Blue/Green eggs

Ridgerunner said:

I suggest you get on this thread and chat with your neighbors. See if you can find someone close by that has the hatching eggs you want.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/231485/ny-chicken-lover/50130

Easter Eggers are probably the most misunderstood chickens on this forum. There is not even a good definition for them. They are not a breed. To some people the hens lay blue or green eggs. To others, EE just means some hen in their ancestry laid a blue or green egg. Since roosters don’t lay eggs it’s even harder to define an EE rooster so we all know what we are talking about.

Whether a hen lays a white/brown egg or a blue/green egg is genetics. There is one gene pair that determines is the base color is white or blue. Since blue is dominant, if just one of those genes is blue, the hen will lay a blue or green egg. Green is just brown on top of blue. You cannot tell for sure looking at the egg what color of egg a pullet that hatches from it will lay. If it is a blue or green egg the pullet might lay a blue/green or a white/brown egg, depending on what genes her mother and father gave her. If her father had the blue egg gene she might lay a blue/green egg even if the egg was white/brown. But for what you want, do not set any eggs that are not blue or green.

To make it even more confusing a lot of hatcheries and people call their EE’s Ameraucana or Araucana. Amerauana and Araucana are true breeds that by definition have to lay a blue egg. If you can find someone that has true Ameraucana or Araucana hatching eggs you are guaranteed a blue or green egg layer if you get a pullet but many people think they have one of these breeds when they just have EE’s. It’s a total mess.

It’s better to get hatching eggs locally instead of shipping them in the mail. You normally get a much better hatch rate form local eggs than shipped eggs. I’ve had 100% hatch rate on mailed eggs but less than 50% is much more normal. If you can find a neighbor that has hatching eggs and seems to know what they are talking about you will be much better off. Besides maybe you can see the parents so you’ll have an idea what the chicks might look like.

Good luck!

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