Easter Egger to Easter Egger

[Rocky Top Chick]

This may be a stupid question but can you hatch eggs that both parents are Easter Eggers? I believe I read where the off spring will die.

 

[KellyHM]

LOL, that's a fantastic case of "don't believe everything you hear/read." EE to EE makes adorable baby EEs! I just hatched some yesterday.

 

[Illia]

I don't know where you heard of such fable, but of course you can! After all, the Easter Eggers you get from hatcheries have been bred to each other for YEARS.

 

[Sparklee]

Quote:
Not a stupid question. You probably just got them confused with Araucanas (the ones with ear peduncles that look like earrings, no tail feathers, blue eggs). They have a lethal gene and you end up with a lot of unhatched eggs if you mate a two-earringed Araucana with another pure Araucana. Not all are unhatched, I don't think, but hatch rates are really low. I don't have all the particulars, so if you look up Araucanas, you'll see the info on the "lethal gene." It's very easy to get Araucanas, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers confused since they were all called Araucanas about 30 years ago.

 

[ErieSpurs]

Quote:
Not a stupid question. You probably just got them confused with Araucanas (the ones with ear peduncles that look like earrings, no tail feathers, blue eggs). They have a lethal gene and you end up with a lot of unhatched eggs if you mate a two-earringed Araucana with another pure Araucana. Not all are unhatched, I don't think, but hatch rates are really low. I don't have all the particulars, so if you look up Araucanas, you'll see the info on the "lethal gene." It's very easy to get Araucanas, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers confused since they were all called Araucanas about 30 years ago.

Beat me to it.

It is also confusing because most hatcheries use the breed names interchangeably.

 

[Rocky Top Chick]

Quote:
Not a stupid question. You probably just got them confused with Araucanas (the ones with ear peduncles that look like earrings, no tail feathers, blue eggs). They have a lethal gene and you end up with a lot of unhatched eggs if you mate a two-earringed Araucana with another pure Araucana. Not all are unhatched, I don't think, but hatch rates are really low. I don't have all the particulars, so if you look up Araucanas, you'll see the info on the "lethal gene." It's very easy to get Araucanas, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers confused since they were all called Araucanas about 30 years ago.

Thanks sparklee, that is what I read somewhere. If EE to EE make EE is it still a chance of any color eggs?

 

[Alabama ee]

Quote:
Not a stupid question. You probably just got them confused with Araucanas (the ones with ear peduncles that look like earrings, no tail feathers, blue eggs). They have a lethal gene and you end up with a lot of unhatched eggs if you mate a two-earringed Araucana with another pure Araucana. Not all are unhatched, I don't think, but hatch rates are really low. I don't have all the particulars, so if you look up Araucanas, you'll see the info on the "lethal gene." It's very easy to get Araucanas, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers confused since they were all called Araucanas about 30 years ago.

Thanks sparklee, that is what I read somewhere. If EE to EE make EE is it still a chance of any color eggs?

Pretty much. However, you can breed for a certain color. For instance, just select the blue eggs when you continue breeding. After a while, you will get mostly hens that lay blue eggs, etc.

 

[silkieloverz123]

I love my Easter Eggers!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

maybe you read that some araucana chicks die. the tufting gene can be deadly.
easter eggers are mixed chickens and the offspring are usually even hardier than the parents

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thanks sparklee, that is what I read somewhere.  If EE to EE make EE is it still a chance of any color eggs?

The basic genetics behind the color of eggs is real simple. It's putting it into practice that becomes tricky. That's mainly because the blue egg gene is dominant. Since it is dominant, if just one of the two genes present is blue, the hen will lay a blue or green egg. You don't know if a recessive white is present or not. And since roosters don't lay eggs, you can't tell by looking if he has any or not.

There is only one pair of genes that determines base eggshell color, blue or white. There are a lot of genes that influence brown. Green is just brown on top of blue. Think of it this way:

Base blue plus no brown = blue
Base blue plus brown = green
Base white plus no brown = white
Base white plus brown = brown

The exact shade of brown or green depends on how much brown is put on top of the base color.

Since EE's are a mix, you don't know if the chicken has any blue genes or not. If the hen is laying a blue or green egg, you at least have a dead giveaway that she has at least one, but you really can't be sure of an EE rooster unless you really know the flock genetics. If either parent has two blue genes you are home safe, the eggs will be either blue or green. But if both parents are split where they have one blue and one white, about 1/4 will not lay blue or green eggs. If one is split for the blue/white gene and the other does not have any blue egg gene, then about haf will lay blue or green eggs.

If you only hatch blue or green eggs, then there is at least a 50% chance a pullet from that cross will lay blue or green eggs. If the hen has two blue genes or the rooster has at least one, your odds go way up. But without knowing the genetics of the parents, its really hard to give any guarantees of what will happen.