EE question....

[juliejohnson805]

I've been thinking...dangerous so beware!

I have 2 EE cockerels and I understand that makes them a mix - a mutt of sorts. Is there a way to look and make a reasonable guess as to what they are mixed with? I know you can do with dogs so can someone do it with chickens??

 

[junebuggena]

Common misconception that all Easter Eggers are mixed breeds. Not true. Hatchery sourced Easter Eggers are not mixed. They just haven't been bred to meet a specific standard. They are as close to the originally imported birds (back in the early 1900s) as you can get these days.

 

[juliejohnson805]

hhmm....so EE is s standard breed? The only refernces I ever see are when folks think they have Ar/Amercauna and find out they actually have EE. Dang, this just got even more confusing.

 

[lomine]

No, they are not a breed. In order for them to be excepted as a breed they would have to breed true at least 50% of the time. Meaning that half of the offspring need to look like the parents. You don't get that with EEs.

EEs and Ameraucanas come from the same original stock so they have very similar traits. Hatchery EE birds are from those same birds. They aren't a mix of breeds. "Homemade" EEs, on the other hand, might be a mix of Ameraucanas and another breed.

 

[junebuggena]

They are not a standard breed. They are more of a 'landrace' type. It's only confusing because they are so often misrepresented. I'll break it down as simply as I can. In the early 1900s, these birds were imported into the United States. There was no distinction made between Araucana, Ameraucana, and Easter Eggers. They were all called Araucana and they were far from a recognized, consistent breed. It's these birds that hatcheries obtained and have been breeding generations of, ever since. In the 1980s, the American Poultry Association accepted breed standards for the Araucana breed and the Ameraucana breed. At that point, all the birds that met the standard for Araucana became Araucana and all the birds that met the standard for Ameraucana became Ameraucana. All the birds that didn't meet either breed standard became known as Easter Eggers.

 

[juliejohnson805]

That makes perfect sense. The reason I brought up was trying to see if I used my EE cockerel to breed would I have any way of knowing what I might get. I'm thinking it might be fun to try and see what I get. Thanks for helping me!

 

[lomine]

Go for it. Not knowing what an EE will look like when it matures is one of my favorite things about them.