Ameraucana or easter egger

[KieksterChicken]

Quote: An Easter Egger is a bird that carries the blue egg gene and therefore lays blue eggs. If it lays any other color egg than blue, it's not an Easter Egger.

 

[speckledhen]

Wow thanks for that bit if information. I had no idea that her comb indicates the color if their eggs. I thought their ears were the indicator. Thank you so much. My kids will be so happy.

It can, but not always. I have a pea combed Ameraucana hen who has obvious Sumatra heritage somewhere way back down the line who lays a brown egg. She did hatch from a beautiful blue egg and her parents were a blue Ameraucana rooster with blue, black and splash hens. There were some stray genes floating around. So, it was a shock when she not only didn't have a beard but ended up laying brown eggs. Genetics can play tricks on you, no matter what you think you have and what it appears to be, visually.

Your EE hen could lay most any color egg and if you enjoy her, then that's all that matters. I have both true Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers and love them both for different reasons.

As for my hen, I can't call her an Ameraucana and I can't call her an Easter Egger. She's just an anomaly. I call her my Amera-EE-whatever-she-is.



Quote: Not actually true. Most EEs don't lay blue eggs. They tend to lay green, generally, and some do end up laying brown because they are of mixed genetics. Now, a true Ameraucana must lay blue eggs and adhere to a standard to be called one.

 

[KieksterChicken]

Quote: Sorry, I have to disagree with you on some of this. Yes they can lay a green egg. One of mine does, but the color green is not possible without the blue egg gene as it is a mix of blue and brown (blue egg gene carrying bird x brown egg gene carrying bird =Olive Egger which is a type of EE). Technically green is from the blue egg gene so I pretty much lump green eggs with blue..just bear with me on this one.
Ameraucana Breeders Club definition of an Easter Egger: The Ameraucana Breeders Club defines an Easter Egg Chicken or Easter Egger as any chicken that possesses the blue egg gene, but doesn't fully meet any breed description as defined in the APA and/or ABA standards. Further, even if a bird meets a standard breed description, but doesn't meet a variety description or breed true at least 50% of the time it is considered an Easter Egg chicken.
When it comes to the color pink in eggs the pale pink color is actually a pale shade of reddish light brown that many people interpret as being pink, but it's considered to be a shade of brown. My Dark Cornish hen actually lays a pale pinkish brown egg.
There are many crossbred chickens and pure bred chickens with no Araucana or Easter Egger genetics in their bloodline that lay eggs that are brown, cream and many shades in between and they are not considered to be Easter Eggers. A bird could resemble an Easter Egger and maybe even carry EE genetics but if it doesn't carry the blue egg gene and lays anything other than blue it's a mutt chicken or just a plain old chicken like any other non blue egg gene carrying bird. If a bird doesn't carry the blue egg gene there is no use in calling it an Easter Egger. If your reasoning is correct that an EE can lay any color egg , then I could take any chicken mutt and any purebred chicken too that lays any color egg other than blue and say , "This bird is an EE..believe me because it lays a pinkish egg, and this one here..it's an Easter Egger too because it lays cream colored eggs." ya? Nope. If they are of such mixed genetics that they no longer carry the blue egg gene and don't lay a blue egg they are a barnyard mix not an Easter Egger. An Easter Egger is any bird that carries the blue egg gene. Yes, a true Ameraucana or Araucana has to lay blue eggs as it is part of the APA SOP so an Ameraucana or Araucana that is off the APA SOP is an Easter Egger because it carries the blue egg gene, and any bird of mixed genetics that carries the blue egg gene is an Easter Egger. For a bird to be an Easter Egger, it's all about the blue egg gene and the ability to lay a blue egg. It's as simple as this, .All Easter Eggers lay a blue egg, always, not sometimes, not rarely..but always. If it doesn't lay a blue egg, it's not an EE, despite what many people say and what many people put on their websites.
Quote: Ameraucanas are always pea combed or they are off their SOP. If an Ameraucana lays a brown egg it's not an Ameraucana because a brown egg is off the APA SOP for Ameraucanas.

 

[JtownCickenCoop]

this is oneof my Ameraucana hens and her new chicks

 

[speckledhen]

You said: "An Easter Egger is a bird that carries the blue egg gene and therefore lays blue eggs. If it lays any other color egg than blue, it's not an Easter Egger." And then you went on to say they can lay a green egg. Can't be both. If they lay a green egg, they have the blue egg gene from one parent. EEs usually lay green. I have both EEs and Ameraucanas. The only EE I have that lays a blue egg is the one who is 1/2 BW Ameraucana and 1/2 EE. The others all lay varying shades of green, including the one who is 1/2 Blue Ameraucana and 1/2 Barred Rock.

Quote:
.All Easter Eggers lay a blue egg, always, not sometimes, not rarely..but always. If it doesn't lay a blue egg, it's not an EE, despite what many people say and what many people put on their websites.

No, a blue egg layer is a blue egger. Easter Eggs are all sorts of colors, hence the name for birds that lay blue or green or pink or whatever.

 

[speckledhen]

this is oneof my Ameraucana hens and her new chicks

You have a fairly typical pretty Easter Egger hen. Are those her own chicks or is she raising other hens' chicks? I find they seem to be good mothers when they do brood. She also looks fairly chunky. Some of my EEs are larger than my Ameraucanas.

 

[JtownCickenCoop]

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[JtownCickenCoop]

 

[KieksterChicken]

You quoted me and said I said an Easter Egger carries the blue egg gene and then you said "and then you went on to say they can lay a green egg. Can't be both. If they lay a green egg, they have the blue egg gene from one parent.."...If they carry one blue egg gene and one brown egg gene they are still carrying a blue egg gene..that is what I said >>>>>> ".but the color green is not possible without the blue egg gene as it is a mix of blue and brown (blue egg gene carrying bird x brown egg gene carrying bird =Olive Egger which is a type of EE ). Technically green is from the blue egg gene so I pretty much lump green eggs with blue...." because green is technically blue when it comes to eggs. I don't see where I am incorrect there.
You are an experienced breeder and it may seem okay to you to call an off SOP Ameraucana an Ameraucana instead of an Easter Egger for convenience sake, but it is viewed as very misleading by the majority of chicken owners especially by newer hobbyists who don't know the difference between an Araucana, an Ameraucana and an Easter Egger. True scenario: ...A person wants to buy Ameraucanas to breed. Even though they have researched the breed to the best of their ability they are blissfully unaware of the controversy surrounding these breeds concerning false advertising and the sometimes confusing language used concerning these birds when it comes to what constitutes an Ameracauan vs/ an EE. They go to a supposedly reputable breeder ( not a large commercial hatchery) advertising quality bred to the Standard birds 2 to 3 hours drive away to buy Ameraucana chicks ( because all the local birds advertised as Ameraucanas have turned out to be EE's) . As it turns out..the breeder told him on the phone and in person that the birds she was selling him were bred to the Standard and the person buying them took that to mean his birds would be SOP, but she gave this person her culls..roos with gold leakage that weren't SOP. And now this new owner is stuck with roosters he payed a lot of money for, they are not Ameraucanas but EE's and the breeder won't give him his money back or replace the birds! The guy is pretty steamed about this situation, I would be too! Happily (and kudos to him because he refuses to perpetuate a lie) this guy discovered this issue and won't perpetuate misleading practices by selling his off SOP birds as Ameraucanas. But if he hadn't discovered this he would have bred these birds and sold them as Ameraucanas to other people who have no idea about the SOPs. So technically he would have been making a mistake out of ignorance, perpetuating that mistake, overpaying for off SOP birds that aren't Ameraucana and non the wiser. The original breeder knows she just sold inferior stock that aren't Ameraucanas but EE's and completely unshowable. She has mislead a client, raked in some cash not expecting they will want to make the 2 hour drive back to correct the situation and goes on with her life denying any responsibility for her inferior stock. I have been talking to other people on this site that have had exactly that experience! One of them went to a breeder 2 hours away to buy SOP Ameraucanas as the breeder said she bred all her birds to the Standard for quality etc.. You should be concerned about this SpeckledHen, because this type of thing happens regularly and it gives Ameraucana breeders everywhere a bad name and pretty much lumps them in the same category as the big hatcheries that advertise their EE's as Ameraucanas or Araucanas! So what may seem to you to be a matter of convenience, calling EE's Ameraucanas, can have a very negative far reaching affect. BackYard Chickens is an educational site to help chicken owners learn every aspect of chickens and chicken owning. Any info you give on this site should be as close to accurate as possible. Claiming EE's are Ameraucanas is not accurate. I am well aware that there are 2 types of Easter Eggers..1. Off SOP Ameruacanas or Araucanas and 2. Any breed of bird usually of mixed parentage that carries the blue egg gene. You know this too but the majority of people out there do not!

"she has to be called something and Easter Egger is the preferred catch-all phrase, even though she lays a brown egg." That may seem okay to you but to the rest of us it's misleading and not a good or preferred catch all phrase. There isn't a requirement except in your own eyes that your bird has has to be called something if it lays a brown egg but carries other EE traits. If you feel the need to call a bird such as yours something, call it what it is, the accurate one which is she is a throwback. That is what she is. Not an EE.
"The Ameraucana Breeders Club defines an Easter Egg chicken, or Easter Egger, as any chicken that possesses the blue egg gene, but doesn’t fully meet any breed description as defined in the APA standards. Further, even if a bird (that possesses the blue egg gene) meets an APA standard breed description, but doesn’t meet a variety description or breed true at least 50% of the time it is considered an Easter Egg chicken." This is the general consensus of the majority of serious chicken fanciers when it comes to Easter Eggers. Even though this is not a written into law requirement and not an SOP it pretty much is the rule everyone goes by. Ignoring this when it comes to Ameraucanas/EE's pretty much lumps you into the same category as the hatcheries that mislabel their EE's and prey on peoples ignorance.
Like I said earlier, "A bird could resemble an Easter Egger and maybe even carry EE genetics but if it doesn't carry the blue egg gene and lays anything other than blue it's a mutt chicken or just a plain old chicken like any other non blue egg gene carrying bird." (I meant plain old chicken as in it's just a plain old chicken..no breed..which is what an Ameraucana is if it's off the APA SOP. If you take exception to that, contact the APA and talk to them about it as they are the ones who decided that, not me.) " If a bird doesn't carry the blue egg gene there is no use in calling it an Easter Egger. If your reasoning is correct that an EE can lay any color egg , then I could take any chicken mutt and any purebred chicken too that lays any color egg other than blue and say , "This bird is an EE.". "If they are of such mixed genetics that they no longer carry the blue egg gene and don't lay a blue egg they are a barnyard mix not an Easter Egger. According to your reasoning, any chicken that lays an egg other than white can be considered an Easter Eagger! So I guess my Dark Cornish hen is an EE and my Red Sex Link is an EE,...and a Jersey Giant is an EE and a Rhode Island Red is an EE. No! they are not becuase they don't lay blue eggs becuase they don't carry the blue egg gene! EE's are called EE's for the sole purpose of differentiating them from non blue egg laying chickens pure bred or not!. An EE is any bird that carries the blue egg gene. No blue Egg gene=not an EE..pure and simple.
You said "SO, if this bird comes out of a true to standard blue/black/splash Ameraucana flock, out of a blue egg, YET lays a brown egg and has no beard, then she is still not a barnyard mix, nor by some standards can be called an EE or can even be called an Ameraucana, though genetically she IS an Ameraucana. She's a throwback to something in their lines way, way back." You said it yourself, she is genetically an Ameraucana but that's it. In name she is what you said..."she's a throwback to something in their lines way, way back,"not Ameraucana, not EE. I am sure you know this but splash Ameracauanas are off SOP so not true to Standard in any way shape or form. Technically they are not Ameraucanas, but Easter Eggers. .
I would hate for someone to enter a splash EE in an APA show as an Ameraucana and then become the laughing stock of the week. Splash may become an accepted SOP color in the future but right now it's off SOP.

 

[popsicle]

I think the issue here is that it was stated, "An Easter Egger is a bird that carries the blue egg gene and therefore lays blue eggs. If it lays any other color egg than blue, it's not an Easter Egger." Green is a different color than blue, regardless of the fact that a green layer has the blue gene. Anybody not familiar with egg color genetics would see the statement, "If it lays any other color egg than blue, it's not an Easter Egger" and think their green layer is not an Easter Egger.