How do you think commercial hatcheries make their EE's? Obviously they don't meet standards for true Ameraucanas, yet they do seem to carry a lot of Ameraucana traits. Do you think the hatcheries just keep a flock of EE's? Or do they, perhaps, buy some pet-quality true Ameraucana roosters in order to get the blue egg gene, and put them over various non-EE hens bred for egg laying ability? Or do they maybe just buy fertile eggs from various farmers who could be using either of the above strategies?
I would love an answer, but I doubt any hatchery will actually tell us. In any case, I love my 2 EE's. They were "stewing hens" I adopted. The original owner got them from McMurray. They are 3 years old now, and between the 2 of them I get 10-11 nice med-large green eggs per week, even in the dead of Winter. They have shown none of the internal eggs laying problems that the 2 Red Stars had, and they have good personalities too.
They are a great bird. I don't know why the hatcheries call them "Araucana/Ameraucanas" because EE's are great birds in their own right. I suppose it is partly because "Easter Egger" is such a dorky name. The hatcheries should come up with a more catchy name for them (like the way they changed the name of the Red Sex Link to "Red Star"). Then they could sell them truthfully and proudly.
On a related note, why *don't* the hatcheries sell true Ameraucanas? I understand why it would be hard for them to sell true Araucanas because of the lethal gene and all, but it doesn't seem like it would be so hard to sell Ameraucanas. They could start with a straightforward color like Black. That way people could have a choice of EE's or Ameraucanas. They would probably be only "pet quality", but at least unsuspecting newbies could buy them without ending up with something that is *totally* wrong.
I would love an answer, but I doubt any hatchery will actually tell us. In any case, I love my 2 EE's. They were "stewing hens" I adopted. The original owner got them from McMurray. They are 3 years old now, and between the 2 of them I get 10-11 nice med-large green eggs per week, even in the dead of Winter. They have shown none of the internal eggs laying problems that the 2 Red Stars had, and they have good personalities too.
They are a great bird. I don't know why the hatcheries call them "Araucana/Ameraucanas" because EE's are great birds in their own right. I suppose it is partly because "Easter Egger" is such a dorky name. The hatcheries should come up with a more catchy name for them (like the way they changed the name of the Red Sex Link to "Red Star"). Then they could sell them truthfully and proudly.
On a related note, why *don't* the hatcheries sell true Ameraucanas? I understand why it would be hard for them to sell true Araucanas because of the lethal gene and all, but it doesn't seem like it would be so hard to sell Ameraucanas. They could start with a straightforward color like Black. That way people could have a choice of EE's or Ameraucanas. They would probably be only "pet quality", but at least unsuspecting newbies could buy them without ending up with something that is *totally* wrong.
