Easter Egger colors

[Frosty29]

Why do Easter Eggers a lot of times have a more wild looking color pattern? A lot of them seem to be brown and orange.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

Because they're mix breeds

 

[junebuggena]

Because they're mix breeds

The vast majority are not mixed breeds. Just not bred to meet a specific standard.

 

[Frosty29]

A lot of them have a similar look. Reminds me of a pheasant.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

The vast majority are not mixed breeds. Just not bred to meet a specific standard.

They are a technical mix breed of a bearded kind usually an ameraucana and something else, thats how hatcheries bred them xD Thats how theres no standard or exacting colours from them lol

 

[junebuggena]

They are a technical mix breed of a bearded kind usually an ameraucana and something else, thats how hatcheries bred them xD Thats how theres no standard or exacting colours from them lol

Hatcheries have never had Ameraucana in the first place. Hatcheries have been breeding from the same stock since the early 1900s, back when all blue/green layers were called Araucana. It's these birds that both the Ameraucana breed and the Araucana breed were derived from. It's the Ameraucana that has Easter Eggers in their ancestry, not the other way around.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Didn't they originally breed ameraucana and araucana together though? So that's technically a mix breed? Or did the other breeds derive from EE? Didn't they all originate from Chile or something? And they were the same breed but there was a fight or certain breeders split off or something and that's how Ameraucana and Araucana came about???? I could be totally wrong lol

But also, Easter Eggers can be any breed that's not to standard, right? EE and Ameraucana are or can be essentially the same, right? Just that the EEs don't meet or have the standard??

Cause I saw this ad on Craigslist once, actually pretty recently, for Ameraucanas but then they also had some "off color" ones that I guess didn't meet the standard or they had a project going or something for those so they called them Easter Eggers because they didn't meet the Ameraucana standard so couldn't be called Ameraucanas.

All seems like just politics to me....

But of course like you said, the hatchery EEs have been bred for so long that they're now their own variety and "breed" but for smaller breeders, it seems a lot just call Ameraucana and Araucana that don't meet the standards for either "Easter Eggers". I think that adds to the confusion too and is part of why some people think they are the same. Cause in some ways, they ARE.

All that said, they were originally mixed breeds, right? Because they lay green eggs and sometimes even brown and most other colors so weren't they bred with brown egg layers?? Otherwise every egg would still be blue??

 

[Frosty29]

This is like what came first the chicken or the egg.

Getting back to what I was trying to get at, the Easter Egger genre of birds have a certain look to them which is to me more primitive looking.

 

[junebuggena]

Didn't they originally breed ameraucana and araucana together though? So that's technically a mix breed? Or did the other breeds derive from EE? Didn't they all originate from Chile or something? And they were the same breed but there was a fight or certain breeders split off or something and that's how Ameraucana and Araucana came about???? I could be totally wrong lol

But also, Easter Eggers can be any breed that's not to standard, right? EE and Ameraucana are or can be essentially the same, right? Just that the EEs don't meet or have the standard??

Cause I saw this ad on Craigslist once, actually pretty recently, for Ameraucanas but then they also had some "off color" ones that I guess didn't meet the standard or they had a project going or something for those so they called them Easter Eggers because they didn't meet the Ameraucana standard so couldn't be called Ameraucanas.

All seems like just politics to me....

But of course like you said, the hatchery EEs have been bred for so long that they're now their own variety and "breed" but for smaller breeders, it seems a lot just call Ameraucana and Araucana that don't meet the standards for either "Easter Eggers". I think that adds to the confusion too and is part of why some people think they are the same. Cause in some ways, they ARE.

All that said, they were originally mixed breeds, right? Because they lay green eggs and sometimes even brown and most other colors so weren't they bred with brown egg layers?? Otherwise every egg would still be blue??

Prior to the 1970s, there was no Ameraucana, Araucana, Easter Egger distinction made. They were all called Araucana and were more of a landrace than a breed. They originated from several tribal landraces in Chile, and were heavily crossed with European breeds prior to ever being imported to the U.S. They were nowhere near being a standardized breed. Some had muffs, some were rumpless, some had tufts, some didn't lay blue/green eggs at all. Basically, they were the Easter Eggers we all know and love.
In the 1970s, the APA accepted the breed standards for both the Ameraucana and the Araucana breeds. All the birds that met the standard for Araucana became Araucana, those that met the standard for Ameraucana became Ameraucana. The birds that didn't meet either standard became labeled Easter Eggers.
And while these birds all share a history, they are not all the same thing. With the Ameraucana, you know exactly what you are getting in terms of coloring, size, temperament, rate of production, and egg color. There are no such guarantees with Easter Eggers. Araucana and Ameraucana have been refined and standardized to the point of being recognized as distinct breeds.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

This is like what came first the chicken or the egg.

Getting back to what I was trying to get at, the Easter Egger genre of birds have a certain look to them which is to me more primitive looking.

Sometimes, not all of them though