Easter Egger club!

[Gryphon]

Her eggs can still be blue green right? My fiancee and I are worried that since it is not with the first one that she may not lay those based on this egg. Need advice!

Sorry, but nope. You have a cream egg layer, just like one of my EEs. Someone outbred her too often so she lost the blue egg gene even though she kept the beard and pea comb (in my hen's case, anyway). I would have been a lot more upset about my EE girl laying non blue eggs, except they're a beautiful porcelain color, they're huge (extra large every time), and she lays like crazy.

 

[ochochicas]

Do you find all EEs are sporadic 2nd-year layers or is it hit-or-miss from individual to individual? I was thinking of a Cream Legbar for colored eggs but with Leghorn history CL's might be too aggressive a breed around shy non-combative Silkies, Ameraucana, and Breda. Any opinion/experience welcome.

In my experience, the Legbars are horrible layers. I would not recommend them to anyone. Some of them lay huge eggs, but the egg quality is poor and if you plan to breed/hatch them the hatch rates are not good. My legbar eggs are very rough shelled. I prefer a smooth,shiny shell like I get from the majority of my other hens (EEs included). I crossed my legbars with other breeds to get EE chicks. The eggs the pullets lay are rough and have a matte finish to them. Some eggs are even bumpy (just like their grandma's eggs) so the egg characteristics are clearly passed down through the generations to the offspring.

My legbars are molting now, and I don't expect to see eggs from them again until March or April. They lay about 5 months out of the year and I get 4 - 5 eggs per week from each of them. My EEs and Ameraucanas also molt and take a break, but they lay about 8 months out of the year and I get 6 eggs per week from them. The eggs are a bit smaller, but the are glossy and pretty to look at.

They also have a 95 - 100 % hatch rate.

If you want blue egg layers that lay year round, try getting some Araucanas. I have one tiny hen that lays XL eggs year round and they are a beautiful blue. Her sister took a couple of months off to molt when she was about 12 months old but is back to laying now. I really like the Araucanas (and all the EEs!)

 

[lightchick]

Is there any way to tell if a Partridge Silkie/Black&white EE mix is male or female at a young age? My black and white EE rooster did have some red/gold leakage on his shoulders/wings so it wouldn't be sex linked right?
Is it true that pullets get mostly genes from the dad and roos get genes from the mom? What genes are they?
The chick has an extra toe on each foot and black skin like the Silkie hen.
Hoping that doesn't mean it's a roo!

 

[1ChickyMomma]

So happy! At 25 weeks we finally got our first coloured egg!
I thought the day was never going to come

 

[junebuggena]

Is there any way to tell if a Partridge Silkie/Black&white EE mix is male or female at a young age? My black and white EE rooster did have some red/gold leakage on his shoulders/wings so it wouldn't be sex linked right?
Is it true that pullets get mostly genes from the dad and roos get genes from the mom? What genes are they?
The chick has an extra toe on each foot and black skin like the Silkie hen.
Hoping that doesn't mean it's a roo!

Chicks get 50% of their genes from one parent and 50% of their genes from their other parent. Some genes are sexlinked, in that hens can only pass them to their male chicks, like barring or silver. Red leakage is male specific, but is not a sexlinked trait. Black skin is dominant, and can be sexlinked, but only if the rooster is the one with black skin and the hen he is crossed with has white or yellow legs.
You're just going to have to wait for your chick to grow and see how it develops.

 

[katatonic123]

Chicks get 50% of their genes from one parent and 50% of their genes from their other parent. Some genes are sexlinked, in that hens can only pass them to their male chicks, like barring or silver. Red leakage is male specific, but is not a sexlinked trait. Black skin is dominant, and can be sexlinked, but only if the rooster is the one with black skin and the hen he is crossed with has white or yellow legs.
You're just going to have to wait for your chick to grow and see how it develops. 

I found this interesting about the black skin being sex linked. What would the traits be of pullets and cockerels of such a combination?

 

[junebuggena]

Pullets would have dark legs, and the males would have the same color legs as the mother. But this only works if the rooster is the Silkie, not the hen; and the hen can't have slate or willow legs, they must be either white or yellow.

 

[katatonic123]

So my silkie roo over my Japanese hen should give me sex linked chicks? Shweet! Wish I'd have known that for a fact that first hatch. Had 5 chicks hatch from that pairing and only one had yellow legs. He's definitely a roo and we knew that from about 2 weeks old. His name is even Mr. Obvious. There were two I wasn't sure on for quite a while but would have known for certain if I'd have known this. Yay!

 

[junebuggena]

Chicken genetics can be very useful, if you have half an idea of what you are doing.

 

[michelle2468]

My only two roos are easter eggers and in addition to the easter egger roos and hens I have a mixed flock. My guys have been doing a really great job of fertilizing the eggs so I decided to try my luck at incubating. I will have easter egger crosses with red and black sex link, silver laced Wyandotte, new Hampshire red, and brown leghorn...this should b very interesting. I wonder what the chickens (and their eggs) will look like?