Easter egger Help

[gridgeway66]

So we recently got 5 Easter Egger pullets. Now they are about 9 weeks old. 4 of them look pretty much the same except one. Can anybody help us with why ? Here's a pic of her

 

[CapricornFarm]

Probably because ee vary quite a bit and come in a variety of colors.

 

[sylviethecochin]

EEs are cull aracaunas and ameracaunas, There is no breed standard, and it's only used by hatcheries to sell all their non-standard colored egg layers in one batch. Honestly, I'm surprised that you got any that look alike.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Of all the EE hens I have had over the years, most have been like your others gold/red with black barring (partridge?) etc. Your girl is beautiful, love the blue on her tail. This year I got a different color. She was a light yellow chick with small black markings. She turned out to have a white head with a gray/black partridge? pattern & light salmon on her breast. EEs are wonderful birds, but can look many different ways. Have fun.

 

[aart]

EEs are cull aracaunas and ameracaunas, There is no breed standard, and it's only used by hatcheries to sell all their non-standard colored egg layers in one batch. Honestly, I'm surprised that you got any that look alike.

Sold from the hatchery they are more likely to be deliberate crosses.

 

[Ridgerunner]

EEs are cull aracaunas and ameracaunas, There is no breed standard, and it's only used by hatcheries to sell all their non-standard colored egg layers in one batch. Honestly, I'm surprised that you got any that look alike.

That's a common myth. Easter Eggers were not developed from Ameraucana or Araucana, the Ameraucana and Araucana were developed from Easter Eggers. EE's are not culls, they are chickens that should be colored egg layers, nothing more. Some hatcheries had their colored egg laying flocks before the Ameraucana breed was even developed from EE's.

For a chicken to be considered an Ameraucana or Araucana they have to meet pretty stringent breed standards. These include a lot or things other than just color and pattern, but there are specific colors and patterns recognized. To breed Wheaten Ameraucana, for example, you need to only keep Wheaten Ameraucana in that breeding pen. If you add in any other color or pattern the crosses are not recognized an Ameraucana. The only hatchery I'm aware f that tries to sell true Ameraucana is Sand Hill. The rest just have EE flocks. EE's have no breed requirements.

I assume you got them from a hatchery but I don't know which one. Hatcheries typically have a pretty wide mix of colors and patterns in their EE flock but each hatchery is unique with their own people deciding which birds get to breed. If you can find someone that got EE's from the same hatchery you can compare and see what each other got. But for most hatcheries the question is not why one looks different but why so many look alike. That would be pure luck. Good luck on getting colored eggs.