Ameracuana Rooster

[CSDeVault]

Hello,

First question is I bought a couple ‘Ameracuana’ chicks from the feed store. One turned out to be a rooster. Are ‘Ameracuanas’ from hatcheries really just Easter Eggers? The hen lays greenish (more so than blueish) eggs.

I was thinking I want to try hatching eggs now that I know I have fertile eggs. I have 1 Australorp, 1 Buff Orpington, 2 Black Sex Link, 2 Barred Rocks and the one Ameracuana/Easter Egger.

Will the sex link characteristic carry to the second generation so I can easily sex the chicks? Will all descendants be Easter Eggers of sorts? My initial thought was to only incubate the green/blue eggs but not sure if any of the other combinations might be interesting.

So far I have been impressed with the demeanor of the rooster.

Thanks all.

 

[Kessel23]

If it lays green eggs then it is an EE. Sex linking only works for the first generation. Sex linked chickens are hybrids. If the EE has muffs most of the chicks will have them too.

 

[CSDeVault]

Thanks! Will offspring of Easter Egger rooster produce colored eggs and will they in turn also be Easter Eggers?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Pictures are the only way to really tell if you have a true am or an ee. But yes, most places that say they have ameraucanas actually sell easter eggers in disguise.

If you hatch out chicks will they be easter eggers? Weeeeeell, that's hard to say, because "easter egger" is a generic catch-all modifier for a host of birds, almost the same way pitbulls are for dogs.
Consider these two pictures:
http://i38.tinypic.com/11rxjk2.jpg
https://bit.ly/2Dpf8AM
These are "pitbulls" but they look nothing alike. I'd bet money they behave differently. One is tall, one is short, one is wide one is skinny, one has a square snout the other almost NO snout... Yet they are both "pitbulls", even they clearly have different lines. Two totally different dogs in every way, from totally different lineages, and they are both "pitbulls". Additionally if I crossed an amstaff terrier with any bulldog it would also fall under the label "pitbull".

In the same way, easter eggers are a multitude. They are;
A landrace dating back to before Ameraucanas were a breed from which most blue-egg laying breeds stem
Any chicken that lays a blue egg that does not bear an alternative label
Any chicken with a peacomb and muffs that doesn't carry an alternative label
Any blue egg layer crossed with any other chicken
Really poorly bred Ameraucanas
Ameraucanas in unrecognized varieties

And depending on who you ask any of these can be true, though most people consider only the top few to be what an easter egger really "is". And the bottom one is contentious but some people still say you should label project pen Ameraucanas and even varieties like splash as easter eggers. (I think they're wrong, but... *shrugs*)

So CAN you breed your easter eggers to themselves and other breeds to get more "easter eggers"? Yes, technically. As you say, they will be easter eaggers 'of sorts', but they may or may not display ANY of the characteristics that are expected of an EE. They may be single combed chickens with yellow legs and no beards, no muffs, and lay brown eggs. In which case, are they REALLY easter eggers any longer? Yes? Because they came from an easter egger and eater eggers are undefined? It's really up to you to decide how much of a jerk you do or don't wanna be with your labeling because the term easter egger is almost meaningless. There's NO defined traits of an EE because it's not a breed. If there were, it would be a breed.

But there are expectations from buyers when they get an EE. Usually it's going to be a medium-sized LF chicken with a pea comb and will either have muffs, lay blue eggs or both. Usually it will have yellow or green legs and come in a variety of colors. Usually. And it's up to you how closely you wanna meet those expectations before you call it an easter egger.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

"Will offspring of Easter Egger rooster produce colored eggs and will they in turn also be Easter Eggers?"

https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/gms2-breeding-for-blue-eggs/

(this second picture is what breeding two easter eggers often looks like)

So blue is a simple dominant gene. Think of it like two light switches on blue lightbulbs.

Every chicken has two light switches.
If both switches are off the eggs won't be blue.
If one is on they will always lay blue.
If both are on the will both lay slightly darker blue, but not a big difference over just one.
(One trait Ameraucanas often have is two blue light switches "on". In easter eggers this is random. The "green" color comes from layering brown pigment over the blue shell and is a separate gene, so for this discussion blue and green are the same thing, it's just blue with white or blue with brown.)

So if your hen lays blue eggs they must have at least one blue light switch on. It's impossible to tell if your rooster has ANY blue egg genes because he doesn't lay eggs.

Every chicken MUST pass down only ONE light switch to it's offspring. If your rooster happens to carry a blue egg gene then you can breed him to ANY non-blue laying bird and get half chicks who lay blue. If he carries TWO blue genes then EVERY chick will lay blue regardless of who you breed him to. If he carries none, the only way the chicks will lay blue is if they hatch from a blue egg (as they must get their blue egg gene from their mom, and if she has even one copy she will lay blue eggs).

So there's no way of knowing if your rooster will produce blue egg laying babies or not if he is an easter egger. But there's a strong likelihood that he has one blue light on and one off and will produce half blue layers no matter what you breed him to. If you hatch out blue eggs there's always at least a 50% chance they will hatch blue laying chicks.

I hope this helps you understand it!