EE Pullet

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Here's another. This is a pullet from the Tractor Supply "Ameraucana" bin. She's still young, but her beard & muffs have started filling out (you can't tell from the picture, but it was the only clear one I could get of her today) and her other characteristics are pretty good. She might have more Ameraucana in her than a lot of EEs I've seen. However, the color has me bumfuzzled. She looks like a mix between a Brown-Red and Blue - if you could be sure there was real Ameraucana heritage. I found a Blue Wheaton, but the APA photos I could find on it showed very little blue in the female and the Wheaton was really light. If you just look at her head and neck, she looks like a good case for Brown-Red. I've just never seen this color combo before and thought maybe you Ameraucana experts out there could break it down.

 

[donrae]

Your assumption that there is bred to standard, thus standard colors, in an hatchery EE's recent heritage is incorrect. Therefore, EEs are just EE colored, no "color". Just enjoy your layers.

 

[Kev]

donrae said it.

if you still really want a name for the color... the closest she comes to is a blue partridge. Won't get an exact match because there are so many different genes for patterns and colors and even a single gene can make a huge difference.. or small... with EE being a huge mixing pot.......

A blue brown red would have largely solid blue body with brown mostly limited to neck and front of breast. Check out blue copper marans for basically how this color looks.

If you want to breed more like her, use a rooster with a red duckwing pattern. especially a known partridge rooster.. wheaten, red duckwing and partridge roosters look rather similar, it is the hen versions that are more obvious.

 

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What's actually striking to me is that through the hatchery process they retain any characteristics at all rather than just being a mottled mess.

I was curious after seeing the Blue Wheaten as an accepted breed although the pictures I've seen of them show virtually no blue in the hens. On this pullet, if you just took her head and neck, she starts resembling what a Brown-Red is supposed to look like but instead of going to a dark body, she turns to this brown mixed with blue and a blue tail.

Chicken genetics would be a lot more fascinating to me if I understood the topic at all. I think of paint that, when you mix red and white in equal amounts, yields pink. Chicken genetics are apparently nothing like that.

I had a Welsummer hen that accidentally bred with a black Silkie male. The result was a medium sized rooster (not full size or bantam) with exact Welsummer coloring, but white legs (not black or yellow), five toes (I've heard that's a mandatory dominant), and a rose comb (not walnut or single). He's really pretty, yet one-of-a-kind!

 

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donrae said it.

if you still really want a name for the color... the closest she comes to is a blue partridge. Won't get an exact match because there are so many different genes for patterns and colors and even a single gene can make a huge difference.. or small... with EE being a huge mixing pot.......

A blue brown red would have largely solid blue body with brown mostly limited to neck and front of breast. Check out blue copper marans for basically how this color looks.

If you want to breed more like her, use a rooster with a red duckwing pattern. especially a known partridge rooster.. wheaten, red duckwing and partridge roosters look rather similar, it is the hen versions that are more obvious.

Doesn't the Welsummer fit in the partridge description? I've got a Welsummer Roo I could put her with. My girls love her color and it would be neat to get some more like her. How would the lethal gene carry through with a non-EE Roo?

 

[Kev]

EE are a motley mess to some people...

(not to me)

The reason for wheaten hens being so light is because wheaten has a strong tendency to clear the body of 'color' and patterning. This can also be selected for or against- much lighter or darker toned hens, respectively.

Blue works by diluting black pigment to that gray shade. It has much weaker effect on red/brown pigments.. That is why you do not see much blue on wheaten hens- the blue gene can only 'work' on the black parts of the hen's tails and necks, if they happen to have some black on necks.

So it is not a matter of blue gene making the chickens blue.... btw, solid blue chickens are genetically solid black chickens but with blue gene added which in turn has diluted the black to grey.

Welsumers are genetically red duckwing with iirc, mahogany or another gene added. Not exactly the same as your hen but if you look at pictures of blue duckwings and like them too, then this will be a great pairing- the hens will be either brown patterned with blue or brown patterned with black.

EE do not have a lethal gene.. that's found only in the true Araucana breed.. the lethality has to do with ear tufts.. which is completely different from the beard on your hens and other EE.

 

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Ah. I thought that gene was necessary for the blue eggs.


What would I get if I mixed her with this guy? He's an EE too.

 

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Last question. I had an EE that laid what I would call a bright blue egg. Is there anything to look for in a Roo to give any indication that I might be able to produce offspring that would get that blue egg characteristic, or is it all up to chance because they're EEs and I might as easily end up with an olive egg as a blue?

 

[Kev]

That roo is an excellent choice, he may well be the roo version of her patterning. But he also seems possible golden, which means he is genetically half silver half gold.. if this is correct, some of the chicks will come out black and white patterned.. also some of them will turn out blue and white patterned. Quite a color variety but all highly patterned, with half being in the blue version.

There is no way to tell by looking at a rooster what sort of egg shade he will throw.. He has a pea comb though, which makes it very likely he does have the gene necessary for blue or green or olive eggs. In other words, you should not get any or if at all, very few tan/brown eggers.

 

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Awesome. Thanks for the info!