ARUACANA or AN AMERAUCANA or EE (((HELP)))

[cajun Rabbit]

I am looking at our flock of 4 and think I want to add 2 more (have room, so why not right)

I want "Easter eggers" for the egg colors. Is there a such thing as an EE? or is it the same as ARUACANA OR AN AMERAUCANA or what? From what I have read owners of EE (on other sites) are so proud of their lil ones that they swear it is a breed all their own. I would like to buy two but I don't want to sound like an idiot if I ask for an EE ......

But I don't know if I get an Ameraucana if I will get the egg colors I want like an EE....

Also I am thinking it will be easier to add to the flock while they are young (5 wks) I think I would have best luck this way (no?) also think I will have best luck finding young'ens for sale.

We are in South Central Louisiana, if anyone knows local seller (or someone I can order from online and only buy 2)


Any advice?

 

[Stacykins]

EE is a chicken with no standards, and is definitely not the same as am Ameraucana or Araucana, both of which are APA recognized and established breeds. A true Ameraucana WILL give you blue eggs, an EE isn't guarantee to. An EE can lay brown, white, tinted, green, or blue eggs.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

If you are getting the bird at a feed store, or from one of the big hatcheries, you will get an EE. It is not a recognized breed, however, I believe they have the green egg gene in there somewhere, so if you are lucky you will get green or bluish eggs...but as said above, you may get tan or pinkish ones. You can get Ameracaunas and Araucanas from reputable breeders and will then get blue eggs for sure (although I've read in a BYC thread that sometimes there is a through-back and you might not get blue - but this would be rare).

Edited to say that I got my EEs at my local feed store and they were labled "Ameracaunas." That is fairly common practice, unfortunately. But I think my EEs are cute and funny birds who both lay green eggs, so I'm happy with them.

 

[Prisserbabe]

so do EE's lay one color egg their whole life? So if i got a brown egg once i would always get a brown egg (cause that would suck

)

 

[cajun Rabbit]

Quote:
That was my next question

 

[Stacykins]

Yep, an EE who lays a brown egg will always lay a brown egg. That is just how her printer ink was genetically designed. Thankfully, the blue egg gene (O) is dominant, and strongly linked to the pea comb. So if your EE has a pea comb, good chance you'll get a blue or green egg. There are only two shell types, blue and white. If you crack open a brown egg, the inside is white. If you crack open a blue or green egg, the inside is blue. The green color is caused by the same pigment that turns a white shelled egg brown.

 

[briter30]

I bought 3 EE when they were just 7 weeks old (obviously long time before they began laying eggs). The hen and rooster of my easter eggers were both EE. Anyway, my hens began laying eggs at 6-7 months old. All 3 of them are laying eggs that are blueish in color. They are EACH also laying about 5 eggs a week. I LOVE my EE! Even when I let them free-range, my 2 and 3 year old can easily just go and pick up them and hold them like a baby. Very little, if any, chasing goes on. They are great, gentle chickens. Also, if I were you, I would go ahead and buy all your chickens you plan to have at a young, age. I am just now trying to introduce to my 3 EE a new chicken into their run. For the first time, I am seeing them as being "not so friendly". They were pecking the mess out of the new bird so I will have to slowly reintroduce them the coming weeks.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
ALL female chickens lay only one colour of egg their entire life. THe intensity of brown or blue may change through the laying cycle, starting dark and fading over time until the bird goes into a period of rest from laying, then once she starts laying again, it will once again be darker in colour, again fading over the course of that cycle.

 

[Illia]

As said by everyone else.

You'll get Easter Eggers, which means one hen may give you green, blue, or brown eggs and only one of those colors per hen.