True EE definition

[Roxannemc]

Wonder what is true definition of an EE
A hen that lays a colored egg?
a chicken hatched from Amercanana or Aruacana and another breed .colored egg layer or not?
A chick born of an EE and another breed? Are they EE?
Anybody know for sure?
I have some EE hens that are crossing with a few other pure breeds.Can a chick when grown from a green egg layer lay a colored egg too?

 

[ChickenWisperer]

x2 on what CochinBrahmaLover and poltroon said.

A lot of people take mutt offensively but honestly, in all reality, it's a word and not an insult. Fact of life is that they are mutts 90% of the time and there's no way to get around that. Hatchery stock especially has been obviously out-crossed to increase egg production/vigor. This is coming from someone who, for quite some time, bred f1 Ameraucana cross EE's. There's nothing wrong with EE's, but I don't make them out to be something they aren't. Which is a breed. They have no standard (at all), aren't recognized by the APA, etc. How can it be a breed if the breeders don't even work toward a standard or even a general idea? There's not even a singular egg color that they are bred for. Blue and green are the most valued, yes... but they're called Easter Eggers because they can lay just about any color egg.

Making the connection that they are to Ameraucanas like what hatchery stock is to heritage stock is completely off imho. If I purchase an EE from a hatchery, I have no clue what color it's going to be, what conformation it's gong to have, what color eggs it's going to lay, what sort of personality it's going to have. But, if I buy a RIR from a hatchery - I can expect that bird to mimic stock from a quality breeder, just to be of lesser quality. But expecting anything like an Ameraucana from hatchery stock EE's is setting yourself up for disappointment.

If the birds met the standard other than color... had the body type, right shank color, pea combs, muffs and beard, layed blue eggs... you can argue that the bird is non-standard color Ameraucana. After all, project Ameraucanas actually are Ameraucanas that just haven't had their color accepted into the books. But like I said previously fact is very, very few EE's are mixed color because two different color Ameraucanas were bred together.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

EEs aren't real breeds, so there's not a true definition and it will change by people.

IMO, it's a chicken that has ameracauna or aracauna in its background. That being said, not all EEs lay green or blue eggs. But it's a mutt with ameracauna or aracauna in its past.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Is the EE America's most common landrace breed?

 

[donrae]

Agree, there is no definition because they're not standard. Each person can have a different definition.

 

[enola]

EEs aren't real breeds, so there's not a true definition and it will change by people.

IMO, it's a chicken that has ameracauna or aracauna in its background. That being said, not all EEs lay green or blue eggs. But it's a mutt with ameracauna or aracauna in its past.

X2

Pretty good definition....

 

[enola]

Is the EE America's most common landrace breed?

Easter eggers are mutts.......

 

[donrae]

Easter eggers are mutts.......

But really, aren't the Swedish Flower hens? There's no standard for them, their looks are all over the place, but folks call them a landrace breed.

 

[smarsh2]

the fact is, they may not be an accepted breed, and thus not have standards to meet, but the mutt part bothers me. The majority of the chickens in this world don't meet the standards of their "breed", and are pretty much mutts. There are breeds that come in multiple colors, SFHs for example. And there are many breeds that have numerous accepted colors. If you cross two different colored wyandottes, it is still a wyandotte, just doesn't meet standards color wise. EEs are a breed, and in part, are not mutts. That said, not having standards, then no boundaries, it is hard to say what is or isn't an EE.
I like the land race title, but it really bothers Americana breeders to give in to anything, I think it is somehow threatening, since their breed came from the same ancestry, and is miss called to their dismay. But EEs come as close to being Americanas as do hatchery RIRs to heritage RIRs.
I would vote hatchery Americana, but don't want to start a war.

 

[Roxannemc]

so called Easter Eggers I would assume they laid colored eggs why the name but they dont have to?only need to have Amercauna or Arcauna someplace in their background.Hum .Well that does give lots of leeway.Thanks all.