Americaunas, my problem children....

[Freebirdfarm]

Hi there,
I have nine hens, 7 RI Reds, and 2 Americaunas. I'm getting on average 7 to 8 eggs a day. Every two days or so I get a green colored egg, which I believe is coming from one of my two Americaunas.

It seems that the Americaunas do not produce many eggs. Also, and this is more of a concern than anything else, they are loud as all get out. From about 8AM to 11-12noon I hear them out there calling up a storm.

I haven't figured out the pecking order yet, but I think one of the Americaunas might be the lead chicken...so perhaps that explains the calling...

So unless someone guides me otherwise, I think I will try to find new homes for the Americaunas, because they have low yield, and are noisy as hell. I will say they are pretty birds though...one is all white and the other looks like a pheasant...But I am more interested in yield than beauty.

Any thoughts/recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Welcome to BYC
How old are your birds? Can you take and post some photos of the two in question - the first thing to determine is if they are true Ameraucana or Easter Eggers which are often bought/sold as Ameraucana but are not....in addition, it will allow us to assess them for signs of production and or maturity. What are you currently feeding your flock? Are your birds confined to a coop/run at all times or are they free range for part or all of the day?

 

[Freebirdfarm]

Great question. They hatched sometime in March/April of this year (2016). I have been feeding them the Blue Star Brand Layer Feed since I started getting eggs...They are free range, they roam all over my yard. Here they are in the picture below. Thank you.

 

[TeeMom]

I have a flock of 27 birds currently. The only males I have are 2 Ameraucana cockerels and then I also have 2 Amaraucana pullets hatched out at the end of March. Up until the last 2 weeks when it's finally gotten a bit colder, they have both layed a blue egg nearly every day for a couple of months now. They are also very quiet...could just be individual differences.

 

[Percheron chick]

Those 2 are EEs. You could very easily be getting a brown egg from one and a green from the other.

 

[rebrascora]

If they free range there is a good possibility that they are laying somewhere other than the nest boxes. My EE's are good layers but tend to be sneaky and I have a daily egg hunt..... they can be very inventive about where they lay. Your two girls both look to be in prime laying condition with nice red combs.... they are really beautiful... so I would start observing them more closely and perhaps you will find a stash of eggs. If you do find a nest of them, test them in a jug of cold water rather than ditch them. I found a stash of 47 pink and blue eggs in a sneaky nest a couple of winters ago and every one was edible. I had assumed they had knocked off laying for winter... the little monkeys! It was eggs for breakfast, lunch and supper for a couple of weeks to get through them all!

 

[Freebirdfarm]

Oh that's awesome you guys. Thank you so much. I'll report all of this to my daughter. She'll be thrilled to know that we have Easter Eggers...also the great mystery of finding those missing eggs.

Before they were old enough to lay eggs, a friend of mine lent me some of her wooden "trainer eggs". Those sat in the nesting boxes well before they were old enough to lay. Do you think that may reduce the amount of rogue egg-laying?

Also, will Easter Eggers lay differing egg colors per bird...like she lays a brown on monday and a green/blue on tuesday?

Thanks again, you guy are awesome.

 

[rebrascora]

Afraid that's not how it works with Easter Eggers or indeed hens in general. The colour of egg they lay is governed by genetics and will remain the same throughout their lifetime, so a hen that lays a blue egg will always lay blue and similarly with a brown egg laying hen or a white. The intensity of the colour may fade slightly towards the end of their cycle as they "run low on dye", but it will just be a paler shade of the original colour.

The other possibility is that one of your Easter Eggers lays a brown egg....although they do both appear to have pea combs which is associated with the blue egg laying gene. There is no guarantee that an Easter Egger will lay a bonny coloured egg and just occasionally you get a hen that lays a plain brown one.

I hope we are right and there is a secret stash somewhere and it's not just that you have a couple of slackers or another "boring brown" egg layer!