Color Type and Breed of Rooster

[donrae]

I'm totally not seeing the easter egger. No beard, straight(ish) comb, not a classic ee color, the body type is pretty light. I'm just seeing a mixed breed colombian type colored roo. Lots of mixed breeds have dark legs.
With that comb I wouldn't think the chances of his female offspring laying colored eggs is very high, unless you breed him to a colored egg layer.

 

[Lots A Cluckin]

I'm totally not seeing the easter egger. No beard, straight(ish) comb, not a classic ee color, the body type is pretty light. I'm just seeing a mixed breed colombian type colored roo. Lots of mixed breeds have dark legs.
With that comb I wouldn't think the chances of his female offspring laying colored eggs is very high, unless you breed him to a colored egg layer.

as far as I know EE's can literally look like any breed/color as long as they carry the blue/green egg gene

 

[dretd]

as far as I know EE's can literally look like any breed/color as long as they carry the blue/green egg gene

That's the thing, we don't know the genetics of this bird and since he is a boy, we'll never know if he carries the blue egg gene unless he is bred to several hens and we hatch out all the babies, grow up the girls and see what egg color they lay.

So what we are doing is looking for evidence that this rooster might have inherited the blue egg gene from a parent and to do this we are looking for other traits indicating an Ameraucana or Araucana in the family tree. Both have pea combs and it will take several generations to get that to look like his mostly-single-but-with-slight-side-ridges comb that he has. I see no muffs or beard and that will be also a couple of generations gone. Each passing of genetic material will decrease his chances of inheriting the blue egg gene.

I have a hatchery EE with a pea comb and beard an muffs and she lays a light tan (they would want me to call is 'pink'). She quite obviously has Ameraucana somewhere in her background but does not carry the blue egg gene. She is still an EE.

With the OP's bird I am more inclined to think that he is not of EE origin as she was told, or that the Ameraucana is way up that family tree, or that there is Araucana farther down since they don't have the beard or muffs and the tufts is either there or not.

In my opinion, at some point when you start crossing chickens, you lose the characteristics of the original breed and they go from a Brahma cross, or a Sussex cross or a EE to a plain old barnyard mix.

 

[dretd]

Thanks for the information everyone! I searched up pictures of Light Sussex roosters and the hackle, saddle and tail feathers on some of them are almost identical to Big Moe's. Would his grey legs come from Ameraucana genes?

K-12 Chickens: he is really a handsome fella. Is he gentle and sweet? If so you could always keep him and raise up some of the babies.

Did you see the other chickens where you got home from? Were there any without tails or with tufts, or beards and muffs. If he does have EE in his background I would think that he is more likely to have come from a culled Araucana not an Ameraucana. Here is a link to the Araucana website with photos and descriptions of each color: http://www.araucana.net/Varieties/APA_Araucana_Varieties.htm

You'll have to keep us updated on things if you decide to hatch any chicks from him!

 

[donrae]

That's the thing, we don't know the genetics of this bird and since he is a boy, we'll never know if he carries the blue egg gene unless he is bred to several hens and we hatch out all the babies, grow up the girls and see what egg color they lay.

So what we are doing is looking for evidence that this rooster might have inherited the blue egg gene from a parent and to do this we are looking for other traits indicating an Ameraucana or Araucana in the family tree. Both have pea combs and it will take several generations to get that to look like his mostly-single-but-with-slight-side-ridges comb that he has. I see no muffs or beard and that will be also a couple of generations gone. Each passing of genetic material will decrease his chances of inheriting the blue egg gene.

I have a hatchery EE with a pea comb and beard an muffs and she lays a light tan (they would want me to call is 'pink'). She quite obviously has Ameraucana somewhere in her background but does not carry the blue egg gene. She is still an EE.

With the OP's bird I am more inclined to think that he is not of EE origin as she was told, or that the Ameraucana is way up that family tree, or that there is Araucana farther down since they don't have the beard or muffs and the tufts is either there or not.

In my opinion, at some point when you start crossing chickens, you lose the characteristics of the original breed and they go from a Brahma cross, or a Sussex cross or a EE to a plain old barnyard mix.

Well, you said it so much better that I did! I'm full aware of the range of birds that can carry a blue egg gene, but overall there's a "look" to them, characteristics that come with the ameraucana ancestry.

 

[canesisters]

Just like any mixed-breed (dog, cat, horse, chicken, etc) the only way to find out what his offspring would look like would be to breed him and raise them up. I always get so frustrated with claims of purebred labradoodles, cockerpoos etc. A mix is a mix. Nothing wrong with them - I personally prefer most mixes and am myself a mix of who knows what. If you don't know the parents of each of his parents, he could be just about anything. The only thing you can know for sure is that he is handsome and unique.

 

[K-12 Chickens]

K-12 Chickens: he is really a handsome fella. Is he gentle and sweet? If so you could always keep him and raise up some of the babies.

Did you see the other chickens where you got home from? Were there any without tails or with tufts, or beards and muffs. If he does have EE in his background I would think that he is more likely to have come from a culled Araucana not an Ameraucana. Here is a link to the Araucana website with photos and descriptions of each color: http://www.araucana.net/Varieties/APA_Araucana_Varieties.htm

You'll have to keep us updated on things if you decide to hatch any chicks from him!

I got him for my flock of 16 hens, so Big Moe will definitely stay!

It looked like he was orginally with about five hens and the one or two that I saw appeared to have a beard/muff. So far he has been respectful of me, but not skittish or deathly afraid by any means. He is good with the hens and hangs out with them quite a bit (he also doesn't crow very often at the moment). Unfortunately, I don't own any EE or Ameraucana hens (so far!), so I would probably breed him with my Barred Plymouth Rocks (my older hens and production reds from Cackle Hatchery, called Cherry Eggers, probably wouldn't be good candidates), unless I happen to get an EE or Ameraucana soon! I'm hoping that by spring one of my Barred Rock hens will get broody.

 

[dretd]

I got him for my flock of 16 hens, so Big Moe will definitely stay!

It looked like he was orginally with about five hens and the one or two that I saw appeared to have a beard/muff. So far he has been respectful of me, but not skittish or deathly afraid by any means. He is good with the hens and hangs out with them quite a bit (he also doesn't crow very often at the moment). Unfortunately, I don't own any EE or Ameraucana hens (so far!), so I would probably breed him with my Barred Plymouth Rocks (my older hens and production reds from Cackle Hatchery, called Cherry Eggers, probably wouldn't be good candidates), unless I happen to get an EE or Ameraucana soon! I'm hoping that by spring one of my Barred Rock hens will get broody.

Sounds like you have your hands full!

A couple of years ago we got some eggs to hatch in our home-made incubator. After many tries we only had one hatch and wouldn't you know it was the extra bonus mixed-breed egg not the purebreds. Anyway we raised him up and we decided to let our broody Welsummer raise up a batch and wouldn't you know we got 3 roosters out of the 3 eggs that hatched. It was the cutest thing to watch her with them and way easier than setting up a brooder in the house!

I have a mixed flock and my Barred Rock has never gone broody. I have a Speckled Sussex that goes broody every August--too late to start a batch before fall. The Welsummers are not known for being good mothers nor going broody, so go figure. I don't know anything about Cherry Eggers so I'm not sure if they go broody or not. I have a friends that have had good luck with Cochins, Buff Orphingtons and Silkies going broody, so if you don't have luck with one of yours then you could look in to adding to your flock!

As long as he's respectful of you and good to his hens he's a keeper. And not crowing all the time is a bonus! My favorite of the 3 boys had to go because he thought everybody should get up at 4. Not happening!

 

[K-12 Chickens]

Sounds like you have your hands full!

A couple of years ago we got some eggs to hatch in our home-made incubator. After many tries we only had one hatch and wouldn't you know it was the extra bonus mixed-breed egg not the purebreds. Anyway we raised him up and we decided to let our broody Welsummer raise up a batch and wouldn't you know we got 3 roosters out of the 3 eggs that hatched. It was the cutest thing to watch her with them and way easier than setting up a brooder in the house!

I have a mixed flock and my Barred Rock has never gone broody. I have a Speckled Sussex that goes broody every August--too late to start a batch before fall. The Welsummers are not known for being good mothers nor going broody, so go figure. I don't know anything about Cherry Eggers so I'm not sure if they go broody or not. I have a friends that have had good luck with Cochins, Buff Orphingtons and Silkies going broody, so if you don't have luck with one of yours then you could look in to adding to your flock!

As long as he's respectful of you and good to his hens he's a keeper. And not crowing all the time is a bonus! My favorite of the 3 boys had to go because he thought everybody should get up at 4. Not happening!

I do have two Buff Orpingtons, one of which tried to go broody (they are some of my older hens; turning 3 this year and not laying eggs very often, if at all; however, Big Moe has seemed to spark their systems to begin laying eggs again). Also, a Black Star I have repeatedly went broody during spring and summer, sitting on the nest for pretty much the whole morning and afternoon and hiding her eggs in secret nests (found seven in one of her "nests"; she probably could have went totally broody if I had let her complete laying a clutch).
I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens!