Easter Egger club!

[poppycock1974]

Does grass even grow in Arlington? Wow,yea crossing fingers you don't have a roo. WAY to go on teaching your kids outside the box! I can hear the 9-1-1 call now at first crow!

Our street is so loud I doubt anyone would think twice about it but We can't have them and I certainly don't want any. One of my neighbors is desperately awaiting the arrival of the first eggs. She said she goes through eggs very quickly so I can bribe her with mine. She's a hoot

 

[pipAchick]

Awah that's good.
A dozen eggs sure can go a long way!

 

[Shawneegyrl]

K, so question.. Every feed store in Duval is telling me that an EE is just an Ameraucana.. I was under the impression that an EE is an Ameraucana x NEARLY ANY OTHER BREED. and this is how they get the EE and the Olive Egger? I know they are "mutt breeds" or what ever, but i love the idea of them, and think they'd be a great addition for the kids, either way i'll be getting one and just want to know if the "Ameraucana" i just bought is indeed, and EE or just the parent of a possible EE?? help?

The Ameraucana is carefully bred to meet a Standard of Perfection that is very specific about body type, size, skin color, muffs, beard and feather color. Only 8 colors are accepted in the Standard. With the exception of Blue, which has unique genetic make up, each color should only be bred within it's own color category. It must breed true, meaning the chicks resulting from a mating will look just like its parents. Any variation would be a cull and mean that the parents were not pure Ameraucana or have some rouge gene hiding out in the DNA.
A serious breeder would find the source and cull the cock or hen or both to prevent it from staying in the gene pool. Ideally they lay a blue shelled egg with no tint, but that can vary somewhat depending on the line. Except for silver Ameraucana chicks are pretty much solid colored based on the color variety

EE are a delightful hodge-podge of multi-colored egg layers that show SOME or maybe all characteristics of the Ameraucana. They are capable of laying almost any color egg due to the mixed genetics that they are made up of. EEs usually have the chipmunk stripes down the back that can vary somewhat in color. Many EEs may have Ameraucana parents. The primary goal in breeding EEs is colored egg varieties

I have both and dearly love them all. I have pure Wheaten AM Bantams

I also have a Lavender AM cockerel with a White AM hen. Both are pure Ameraucanas, but their chicks are EEs because they will not breed true, even if bred the chick back to an Ameraucana of matching color

Hope that helps clarify the Ameraucana -- EE difference

 

[Lelanae]

K, so question.. Every feed store in Duval is telling me that an EE is just an Ameraucana.. I was under the impression that an EE is an Ameraucana x NEARLY ANY OTHER BREED. and this is how they get the EE and the Olive Egger? I know they are "mutt breeds" or what ever, but i love the idea of them, and think they'd be a great addition for the kids, either way i'll be getting one and just want to know if the "Ameraucana" i just bought is indeed, and EE or just the parent of a possible EE?? help?

Every feed store in my area says the same thing--they just don't know any better! One kept insisting their birds were NOT EE, but that they would lay various colored eggs.
(A pure Ameraucana lays only blue) --I finally got them to tell me where they got their babies and they handed me a Cackle catalog. The catalog was very deceptively written--a whole page describing Ameraucanas and one sentence saying, "what we sell are Easter Eggers". Easter Eggers are wonderful --but it astonishes me that so many places that sell baby chicks don't know the difference between breeds.

 

[kekstrom]

Every feed store in my area says the same thing--they just don't know any better! One kept insisting their birds were NOT EE, but that they would lay various colored eggs.
(A pure Ameraucana lays only blue) --I finally got them to tell me where they got their babies and they handed me a Cackle catalog. The catalog was very deceptively written--a whole page describing Ameraucanas and one sentence saying, "what we sell are Easter Eggers". Easter Eggers are wonderful --but it astonishes me that so many places that sell baby chicks don't know the difference between breeds.

It should be some kind of chicken-law that they have to correctly advertise. I asked around for Easter Eggers, and the girls on the phones would say, oh you mean Ameraucanas? Um, no... I mean Easter Eggers. Kinda misleading... especially for those trying to learn and new to the chicken world.

 

[junebuggena]

Every feed store in my area says the same thing--they just don't know any better! One kept insisting their birds were NOT EE, but that they would lay various colored eggs.
(A pure Ameraucana lays only blue) --I finally got them to tell me where they got their babies and they handed me a Cackle catalog. The catalog was very deceptively written--a whole page describing Ameraucanas and one sentence saying, "what we sell are Easter Eggers". Easter Eggers are wonderful --but it astonishes me that so many places that sell baby chicks don't know the difference between breeds.

That is too funny. Cackle is one hatchery that has always sold their Easter Eggers as Easter Eggers. They have never sold them as Ameraucana. They just started offering true Black Ameraucana this year.
http://www.cacklehatchery.com/easter-eggs.html

 

[Sylvester017]

That is too funny. Cackle is one hatchery that has always sold their Easter Eggers as Easter Eggers. They have never sold them as Ameraucana. They just started offering true Black Ameraucana this year.
http://www.cacklehatchery.com/easter-eggs.html

It's true that a lot of reputable better hatcheries are distinguishing EEs from their Ameraucanas. It's just funny that over the years their EEs were always sold as Ameraucana/Araucanas and now that the hatcheries are starting to sell the REAL Ameraucanas they only now are making the distinction a bit clearer about EEs from Ams! It's all about sales with them!

 

[gander007]

Three of these chicks are EE chicks that hatched out today

 

[gander007]

Them to coming you of their shell are the first for Saturday so for this week I have had a better then 90% success rate for hatching eggs I guess that is not bad for an old man with a 20 year old Styrofoam G.Q.F. incubator who adds eggs day to day as an opening accrues ...


Oh 16 chicks total for the week hatched with at least one chicks per day what a joy I have had reading everyone's success and those who learned something, now remember no matter your hatch rate don't give up as everything is a learning experience and should be a joyful learning curve

Look this young lady was just at the 20 week mark when she hatched out her chicks on her very first try so it can be dune if you pay attention and use care ...

To all and your family's enjoy the Easter weekend

gander007

 

[junebuggena]

It's true that a lot of reputable better hatcheries are distinguishing EEs from their Ameraucanas. It's just funny that over the years their EEs were always sold as Ameraucana/Araucanas and now that the hatcheries are starting to sell the REAL Ameraucanas they only now are making the distinction a bit clearer about EEs from Ams! It's all about sales with them!

Cackle has always been honest about their birds, at least they have been for the past several years. In this situation, I think it's the feed store that was pushing them as Ameraucana, or they were working off of some very old/outdated info.
Up until about 1978, Easter Eggers were called Ameraucana. But then the Ameraucana got official recognition as a breed. Hatcheries just never changed their breeding practices or marketing to conform to the new breed standard. They just kept doing what they had always done, and most still do.