Are Easter Eggers a real breed or a "mutt"? I'm confused.

[NewChickHere]

I purchased 7 Araucanas from Mc Murray but then have since read and learned that hatcheries pretty much do not sell these pure breeds. Then everyone tells me that they are Easter Eggers. Which is fine with me and I really hope they will lay colored eggs but is "Easter Egger" really a breed or just a name people call them if they are mixed with Amerucanas or Araucanas? And if so, then aren't they basically "mutts"? Said in a loving tone of course because I do love mine.

I'm mainly confused because seem to talk about them on here like they are an actual breed. Just wondering. Thanks. Kim

 

[hdowden]

ee's are a mix of either 2 different colors of amerucana's or araucanas or they are a mixed chicken that has either of those breeds in it

 

[PoultryGirly]

I know what you are talking about. I ordered an Americana from McMurray too, and I found out that it was an Easter Egger. (And Easter Eggers do lay colorful eggs.)

 

[CarolJ]

Yes, they're "mutts" - and I love them! Yours will almost certainly lay blue/green eggs - although with 7, you may also have one or two who lay a brown egg. I started off with 4 EEs - and one lays a cream-colored egg - the others lay blue/green eggs.

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

They are mutts. Yes it is pretty much any breed mixed with an americana/araucana/ameraucana (sorry there is just may to many ways i've seen it spelled).

 

[donrae]

I think hatcheries started out with reasonable stock but not culling for the breed standard over time has lead to what we call easter eggers. If you read McMurray's site, they state their birds are bred for egg color and production, not exhibition. They still shouldn't call them the pure breds, but that's a whole nother story. And if you think about it, most folks that order ameracaunas from a hatchery don't really know anything about the breed, they just want the colored eggs, so what does it really matter? If you've researched the breed and want to breed seriously or show, you'll already have realized hatchery stock isn't for you. If you just want a colorful egg basket like 90% of us, easter eggers are the way to go.

 

[NewChickHere]

Thank you everyone! That is kind of what I was thinking they are and I am just looking for the colorful egg and a sweet chicken, not showing or breeding, so I feel I did pretty good with the ones I have. Course, I haven't got the first egg yet but I'm sure they'll all be pretty.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is a lot or misinformation out about Easter Eggers and where they came from. This history from the Ameraucana Breeders Association shows that the Easter Egger came first. The Araucana and the Ameraucana were developed from blue egg laying chickens, not the other way around.

Araucana/Ameraucana History
http://ameraucana.org/history.html

Here is a comparison of Ameraucana/Araucana/EE’s that shows how to tell them apart.

EE/Ameraucana/Araucana comparison
http://apa-abayouthpoultryclub.org/Edu_Material/Easter Eggers vs.pdf

EE is not a breed. It never has been. It is a chicken that should have a copy of the blue egg gene, but we can’t even agree on that as a definition. Some people call chickens that don’t have the blue egg gene EE’s. They just have to have a blue egg layer somewhere in their ancestry. Because of genetics, once the ability to lay blue or green eggs is lost, it is gone forever unless you mate that chicken to another chicken that has the blue egg gene.

The hatcheries don’t help with any of this. Many of them use Ameraucana or Araucana as a base for their EE’s and they call them by those names. Because many people get their EE’s from a hatchery they think all EE’s should have certain color legs, muffs or tufts, or some characteristic of those breeds. That is not the case. An EE can basically look like anything. To me, it should at least have the blue egg gene, but that doesn’t always happen either. Many hatcheries mix other breeds in to get better egg laying ability, so they also sell brown or white egg layers as EE’s.

Once you get eggs, you can look on the inside of the shell to see the base shell color. A green egg is a blue egg with brown deposited on top of the blue to make green. A brown egg is a white egg with brown deposited on top to make brown.

Having “purebreds” is important to some people. But for me, I’m real happy with blue or green eggs. And I don’t really care what color the shanks or eyes are. I’m much more interested in the eggs.

Here’s hoping you get some nice colors from yours.

 

[NewChickHere]

Thank you so much RidgeRunner for this great info. I am not sure why I didn't get a notification of this message that you posted 5 days ago I guess. Sorry I'm replying so late.

Anyway, after reading your info I would be really disappointed if my 7 EEs that were sold to me as Araucanas only lay white or brown eggs. I mean, I love every one of them but I did want the colors for my kids AND myself too.

So I am guessing tufts and muffs and all that don't mean anything really? It's just hoping that they have the blue gene...correct?

Well, they all just turned 11 weeks old Friday so I still have a while so I will just wait and see. Thanks again.

Kim

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

Thank you so much RidgeRunner for this great info. I am not sure why I didn't get a notification of this message that you posted 5 days ago I guess. Sorry I'm replying so late.

Anyway, after reading your info I would be really disappointed if my 7 EEs that were sold to me as Araucanas only lay white or brown eggs. I mean, I love every one of them but I did want the colors for my kids AND myself too.

So I am guessing tufts and muffs and all that don't mean anything really? It's just hoping that they have the blue gene...correct?

Well, they all just turned 11 weeks old Friday so I still have a while so I will just wait and see. Thanks again.

Kim

Well, true araucanas lay blue eggs only. Also, true araucanas have no tails. I don't think that araucanas have muffs though. Although, with EEs you are likely to get at least a few brown eggs. The rest should be green or blue though.