My Easter Egger breeding project

[MysteryChicken]

Wait, so essentially an EE can be any mix, but now commonly has Ameraucana blood in it? Or did they breed Ameraucanas out of EEs?

Ameraucanas are technically an EE with a standard making the EE it's none standardized counterpart.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Wait, so essentially an EE can be any mix, but now commonly has Ameraucana blood in it? Or did they breed Ameraucanas out of EEs?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...YQFnoECBsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1vks9bvJob-wFhaZtbKS5m

 

[LoveMyPeepers]

Thanks everyone!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Here's the thread that discusses Ameraucana, & EE. I was once one who thought the same as other's. The link I shared was originally from this thread, but for some reason doesn't exist in it anymore.

Thread 'Easter Egger's and Ameraucana's = same thing' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/easter-eggers-and-ameraucanas-same-thing.1406935/

 

[PaigeWells]

If you are ever going to be near Asheville NC reach out to me, I am just a regular person who always wanted chickens, but moved domestically and internationally 11 times over the last 30 years for my husband’s work, so only finally got to start with chickens about 4 years ago. I don’t eat my chickens, and keep my 2 retired rescue ladies as teachers for everyone else, but I do give extra Roos to a local farmer who humanely processes them for her table- I’m ok with that. I started with a mixed flock of all pure breeds, no EE or mixes and eventually got an accidental Rhode Island Red rooster (Scarlette) then an accidental Whitings True Blue Roo (Casper)then about a year ago I got interested in breeding for green speckled eggs. I rented an incubator from our local County Extension office and drove about a 3 hour round trip to pick up some Black Copper Maran roo over Whiting True Blue hatching eggs, out of that I got 2 pullets and a roo (well 3 Roos but I kept 1). So those WTB mothers SHOULD have been Homozygous, both girls do lay an olive egg. They hatched April 16th 2025. One (Mardi Gras) is all black, has cheeks, leg feathers, and a small comb, she lays very large (72g) dark olive eggs. The second (Henna) is white with some freckles, no cheeks, small comb, and lays a medium to large (56g) lighter olive egg. I am about to put them in my “breeding apartment” to flush out their systems for a few weeks along with Smoky and Ophelia, both pure Whitings True Blue blue egg layers. Then I will put my 3 young Welsummer boys that I got from Deer Run Farms, they come from a very speckled line and I hope to use them to add speckles to my olive eggs and make a lighter speckled green with the WTB girls. (And some more Welsummer girls to take the pressure off on numbers) We shall see!

Meanwhile I also hatched last April some unknown mutts, (I was running the incubator for the above eggs so added about 20 of my own, uncontrolled eggs.) I knew the moms, but not the dads, as I had 2 roosters- a very sweet Rhode Island Red named Scarlette (He was supposed to be a girl but identifies male!) and Casper, a jerk Whiting true Blue white splash rooster with a small comb. I only set blue eggs from my WTB and Cream Legbar girls and green eggs from my one Olive Egger (unknown origin on the mix but she had a large comb and was grey, no cheeks). Out of that mix I got one blue layer with a small pea comb from a blue egg (must have been Casper as the dad), several shades of green from olive to mint with small and large combs, some cheeks, and only one (her name is Mystery) brown layer from a green egg, she has cheeks but a large comb- interesting on the comb linking to blue/green genes. I don’t know her dad, but suspect Scarlette the RIR because of the large comb, she could have thrown a brown egg and the cheeks from her mom’s unknown ancestry, and the RIR dad would strengthen the comb and brown egg. Also, Grey tail, the daughter of an unknown Olive egger with a large comb randomly made just the egg I’m going for, a beautiful olive with speckles. BUT I don’t want to use her in my “official” breeding program because I don’t know her genetics- She has a large comb and looks like a RIR cross- I may breed her later either to a wellsummer to strengthen the spots or to my BCM/WTB roo named Bindi to see what that gets, but Chicken math is getting in my way…. I have a total of 40 birds right now, which is about my max, I am organic and free range about 6 hours a day in winter, much more in summer when there is more cover. Anyway, that’s my info, and my breeding program for speckled green eggs is very slow going but in another year I should be starting to get there. I band everyone and keep track of who came from where, my husband thinks I’m nuts but whatever. Check in in the future and I can tell you how it’s all going. (I didn’t attach any photos but am happy to do so, this was just getting too long!