John: I\'m glad you posted that, because I\'ve been trying to figure out just how to word it when selling my culls to correctly identify them, but discourage anyone from attempting to breed them.
Robin: Paul\'s post made me think of a discussion recently on another forum, and I didn\'t think until after I posted it - hope it didn\'t sound like I was criticizing you. I think it\'s a neat experiment, and I can\'t wait to see what you get!
Eliz: I think you hit the nail on the head about education. I\'m sure there are crooks out there, as with any other product, but mostly I see people who simply don\'t understand what they have. They *think* they have a lavender because they\'ve heard lavender described as \"light blue,\" or they believe they have an Ameraucana because it said so in black & white on the hatchery website, or they\'re proud that they bought \"true\" Ameraucanas, and can tell you the lines they came from, but have a 3 varieties in the same pen and are advertising \"pure\" hatching eggs (which someone else buys, and so on.)
I encourage others to pick a breeder with good references among his peers
Well said. Like most people, when I started looking for Ameraucanas I was a bit overwhelmed, but I was lucky enough to find a breeder who had been around a while. Some time later I found out that breeder had actually developed the variety I bought (and failed to mention his life-time achievement award). That\'s the kind of intro to the breed I wish everyone got!