Mixed Breed (?) I bought at a flea market!

[Wyandottes7]

Do you know if Easter Egger means a specific breed? I've been looking all over the place for this answer and I've heard its a variant of some specific breed but ive also heard its just any hen with the blue egg laying gene. I plan on getting more of this breed.

The Easter Egger is a mixed breed of chicken that lays colored eggs. It usually has some characteristics of the purebred Ameraucana or Araucana, but lacks important traits that define those breeds. Only certain color varieties are recognized in Ameraucanas and Araucanas; if the bird is a different color, it is an Easter Egger. Easter Eggers can have any color legs (true purebred Ameraucanas have only blue slate legs), may or may not have a muff and beard (a muff and beard are a requirement for a purebred Ameraucana), and can lay pink, blue, green, or even brown eggs (pure Ameraucanas and Araucanas should only lay blue eggs).

 

[BantamLover21]

Easter Egger cockerel.

 

[Michael OShay]

The Easter Egger is a mixed breed of chicken that lays colored eggs. It usually has some characteristics of the purebred Ameraucana or Araucana, but lacks important traits that define those breeds. Only certain color varieties are recognized in Ameraucanas and Araucanas; if the bird is a different color, it is an Easter Egger. Easter Eggers can have any color legs (true purebred Ameraucanas have only blue slate legs), may or may not have a muff and beard (a muff and beard are a requirement for a purebred Ameraucana), and can lay pink, blue, green, or even brown eggs (pure Ameraucanas and Araucanas should only lay blue eggs).

X2 on Wyandtottes7. Simply put Easter Eggers are hybrids produced by crossing blue egg layers with brown egg layers to produce offspring that lay eggs in colors other than just blue (olive, green, beige, and sometime pale pink). There is a good article at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/ameraucana-easter-egger-or-araucana.html explaining the differences between Auraucanas, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers. Hatcheries and feed stores frequently and incorrectly market their Easter Eggers as Araucanas or Ameraucanas.

 

[BabyChicken420]

Thanks all, I could never find a good answer. I plan on getting more of these Easter Eggers like this one because it looks so beautiful and colorful. Its also very friendly and loves to cuddle, thats another reason why I thought it was a cokerel at first because all the girls i've tried to pick up squirm around lol