Getting Olive Easter Eggers and Americaunas

[Crazybirdlady46]

Picking up chicks on Wednesday and I can't even tell you how excited I am. Can they be bred with one another and what occurs if that happens? Am I correct in what I read in that Olive Easter Eggers will only give Olive green eggs and the Americaunas give blue eggs? What will they look like when they get bigger? What do the crosses of the 2 look like and what color eggs do they produce? Thanks in advance and sorry for all the questions?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Can they be bred with one another

As long as you have a male and a female, yes they can breed. Breed is a man-made thing, chickens do not see breed. Any male will try to breed with any female.

and what occurs if that happens?

I'm not sure what you are getting at here. If you incubate them you get chickens. If you can clarify your question I'll try.


Am I correct in what I read in that Olive Easter Eggers will only give Olive green eggs and the Americaunas give blue eggs?

Sort of, maybe. True Ameraucana should only lay blue eggs, that's a breed requirement, but not all birds sold as Ameraucana actually are true Ameraucana. Some may not be pure. But a true Ameraucana should have two blue shell genes at that gene pair so they should always pass one down to their offspring. And they should not have any brown shell genetics so the eggs should be blue, not green

Olive Easter Eggers are a bit more complicated. There are two parts of egg shell color. The first one is simple, the base color is either blue or white, with blue being dominant. If just one of the genes at that gene pair is the blue shell gene the base color will be blue. EE's can be mixed. You don't know if the hen has two blue genes at that gene pair or just one if she is laying a base blue egg. Since roosters don't lay eggs you don't know if he has one, two, or none blue shell genes. So with EE's you don't know what base color will be passed down. Often with Olive EE's one parent is a breed that lays a really dark egg so they might just have one blue shell gene.

The other part of the shell color is the brown. Green is brown on a base blue egg. There are many different genes at different gene pairs that can affect shade of brown or green. Some are dominant, some are recessive, some are partially dominant. At least one only has an effect if another certain gene is present. One is even sex linked, which means only the rooster can give it to his daughters. One is even a bleach gene, it can modify brown to white. It is a complicated mess. That's why you can get so many different shades of brown or green.

Depending on what brown genes get passed down and whether they are recessive, dominant, or something else you can get some pretty big surprises when you cross chickens. Typically if you cross a rooster that hatched from a dark brown or dark green egg with a hen that is laying a dark brown or dark green egg you can expect to get a pretty dark egg. You may occasionally get a surprise but most of the time they will be dark. If you cross an Ameraucana rooster that should have only the genetics for a light blue egg with a hen that is laying a dark green olive egg most of the time you will get a green egg but it won't be that dark. Most of the time, but you can still have some surprises.

What will they look like when they get bigger?

There are eight different recognized colors/patterns of Ameraucana that I am aware of. EE's can be any color/pattern, no limits, and are often mixes. If you can tell us the specific color/pattern of the Ameraucana you are breeding with each other we can probably tell you what to expect. But with the EE's in the mix, it's Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, you don't know what you will get. To me that's part of the fun of hatching mixes, you just don't know what yo will get.

 

[trufadog]

We have three americaunas right now. One lays rose colored eggs, one lays smallish blue eggs and her identical sister lays sandy colored eggs. We were told to choose the darkest americauna to get darker blue eggs and only one had blue eggs. Good luck!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

We have three americaunas right now. One lays rose colored eggs, one lays smallish blue eggs and her identical sister lays sandy colored eggs. We were told to choose the darkest americauna to get darker blue eggs and only one had blue eggs. Good luck!

Sounds like you actually have Easter eggers, since purebred ameraucanas only lay blue eggs.

 

[Crazybirdlady46]

Can they be bred with one another

As long as you have a male and a female, yes they can breed. Breed is a man-made thing, chickens do not see breed. Any male will try to breed with any female.

and what occurs if that happens?

I'm not sure what you are getting at here. If you incubate them you get chickens. If you can clarify your question I'll try.


Am I correct in what I read in that Olive Easter Eggers will only give Olive green eggs and the Americaunas give blue eggs?

Sort of, maybe. True Ameraucana should only lay blue eggs, that's a breed requirement, but not all birds sold as Ameraucana actually are true Ameraucana. Some may not be pure. But a true Ameraucana should have two blue shell genes at that gene pair so they should always pass one down to their offspring. And they should not have any brown shell genetics so the eggs should be blue, not green

Olive Easter Eggers are a bit more complicated. There are two parts of egg shell color. The first one is simple, the base color is either blue or white, with blue being dominant. If just one of the genes at that gene pair is the blue shell gene the base color will be blue. EE's can be mixed. You don't know if the hen has two blue genes at that gene pair or just one if she is laying a base blue egg. Since roosters don't lay eggs you don't know if he has one, two, or none blue shell genes. So with EE's you don't know what base color will be passed down. Often with Olive EE's one parent is a breed that lays a really dark egg so they might just have one blue shell gene.

The other part of the shell color is the brown. Green is brown on a base blue egg. There are many different genes at different gene pairs that can affect shade of brown or green. Some are dominant, some are recessive, some are partially dominant. At least one only has an effect if another certain gene is present. One is even sex linked, which means only the rooster can give it to his daughters. One is even a bleach gene, it can modify brown to white. It is a complicated mess. That's why you can get so many different shades of brown or green.

Depending on what brown genes get passed down and whether they are recessive, dominant, or something else you can get some pretty big surprises when you cross chickens. Typically if you cross a rooster that hatched from a dark brown or dark green egg with a hen that is laying a dark brown or dark green egg you can expect to get a pretty dark egg. You may occasionally get a surprise but most of the time they will be dark. If you cross an Ameraucana rooster that should have only the genetics for a light blue egg with a hen that is laying a dark green olive egg most of the time you will get a green egg but it won't be that dark. Most of the time, but you can still have some surprises.

What will they look like when they get bigger?

There are eight different recognized colors/patterns of Ameraucana that I am aware of. EE's can be any color/pattern, no limits, and are often mixes. If you can tell us the specific color/pattern of the Ameraucana you are breeding with each other we can probably tell you what to expect. But with the EE's in the mix, it's Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, you don't know what you will get. To me that's part of the fun of hatching mixes, you just don't know what yo will get.

I am disappointed to say the person sold them out from under me so I'm am still in search of them but thank you for the information. I will get my Easter Eggers and my Amercaunas