First off sometimes on other posts I see reference to some haveing EE when they list their types of chickens. I never knew what that refers to. Does it stand for Easter Eggers?
Ok, as part of my now on going big quest for the perfect chickens for me, I do want some of the ones that lay the blue or blue green eggs. I think there are three breeds that do so, Americana (same thing as Americauna pr Ameraucana?) Araucana and Easter Eggers.
So I am reading about rumpless, I figgure that doesn't mean they have no butt LOL! Then muffs and beards. Confusion time for me.
Then what I just now read and didn't know is that each individual chicken lays the same color egg each time and that the color variations are within the breed. I did not know that until just now. Does that mean that the chicks that come from each color egg will lay the same color egg they were born from? Like one hatches from a very blue will lay blue or one from a very green will lay more green? Or does that not apply?
Also e-bay is now a big source of information for me by reading the adds for hatching eggs. I didn't even know e-bay sold hatching eggs until someone here on the forum told me last week. I immediatly started looking and reading. I saw all sorts of adds for the colored eggs. But some had better color, that is deeper blue or green than others. Or at least that is the way it appears to me.
Any tips for what I should be looking for? Thanks.
Easter Eggers or more for bluegreen eggs?
In general, you have a better chance getting blue eggs from a chick that hatched from a blue egg....but it also depends on the colour egg the father came from.
Araucanas....smaller birds, smaller eggs...most likely to be blue eggs. They lack a "caudal appendage" meaning no tail (the nice fatty bit at the back of a roast chicken or turkey). This is only true in the States....in Europe and other places they are allowed to have tails. They are the only one of the three that has "tufts" little dangly things from their cheeks. This tufting is also linked with a lethal gene, so that if both parents provide a gene for tufting, the chicks have a high likelyhood of dying before hatching. So they are difficult to hatch successfully.
Ameraucanas...a true breeding breed with a tail, and muffs and beards. These can lay either blue or sort of greenish blue eggs. The gene for blue eggs is independent of other egg colour genes. It was introduced from the Araucana, but can exist in any mongrel bird that has some Araucana ancestory. If the other genes in that bird are from a tinted, tan, brown or dark brown egg laying chicken (say the father) then the hen chick will grow up to lay light green, teal, green or olive coloured eggs respectively. If the other parental lines laid white eggs you should still get blue eggs. Birds that look like Ameraucanas but have some flaw (say an unapproved plumage colour) are called Americanas by some and are very nice birds, you just can't show them. All of these lay bigger eggs than an Araucana and are generally very friendly and good layers.
EE or Easter Eggers: These are almost any mongrel breed that carries the blue gene...although, because they are so mixed some lay light tan eggs that are then called "pink". The hatcheries got in trouble for claiming they were selling Ameraucanas or even Araucanas, when all they had were birds that laid blue eggs. However, most of the time these are pretty close to Ameraucanas with muffs and beards (?) and really nice layers.
If all you want is a nice friendly bird that lays large blue or green eggs...then either the Ameraucana (actually hard to find although often claimed), the Americana or an Easter Egger should do well. I would be a little skeptical of the egg colours shown on eBay though....some are not of the actual bird's or have been filmed through a blue filter. Mostly you get a very pretty teal or blue green...sometime a true but pale blue or greyish. Very occasionally you get a beautiful true blue egg.
Very well said Catsy!
I would only add that everyone is in search of a true blue egg it seems.. It's hard to find a bird that lays a REAL blue egg.. even Aracaunas. My feelings are, if you get a good layer, a friendly bird and close to blue or teal (If that's what you are going for) You can't get any better than that.. a bird that is friendly and lays good..
I have true Ameracaunas and LOVE them! Personality is a big plus in my flock. Egg color is just "frosting on the cake" cause it's such a treat to find a blue egg in the nest. :)
I agree Joyce. but ya know i got ones from mt healthy that were supposed to be the ameracaunas and they are the dumbest and flightiest bird i have ever seen. they wont stay in the chicken yard. they get out then look at the fence like "how the hell did i get out here"? i do have one that looks like your lavenders..wish i could send it to you..flighty birds and dumb..LOL
My Ameraucanas came from Ideal Poultry and are calm, friendly birds that look like the breed is supposed to. They also lay various shades of greenish blue eggs that re larger than average. I like the breed.
Here is a great feathersite on the differences....it even has a colour chart for eggs!
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Arau/BRKAraucanas.html
Thanks for the extra link. Last night I was searching the web and reading lots about the colored egg layers. Here is what I have learned and think is correct-
Araucana. Rare pure beed imported from south America. Rumpless meaning no tail feathers like other chickens have. Has some sort of leathal gene so that more eggs than normal never hatch. The other breeds all started from them.
Ameraucana. A purebreed that was created here in the states in the 1970's. Always lays blue eggs. There are eight recognized color varieties of the Ameraucana. Those being Black, Blue, Blue-Wheaten, Brown-Red, Buff, Silver, Wheaten, and White. But they all lay the blue eggs.
Easter Eggers. Also sometimes being called Americanas. They are not actually a breed, at least not purebreed. Easter Eggers seem to be applied to any of the chickens that lay the pink, blue, green or olive eggs. The actuall chickens could look very varied and the egg color is also quite varied from hen to hen. There are various strains of Easter Eggers out there as some people are working with their own flocks to breed form more uniform type and to set the various egg colors.
Anyway, I think I have gotten the basics correct. I am myself interested in looking for some that lay the olive and deeper blue eggs but I have lots more to try and find out.
Great site Cat..and none of my chickens look like those..i must have mutants or something..i hate when hatcheries advertise one thing, and its not what you wind up with..when i get a chance ill see if i can get pics of them, maybe between all of us we can figure out what the crosses are..
Oh boy! Another guessing game!
I have some I'd like to identify :). I think I can supply pictures (I've been having issues with that recently), and I Can specify the possible parents. Even if I can't figure the breeds, maybe someone will know what the colors are....
Should there be seperate threads for each bunch?
I have the mongrel EE's from Meyers Hatchery. They are very friendly and lay blue-ish eggs, a couple lay a blue/greenish egg but there isn't a big difference. I tried to photograph some but the color doesn't come out well and using Photoshop changes the color entirely.
Rita, I can send you some eggs from my EE's if you want to see the real color.
By all means post pictures of the mystery chickens so we can guess!
Annie- Maybe the fact that the Easter Eggers eggs didn't show true color is the reason I see so few good pictures of the eggs. Some pictures are so dark I figgure they can not be true while pictures barely show a tint of blue and look almost white. Thank you for the offer but no need to send eggs just so I can see color. I will eventually figgure it all out and meantime I am in no hurray.
I doubt you can get a true Ameraucana from a hatchery. You can, however, get some very nice EEs that were sold as Ameraucanas! I had a blue copper that was amazing.. and she was a hatchery bird. She laid a very pretty blue egg with a very slight green tint... I love EEs cause they have wild colors.. some are absolutely amazing.
People think just cause they are called EEs that they are less than desirable.. which is not true. They are wonderful birds. Some are better than the "purebreds" that can be shown.
Please don't think that just because your bird doesn't meet all the requirements to be a true Ameraucana that they are any less valuable. It's just not true.
Yes, some are so inbred they have no brain.. but that's the case with any animal.. (humans too!) LOL
This is Plum. A total knockout EE in my opinion.
ZZ- That's the way I see it. I figgure the so called Ameraucana's from the big hatcheries are really Easter Eggers.
My Ameraucanas came from Ideal Poultry. They sold two grades, the ones I got were labeled as "suitable for 4H competition" so I assumed they were real. As they matured they did seem to meet the standard in feathering and colors etc. It didn't matter to me but I do think that Ideal sells true Ameraucanas as well as Easter Eggers, if you care.
I care because I think one should have truth in advertising. I think that the pure real Ameraucanas should lay blue eggs only (I know they are various shades) as the breed standard says. I don't necessary think that they are better than the Easter Egger kind that lay a variety of the colored eggs in blue green and shades in between (even pinkish). I just think they should be labeled and sold correctly.
I am already realising that there is alot of buyer beware out there in the chicken market.
My Ameraucanas all lay blue eggs. Some are slightly greenish, some quite pale, some speckled, but all are blue.
I am not familiar with Ideal Poultry. But I do see at McMurray they call them Ameraucanas/Araucana as if those two were the same. Yet in the description they refer to them as Easter Eggers, which again not the same thing. So its all very confusing.
ZZ's, Plum is beautiful!
What other chicken lays Blueish eggs? Is it a Wellsummer?
Welsummers better not lay a blue-ish colored egg or I'm going to be upset LOL From the pictures I've seen their egg is a terracotta color and some even have speckles. I should know for sure in another month or so when my two start to lay.
The blue egg gene came from a South American native chicken (at least it was raised by natives...no one knows how it got there). The only common "breeds" that have this gene now are Araucanas, Americanas and Easter Eggers. In the UK they have a sex-link that lays blue eggs called the Cream Legbar and there is a small, tailless breed called the Persian Rumpie that sometimes lays blue eggs.
I think that is all....
Can you get a Cream Legbar here?
No. It is so frustrating. At one time, grownut and I were thinking on trying to recreate the breed or something like it. But it isn't easy. The blue egg part isn't so hard....but the sex-link (or strictly speaking, auto sexing, since you don't have to make a cross to get the difference) is.