Easter Egger club!

[Sylvester017]

X2
Our leghorn is very mild mannered and our head easter egger is the leader of our flock lol. The only hens in our flock that seem jittery at all is our australorp and our jubilee's. Our oldest ee doesn't lay anymore. The ee under her are much moreid mannered. Not so dominant. Our ee roosters are pretty sweet so far. Only time will tell with the boys. If they follow the pattern that we have seen so far the chicks should have gentle temperaments with great egg laying capabilities. This is just with our personal hens though. Someone else's might not have as good a disposition..

Leghorn temperaments are unpredictable. They are active foragers and we had a very sweet alpha White Leghorn that we thought was incredibly gentle for a Leg but she went bonkers at 3 yrs old and had to be re-homed. We had a Buff Leghorn who cruelly chased the gentler smaller breeds and pulled out their crests and beards in dominance so she had to be re-homed by one year old. Just never know. On my folks' farm they raised Babcock Leghorns and only Leghorns so the birds were evenly matched in a flock and I never saw the good, bad, or ugly, of having a mixed flock of different breeds. I got so tired of re-homing bullies or aggressive hens that I finally nixxed any future dual purpose or common layer breeds and just went with smaller gentler backyard breeds -- in our case we want peaceful pets first, and eggs second. For the past year so far it's worked for us. All depends on what owners are looking for in their birds.

 

[lovechicks1293]

I'm just going to leave some pictures of my cute (but unknown mixed breed) chick right here.





Just turned 2 weeks old!

they DO look a lot like an australorp

 

[Elemes]

they DO look a lot like an australorp

X2

Looks an awful lot like an australorp

Well I believe it does, as well now that I've looked up some chick photos but this came from a backyard mix flock. I'm at least hoping for a hen.

 

[Chicken5555]

What I wonder is which temperament the chicks will inherit -- the sweet cautious nature of the gentle EE or the assertive hyper personality of the Mediterranean class Leghorn. And will the offspring inherit the slow production of the EE or the high production of the Leg? Both birds are naturally skittery but EEs are mostly gentle and non-combative where a Leghorn is not so easily intimidated and faces challengers. An interesting mix to say the least! I love both breeds but could never mix my flock with aggressive Leghorns along with our gentle Blue Wheaten Ameraucana. Bred together they could give you the worst of both breeds or the best of both breeds! GL!

hmmm... I thought about crossing my white leghorn females with a Black Ameraucana male that has red leakage. After that I'll cross the F1 females to a Wheaten Ameraucana in an attempt to broaden their gene pool while also reinforcing the calm nature of Ameraucanas. Then I'd choose the females from the F2 group that lays bluest eggs, and line breed them back to a male from the F1 crossing. Half the resulting offspring should lay blue eggs while the other half should lay blue tinted eggs.

You comment made me think. I want my resulting F3 birds to be assertive enough to ward off bullies while still being docile enough to make a good backyard pet, so I will keep personality in mind when I pick females for the breeding program. I also need to consider the egg laying ability of the females. At this rate I may end up with only a small handful of females that I want to use LOL

 

[lovechicks1293]

hello all EE lovers! i have a quick question about EE chicks... can you tell if an EE chicks is a girl or boy on the pattern? i saw a picture on the internet of 2 chicks, one boy and one girl. the boy had 2 different colored stripes on his back and the girl had 3... is that a somewhat reliable method to sexing them? i'll try to find the picture. thank in advance!

 

[lovechicks1293]

like for example:

this one is a "girl"

because it has three colored stripes. it also mentioned the stripe going up their head? that would def. distinguish if its a girl or boy?

 

[lovechicks1293]

FOUND IT

 

[junebuggena]

like for example:

this one is a "girl"

because it has three colored stripes. it also mentioned the stripe going up their head? that would def. distinguish if its a girl or boy?

It's called auto sexing, but it hasn't been selected for in Easter Eggers. Examples of autosexing breeds are Welsummers and Cream Legbars.
Your chick can not be sexed by down pattern.

 

[lovechicks1293]

It's called auto sexing, but it hasn't been selected for in Easter Eggers. Examples of autosexing breeds are Welsummers and Cream Legbars. 
Your chick can not be sexed by down pattern.

Ok thx, just wondering!

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Leghorn temperaments are unpredictable.  They are active foragers and we had a very sweet alpha White Leghorn that we thought was incredibly gentle for a Leg but she went bonkers at 3 yrs old and had to be re-homed.  We had a Buff Leghorn who cruelly chased the gentler smaller breeds and pulled out their crests and beards in dominance so she had to be re-homed by one year old.  Just never know.  On my folks' farm they raised Babcock Leghorns and only Leghorns so the birds were evenly matched in a flock and I never saw the good, bad, or ugly, of having a mixed flock of different breeds.  I got so tired of re-homing bullies or aggressive hens that I finally nixxed any future dual purpose or common layer breeds and just went with smaller gentler backyard breeds -- in our case we want peaceful pets first, and eggs second.  For the past year so far it's worked for us.  All depends on what owners are looking for in their birds.

I could be wrong but I don't think they are that mean I just think you have the wrong flock dynamics. You have an amazing setup for a few pet chickens. I just think some breeds need more room. I don't think that means they are mean per say. I've heard of chickens being canibals in a coop that's to small. I think that was more the problem. Plenty of room yard wise but at night probably needing more space. I think silkies or faverolles are known for being at the bottom of the pecking order because they are at a disadvantage. If they weren't they would act the same as the other chickens. I don't think you can pen every chicken as being I'll tempered though. Mine is fine in a mixed flock even with bantams. My friend has about 10 in a mixed flock and also no problems. That's what leads me it was more environment.