Easter Egger Sexing "tips and tricks" *Pictures Included*

[truebluexf]

This is the best one I have without going outside and waking them up, lol! This thread is so long, so I'm trying to put all the info together from the bit I've read but I'm sure I'm
mixing things up. I know I read something about more rows or whatnot?

 

[PimentoPlymouth]

Both look like hens to me. Either way they are very good looking chickens EE's are some of my favorite apperance wise and its always fun to watch them grow and see how their colors will come out.

 

[stockedkitchen]

Do EE's have a different call than other chickens? Pete is about 3 months and make a call that is somewhere between a cuckoo, a crow and their normal cluck. The EE has done it for more than a month, now. I know, rooster coming into their crow are hilarious, having had a few. Pete sounds nothing like it, tho. I don't know what Pete is, yet. I find when I name they come up the opposite sex, so...

 

[Wishing4Wings]

This is the best one I have without going outside and waking them up, lol! This thread is so long, so I'm trying to put all the info together from the bit I've read but I'm sure I'm
mixing things up.

I know I read something about more rows or whatnot?

They both look like pullets. EE combs can vary, but that is more of a pea comb than anything else, so your chances of blue/green eggs are very good. Some "peas" will develop as she gets closer to laying.



My 8 week EE, not much comb.

Just starting to lay, still not much comb.

She only got a couple of peas at the top of her comb and lays a pretty green egg. (Ignore the balding BR)

My Ameraucanas have full rows of peas.

Bit more obvious than the half pea comb of the EE, but I'll take blue shells any way I can get them.

 

[Katt66]

Do EE's have a different call than other chickens? Pete is about 3 months and make a call that is somewhere between a cuckoo, a crow and their normal cluck. The EE has done it for more than a month, now. I know, rooster coming into their crow are hilarious, having had a few. Pete sounds nothing like it, tho. I don't know what Pete is, yet. I find when I name they come up the opposite sex, so...

Of all the EE roosters I know, six of them crow like every other rooster I've ever heard, one doesn't crow at all at nearly nine months old. And my crossbeak EE rooster sounds like a rusty swing of a rusty screendoor. Very faint and quiet and weird.

 

[polarbearpilot]

They both look like pullets. EE combs can vary, but that is more of a pea comb than anything else, so your chances of blue/green eggs are very good. Some "peas" will develop as she gets closer to laying.




My Ameraucanas have full rows of peas.

Bit more obvious than the half pea comb of the EE, but I'll take blue shells any way I can get them.

Beautiful Ameraucanas you have there. Wish I had some blue egg layers, my EEs lay green and brown. Maybe I'll try hatching some pure Ameraucana eggs this Spring.

 

[stockedkitchen]

Do EE's have a different call than other chickens? Pete is about 3 months and make a call that is somewhere between a cuckoo, a crow and their normal cluck. The EE has done it for more than a month, now. I know, rooster coming into their crow are hilarious, having had a few. Pete sounds nothing like it, tho. I don't know what Pete is, yet. I find when I name they come up the opposite sex, so...

How do I upload a personal mp3 or mp4 of the noise he/she makes?

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Beautiful Ameraucanas you have there. Wish I had some blue egg layers, my EEs lay green and brown. Maybe I'll try hatching some pure Ameraucana eggs this Spring.

Thank you. I got them from a BYC member. The buff looking one is actually half wheaten, so technically an EE! Neither of them lay a true blue egg, but a pretty greenish turquoise, which was a project the breeder was working on. I think the next blue layer I'll try is Cream Legbar, which will also satisfy my yearning for a crested bird.

 

[BLT79]

This is Sunshine, aka cheep cheep! He/she hatched out of a maran egg. Father is a EE. I believe since this one has yellow feet it makes it a mutt as opposed to a EE. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on sex. First photo was at almost 2 weeks. Second two are at 3 weeks. I think it's a roo but am hoping to be wrong. And Sunshine was the only one to hatch so I don't have any others to compare to. Has even more feathers today and will be 4 weeks Wednesday! thanks!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

This is Sunshine, aka cheep cheep! He/she hatched out of a maran egg. Father is a EE. I believe since this one has yellow feet it makes it a mutt as opposed to a EE. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on sex. First photo was at almost 2 weeks. Second two are at 3 weeks. I think it's a roo but am hoping to be wrong. And Sunshine was the only one to hatch so I don't have any others to compare to. Has even more feathers today and will be 4 weeks Wednesday! thanks!

Little cutie you've got there. Early yet, so just a guess, but I also think it's a cockerel. It's that second photo, where it looks like the wattles are starting to develop. Pictures can be deceiving, though, so fingers crossed for a pullet.

An EE isn't really a breed, but more a description of a chicken carrying the gene for blue shells, usually passed down from an Ameraucana parent/grandparent. Pretty much all EEs are mutts to some degree. Most of the hatchery birds bred and sold as "Ameraucanas" are really EEs, because they do not conform to the Standard of Perfection for the breed. They could in every way look like an Ameraucana, but have, for instance, green or yellow legs, and so are given EE status. They can be wonderful birds, but will never win a prize at a poultry show.

When crossed with Marans, the dark brown combined with the Ameraucana blue shell can produce those cool olive colored eggs, and the chickens are referred to as Olive Eggers, or OEs. If anything, Sunshine would be called an OE. If a male, however, it's difficult to determine what genes he carries for egg color. It would take a couple of generations of careful breeding to determine.