Easter Egger club!

[Sylvester017]

May I join here? I have 3 EE pullets in my flock of 21. These are our first chickens. They are almost 11 weeks old.

This is Osh-Kosh. She had us thinking maybe she was a cockerel for a while. She is the most shy of the 3.

This is Eleanor. She has the fluffiest muffs and beard. She has recently become more curious and friendly. I was really hoping she would. She was the first chick I picked out when we started.

Holly is the chick in the middle here. This is a terrible picture of her. She is similar to Eleanor, but has a single comb and blue instead of black on her lower half.


I need to get better pics. These are just from my album and are about 3 weeks old. I love my EEs. They are all pretty shy. But, I feel some of that has to do with having 10 BR. They take over with the socializing and always want to be held. It doesn't leave much room for the shy chicks to come say hi, when I have 10 more outgoing chickens jumping all over. I was pleased to see Eleanor and Holly make their way through last night and come sit on my boots for a few.

Love seeing all the cute chicks here and age progressions!

A lot of people put EEs into their dual purpose flocks. Personally I think EEs and pure Ameraucanas are such spooky kooky klutzy timid jittery jumpy cautious wary alert birds it makes them so different from other chicken breeds that I hate putting them in a mixed flock of breeds. The heavy dual purpose breeds dominate the flock and the shy jittery EEs get sort of shoved out of things - JMO as I know there will be tons of different opinions and not every bird behaves exactly the same. Our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana was always bottom of the pecking order during the 3 years we've had her. Recently she got contentious with other flock members who are small Silkies and Breda and we have to re-home her. The vet said she is a very heavy bird and she could injure the smaller breeds if she continues her sudden aggressive behavior. She's been so witchy fighting that she got klutzy and injured her own self - her leg! Just when I found a good home with friends who have only 2 birds - 2 EEs - she goes and hurts herself. I have her on Metacam for inflammation but she's taking her own sweet time to heal and I want her re-homed soon before she hurts any small birds or herself again. She's always been a sweet bird and we've kept her in the flock with smaller birds because she played nice. But recently she's been pushing her weight around and picking fights so we have another good home for her with birds similar to herself with the same size/weights. We have to wait and see how she behaves after she recuperates. Your Osh-Kosh is very pretty. I can see why you love Eleanor's fluffy muffs!

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

See and my EEs fit right into my flock of mixed and heavies. The heavies are the ones for me that get bullied, as my smaller more agile Barr Rocks dominate. But the EEs have very happy places in the middle of the pecking order. They are much more jumpy and vocal but seem to fit in fine.
I have started keeping my meat birds and layers always seperate just because the layers all but kill my heavys.

 

[Sylvester017]

See and my EEs fit right into my flock of mixed and heavies. The heavies are the ones for me that get bullied, as my smaller more agile Barr Rocks dominate. But the EEs have very happy places in the middle of the pecking order. They are much more jumpy and vocal but seem to fit in fine.
I have started keeping my meat birds and layers always seperate just because the layers all but kill my heavys.

If your meat birds or heavies are Cornish X meat birds they aren't very agile and I can see why they'd get picked on. IMO there's something to be said about keeping certain breeds away from certain other breeds. With EEs or Ameraucanas they do well if they have others of their same breed in a flock but in my case our Ameraucana is a loner. We got her with another Ameraucana as chicks but one died so she's been the only Amer in the flock for 3 years. With a strict 5-hen zoning and no roos it really limits our breed choices or duplicate chicken numbers.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

See and my EEs fit right into my flock of mixed and heavies. The heavies are the ones for me that get bullied, as my smaller more agile Barr Rocks dominate. But the EEs have very happy places in the middle of the pecking order. They are much more jumpy and vocal but seem to fit in fine.

I have started keeping my meat birds and layers always seperate just because the layers all but kill my heavys.

If your meat birds or heavies are Cornish X meat birds they aren't very agile and I can see why they'd get picked on.  IMO there's something to be said about keeping certain breeds away from certain other breeds.  With EEs or Ameraucanas they do well if they have others of their same breed in a flock but in my case our Ameraucana is a loner.  We got her with another Ameraucana as chicks but one died so she's been the only Amer in the flock for 3 years.  With a strict 5-hen zoning and no roos it really limits our breed choices or duplicate chicken numbers.

I have had CX and yes it was brutal. Right now, and the layers are cooped seperate from the meaties, I have medium growers and slow growers and then Barr Rocks, 2 EEs, a leghorn and a couple Buff Orpingtons and a duck. Everyone seems to get along, the head hen is a Barr Rock. The Easter Eggers play the lookout.
Yes I agree it is just best to not let my meaties mingle with my layers. If for no other reason then the meaties just do not live long enough to justify the time and work of getting everyone to get along. The meaties are happier seperate.
The two EEs do keep togeather, so there might be something to them doing best with a friend.

 

[Greenthumb83]

A lot of people put EEs into their dual purpose flocks. Personally I think EEs and pure Ameraucanas are such spooky kooky klutzy timid jittery jumpy cautious wary alert birds it makes them so different from other chicken breeds that I hate putting them in a mixed flock of breeds. The heavy dual purpose breeds dominate the flock and the shy jittery EEs get sort of shoved out of things - JMO as I know there will be tons of different opinions and not every bird behaves exactly the same. Our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana was always bottom of the pecking order during the 3 years we've had her. Recently she got contentious with other flock members who are small Silkies and Breda and we have to re-home her. The vet said she is a very heavy bird and she could injure the smaller breeds if she continues her sudden aggressive behavior. She's been so witchy fighting that she got klutzy and injured her own self - her leg! Just when I found a good home with friends who have only 2 birds - 2 EEs - she goes and hurts herself. I have her on Metacam for inflammation but she's taking her own sweet time to heal and I want her re-homed soon before she hurts any small birds or herself again. She's always been a sweet bird and we've kept her in the flock with smaller birds because she played nice. But recently she's been pushing her weight around and picking fights so we have another good home for her with birds similar to herself with the same size/weights. We have to wait and see how she behaves after she recuperates. Your Osh-Kosh is very pretty. I can see why you love Eleanor's fluffy muffs!

Thank you! I actually agree with you here. I have only had chickens for a few months and am concerned with the dynamic in the coop. There are no major issues, but it still is upsetting to see the more obnoxious breeds being...well obnoxious,....while the flighty, shy breeds get pushed around. I find that my orpingtons, australorps and EE all do very well with each other. It's just the BRs that are the bossy attention hogs. I think the fact that they outnumber everyone else doesn't help either. I have mentioned to DH maybe building a coop just for the BR. I'm pretty sure he thinks I am crazy..lol. We are still finishing the run for our first coop and he is tired of building lol. Sorry you have to rehome your Ameraucana. I would do the same. Hope she gets well soon.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

So I've only had brown, dark brown layers and blue layers, but as olive layers are a cross... If the brown layer that was crossed with the blue layer to make the olive layer was a breed like Welsummer or Marans, the amount of brown pigment per egg can change during the laying cycle, going from dark to light which could explain your observed change. Or you have a mystery chicken

Well I don't know if you would even consider her an EE but she is a Rhode Island Red and Easter egger mix she is the daughter of my Easter egger rooster Fred

There is Fred the top pic and then there is one of his daughter the one laying the green to blue eggs her name is Holly.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Fred there he actually showed up at my house 2 years ago and I know where he came from but I didn't know where until about a year after we had him but I am not taking him back because he ran away for a reason they have other chickens so they just don't run away when with a flock. Unless chased by something

 

[Amelia Egghart]

Wow! Fred is unique looking. That crest! Almost like a Swedish Flower. Very cool. Do you have any pictures of the transforming eggs? And I love sunning chickens. So relaxed looking.

Fred picked YOU sounds like! You're his, your hens are his, the grass is his...LOL.

 

[gander007]

May I join here? I have 3 EE pullets in my flock of 21. These are our first chickens. They are almost 11 weeks old.

This is Osh-Kosh. She had us thinking maybe she was a cockerel for a while. She is the most shy of the 3.

This is Eleanor. She has the fluffiest muffs and beard. She has recently become more curious and friendly. I was really hoping she would. She was the first chick I picked out when we started.

Holly is the chick in the middle here. This is a terrible picture of her. She is similar to Eleanor, but has a single comb and blue instead of black on her lower half.


I need to get better pics. These are just from my album and are about 3 weeks old. I love my EEs. They are all pretty shy. But, I feel some of that has to do with having 10 BR. They take over with the socializing and always want to be held. It doesn't leave much room for the shy chicks to come say hi, when I have 10 more outgoing chickens jumping all over. I was pleased to see Eleanor and Holly make their way through last night and come sit on my boots for a few.

Love seeing all the cute chicks here and age progressions!

Oh what a nice flock you have there, and of course we will enjoy reading about your flock as they grow and entertain you and others

Oh welcome to Easter Egger Club .

 

[newmarch2014]

I was worried about having my EE's in with my single combs (mostly the Production Reds as they are very ornery) but when they were very young the EE's were quick enough to get out of harms way fast and the Reds settled down after a few months. The EE's are still the bottom of the pecking order but they seem happy enough and are plucky enough to get in on the treats and feed. There are 2 of them so they are not lonely, and the original flock Buff Orps and Brahma (same age) tolerate them well so my mixed flock does just fine together but they have a lot of room and places to hang out that they can be semi alone.