings (May 11, 2017)

If they are selling Ameraucanas without a specific color designated, then they are probably Easter Eggers (EEs) which are a hatchery version of Ams and tend to be very good layers.  EEs can be any color, but usually have green legs.  Look carefully at the faces.  EEs usually have big puffy cheeks!

Oops, looks like Mare beat me to it!


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## ddschicks (May 11, 2017)

well here are the pictures anyway. What is weird is that three of them are colored the same but one is different... oh well.


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## wishing4wings (May 11, 2017)

They sure are cute.  A brown chimpmunk pattern is very common, but they really can be just about any color.  Depends on what the hatchery is producing.  I have one from last year that is orange and white.  The Welsummers I have gotten have been dark brown chipmunk as well.


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## BYCDebiD (May 12, 2017)

Of 9 so far (one hatchery and 3 separate occasions) zero have looked alike as adults. The gal made an effort to choose two that didn't look like my other chicks and she couldn't have made it any easier to tell them apart! The only thing they have in common is both have very long tails. The genetic diversity is amazing. The two in the current group (baby pic above) are still changing but:


 

And


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## aart (May 12, 2017)

EE's can be different crosses, thus their slight differences as chicks.
EE and wellie both are chipmunk but legs color should tell the tale...
...wellie have yellow legs, EE have greenish/slateish


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## Veggan (May 12, 2017)

ddschicks said:


> well here are the pictures anyway. What is weird is that three of them are colored the same but one is different... oh well.



Adorable!!!  Easter Eggers (hatchery "Ameraucanas") come in all colors. This website shows some great examples of the variety: http://www.plumjam.com/poultry/breeds/ee-colors.cfm  So I bet that baby of yours is still an EE like the rest of them!


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## BYCDebiD (May 12, 2017)

aart said:


> EE's can be different crosses, thus their slight differences as chicks.
> EE and wellie both are chipmunk but legs color should tell the tale...
> ...wellie have yellow legs, EE have greenish/slateish


EEs from hatcheries are not crosses but rather descendants of the original landrace stock. And they are often chipmunks but not always.

I don't have the old pictures handy but I had two that looked a good bit alike as chicks. Typical chipmunk markings in slightly different hues. One ended up chocolate brown with black patterning and a salmon chest and the other was such a light red she was almost buff.  You really might be surprised.


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## AngieNPeeps (May 13, 2017)

Wow, that's a horrible breed description-- Shame on Ideal! Personally, if I had made that purchase, thinking I was getting a pure bred bird, I would be speaking with them. Good Luck!


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