The standardized EE

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redrooster99

redrooster99

Songster
9 Years
Jun 14, 2013
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georgia
Well if anybody knows anything about EE's, it's that they are mixed breeds that lay a rainbow of colored eggs, can have muffs/beards, any comb, with a wide variation of plumage colors. We'll I have decided to try my luck at a somewhat standardized EE flock. I like the idea of a rainbow of egg colors and feather patterns, but I would like to standardize them to having beards/muffs, and pea combs. I will be adding different breeds as I go to keep a diverse plumage pattern and egg colors while trying to keep a pea comb and beard/muffs. Leg color does not to much matter to me as I think it just adds to the color difference. I would like to stay away from feathered legs and crests. I would like to keep the chickens at about the same size visually. I would also like to acquire a mottled rooster such as a speckled Sussex. To add the mottling gene to my flock.
This is my rooster right know
400

I have a number of EE's right know which are all bearded except for one but her baby's should be bearded a good bit because my roo is bearded, as a matter of fact I think all of the next generation will have a decent size beard.
Please feel free to chime in and tell me your thoughts. I will try to get some pics tomorrow. And my roo and his hatch mates will be 10 weeks old nov. 3 2014. Also feel free to post pics of your EE's. And with god by my side maybe I can get this project going.
 
It's a neat project, I myself have had quite a few mottled and tri-colored type Easter Eggers, in fact I currently have a mixed flock that will, either this winter or this spring, hatch out some blue mottled and blue "calico" type Easter Eggers. I think pictures of all who is in your flock would help and a goal would help. I understand your goal, but it's broad enough that honestly what I want to know is what you want to know. Introducing a Speckled Sussex into the flock will reduce beards, increase chances for brown eggs, and increase chances for single combs instead of pea combs. Remember that the mottled gene is recessive, so none of your first generation offspring from a SS will *visually* give you what you want - You need to breed them back to an EE, and from there you'll get 50% chance of mottled ones. The first SS x EE will look like typical EE's, since your current EEs are duckwing based colors like any EE, and Sussex are very similar, apart from mottling, which is recessive. In the second generation crossed back to EE, choose the ones who are mottled, have the biggest fullest beards (medium to small beards will give you a future chance of the flock throwing clean faced birds) and have small, tight pea combs. They're indicative of no single combs hiding in there. A single x pea comb will be large, floppy, and tall compared to a normal small and tight pea comb.

When it comes to adding color to an Easter Egger flock, my personal choice is using mottled Houdans or (the rare and expensive option) Tolbunt Polish, but, I understand you don;t like crests, so, that might not be a choice of your preference. The nice thing is that using those two will not deplete beards from your flock genetics, and crests are easy to get rid of, since the first hybrid offspring have small ones, and from there pretty much don't choose crested birds to further breed, since the trait is dominant. Course, if you like big birds, Speckled Sussex might be the better option, however most Sussex from hatcheries weigh the same as hatchery Houdans. Houdans are originally supposed to be dual purpose birds with a good weight despite their "I'm strictly for show" appearance, however a true to type bird is nearly extinct, so, you usually end up with a mottled crested chicken the same size as a common layer hen.

Anyway, I'm rambling on.
lol.png
Managing a colorful lot of Easter Eggers is fun, whatever route you take. Just remember that if you want to introduce a breed for only one of its traits, it's going to be some careful selecting for a few generations to weed out the rest of the traits in the future generations.
 
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Illia said:
It's a neat project, I myself have had quite a few mottled and tri-colored type Easter Eggers, in fact I currently have a mixed flock that will, either this winter or this spring, hatch out some blue mottled and blue "calico" type Easter Eggers. I think pictures of all who is in your flock would help and a goal would help. I understand your goal, but it's broad enough that honestly what I want to know is what you want to know. Introducing a Speckled Sussex into the flock will reduce beards, increase chances for brown eggs, and increase chances for single combs instead of pea combs. Remember that the mottled gene is recessive, so none of your first generation offspring from a SS will *visually* give you what you want - You need to breed them back to an EE, and from there you'll get 50% chance of mottled ones. The first SS x EE will look like typical EE's, since your current EEs are duckwing based colors like any EE, and Sussex are very similar, apart from mottling, which is recessive. In the second generation crossed back to EE, choose the ones who are mottled, have the biggest fullest beards (medium to small beards will give you a future chance of the flock throwing clean faced birds) and have small, tight pea combs. They're indicative of no single combs hiding in there. A single x pea comb will be large, floppy, and tall compared to a normal small and tight pea comb.

When it comes to adding color to an Easter Egger flock, my personal choice is using mottled Houdans or (the rare and expensive option) Tolbunt Polish, but, I understand you don;t like crests, so, that might not be a choice of your preference. The nice thing is that using those two will not deplete beards from your flock genetics, and crests are easy to get rid of, since the first hybrid offspring have small ones, and from there pretty much don't choose crested birds to further breed, since the trait is dominant. Course, if you like big birds, Speckled Sussex might be the better option, however most Sussex from hatcheries weigh the same as hatchery Houdans. Houdans are originally supposed to be dual purpose birds with a good weight despite their "I'm strictly for show" appearance, however a true to type bird is nearly extinct, so, you usually end up with a mottled crested chicken the same size as a common layer hen.

Anyway, I'm rambling on. :lol: Managing a colorful lot of Easter Eggers is fun, whatever route you take. Just remember that if you want to introduce a breed for only one of its traits, it's going to be some careful selecting for a few generations to weed out the rest of the traits in the future generations.
Click to expand...
Yes we'll instead of speckled Sussex I believe I am going to get a spangle Russian orloff roo and breed it to a EE that has some mottling already. And I actually have a hatchery gold lace polish growing out with the EE's I just don't want the crest in my EE's . But I will probably breed the polish to an EE for fun.
 
If you're curious - Gold Laced Polish x EE = Brown/black mixed birds with smallish crests pointed backwards like a Jay, they'll have very small combs and will lay light blue eggs. Most will have a partridge-like look on the body with a black neck and brown or black head. Males will be reddish with black markings in the hackle, saddle, and a spangled sort of look of black on a mostly reddish or orange colored breast. I've got pics of some Tolbunt x Wheaten Ameraucanas, which is hardly much different. Wheaten and the duckwing of EE's mixes the same with gold lacing, and Tolbunts are gold laced + mottling.

A Russian Orloff is a great idea, as yeah, they're already bearded. And by that I mean they're a faster way to your ideal EE flock rather than using a Speckled Sussex.



^ A young EE pullet, this is what an EE x GLP would end up looking like, except with a cavernous nostril.

And of course, keep in mind that the results I describe are not counting EE's you might have that carry one or both blue genes or are heavily columbian influenced. Your main EE boy there has at least one columbian allele. What that does is reverse colors in males (instead of a black breast and colored neck/back, it's a colored breast and black neck/back) and make much more solid colored females. They'll either look like buff or silver columbian birds, or mostly red or orange kind of like a production red hen. Speckled Sussex are essentially like that under all that mottling.
 
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Beutiful chicken but my gold lace is realy part laced part spangled with some white spangling in the crest and I believe my polish is a roo
 
I don't know why but for some reason that's the cutest chick(en) pic I've seen all week! Yeah most of those are normal duckwing/partridge types, though. That white/black girl, the silver, she'll throw sex-linked offspring for you. Anyone born with whitish or yellow coloration on them will end up a male. Except if you breed her to a golden or silver, like your current EE cockerel there. Then you'll get silvers and goldens. At the moment most of your EE's are actually genetically very similar, so the results will be very similar with whatever you breed them to. The main difference is the silver gene in the boy and the girl will throw goldens and/or silvers.
 
Illia said:
I don't know why but for some reason that's the cutest chick(en) pic I've seen all week! Yeah most of those are normal duckwing/partridge types, though. That white/black girl, the silver, she'll throw sex-linked offspring for you. Anyone born with whitish or yellow coloration on them will end up a male. Except if you breed her to a golden or silver, like your current EE cockerel there. Then you'll get silvers and goldens. At the moment most of your EE's are actually genetically very similar, so the results will be very similar with whatever you breed them to. The main difference is the silver gene in the boy and the girl will throw goldens and/or silvers.
Click to expand...
Oh cool how do I get sex links from her what would happen if I bred those girls to a Russian orloff.
Or that male to this girl
400
she is basically buff columbian with some mottling
 
Breeding the silver girl to any golden type color will get you sex-linked offspring. (including Speckled Sussex) Depending on who you breed her to, you will or won't know who's male or female until their feathers come through though. That girl there, since your male looks to be columbian as well, you'll get offspring that look like your silver girl and your current EE male or more like her and more males that look like your EE male. Is your EE rooster full on silver or does he have any yellow or reddish coloration on him?
 

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