Are Easter Egger eggs and Cream Legbar eggs the same color?

[chicklets81]

I'm looking to find a nice brighter blue egg.

I've seen pictures of Cream Legbar eggs, they seem bright blue. However, a local cream legbar breeder is asking $20 per chick. But she won't sell me hatching eggs.

I purchased Easter Egger hatching eggs, and they are currently incubating.

Does anyone know if theres a big difference between Cream Legbar eggs, and Easter Egger?

And what about Ameraucana? I just got 3 chicks at the store of them too. Anybody know the differences in shades of blue?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I'm following this and curious too. I have someone locally also selling the pullet chicks for $20 but the eggs do not appear as blue in pictures, though I know accurate color can be hard to capture. Mainly I want a male for olive eggers.

My bantam Ameraucana does lay a very blue egg but my only grown EE lays green so I can't really compare the level of blue accurately.

I suspect your Ameraucanas are Easter Eggers though as those are not typically sold at stores, only by breeders. The hatcheries mislabel them and thus so do the stores. I know of two hatcheries that have actual Ameraucanas and they are about $15-20 a chick.

 

[donrae]

Easter eggers are a crapshoot. You can get a bright, pretty blue, any shade of green, or brown or cream.

I agree $20 for a chick is pretty steep, but at least you should be guaranteed a pullet as the breed is auto sexing.

Ameraucana purchased at a feed store are going to be EE.

You can order Ameraucana from a few select hatcheries---Meyer and I think Cackle. Or, there are several breeders here on BYC you could purchase hatching eggs from.

 

[chicklets81]

This all seems very neat and interesting!

Its weird, the "Ameraucana" chicks sold at the store (Ace Hardware) are light brown, with a dark brown stripe down the back.

When I went to purchase Easter Egger hatching eggs from a breeder, she showed me her chick room, and the chicks were gray.

So, they looked very different.

But, maybe they can be different colors but the same breed?

Oh well. Live and learn!

I think instead of paying $20 for a Cream Legbar pullet, I'd rather pay $30 for a set of my own hatching eggs, and have them shipped. At least that's how I feel today, he he.

Always need an excuse to do another hatch!

 

[chicklets81]

I'd hate to think I just gave myself 15 of the same breed of chicken (by buying 3 ameraucanas AND 12 EE hatching eggs...) but I guess I will learn from this experiment, and have even more knowledge than I did before. But I also realize that I may only end up with a 50% hatch, so, we will see.

I can't wait for hatching day!

 

[donrae]

That's the thing about EE. They're not technically a "breed" and don't come in standardized colors. So, you have gold and silver based birds, you get blonde, or white, or blue colombian looking birds, lots of different colors. Different egg shell colors, also. Like a box of chocolates

 

[dheltzel]

I have 5 different strains of true (standard bred) Ameraucanas, as well as Cream Legbars. I get $20 for Legbar pullet chicks, and if you want lots of the bluest available eggs, they are worth every cent. I sell black Ameraucana chicks for as little as $8, but they are all straight run, so if you are lucky you will beat the odds and get a pullet for less than $20, but maybe not. The Legbars are overall better layers, IMO.

Easter Eggers (aka Ameraucanas from hatcheries) are basically mixed breed chickens where they try to include the blue egg gene. Because hatcheries emphasize productivity (they don't make money from hens that don't lay well), you will do very well with them, as long as you don't have your heart set on a truly blue egg, because that may or may not happen.

Another option that I produce for local sales is a blue egg laying black sexlink. These are all black pullets that look very much like a black Ameraucana and lay *lots* of blue eggs. The hybridization with a production strain makes them the best layers on the farm, and the eggs are light blue, fading to very light blue as the season progresses. They literally lay faster than their body can keep up with the blue pigment production. These are much cheaper than the Legbars and reliably sexable (but they don't outsell the Legbars because Legbars are just so cool). Technically, you could call these EE's as well as Black Sexlinks, but in my mind they are a special combination of the best of both.

While I love the Ameraucanas, Legbars are still my favorite blue egg layers.

 

[DrumstickRanchTex]

I am very interested in the black sex links that lay blue eggs.
I’d like to know if you still raise them, and prices as well as shipping. Where are you located? If you are close enough, I might be able to pick some up. Are the laying hens small (5 lbs and less) ?
Here is my email:
[email protected]
I’ve never heard of the black sex link blue egg layers. Is this breed available in very many places?
Thanks
Dave