My Easter Egger

[Lady of McCamley]

Pretty impossible to know what breeds behind a hatchery EE especially without photos of the actual bird. "Looks like this" isn't the same as a real photo...if you notice the birds in all the photos have different leg colors.

If there is beard and muff, then Ameraucana was fairly close back as those drop out pretty quickly.

If it is not a solid black or a solid white, then likely not closely related to either Australorp or White Leghorn as black and white base colors are pretty dominant.

But that leaves a long list of possibilities with red tone birds like RIR and RSL (however you usually get a lot of base red with those) and a whole list of possibilities with partridge types, brown types, mahogany types, and buff types....and that's not counting for if an EE was used as a parent (which is likely) who can completely skew results as well.

So to create a list of suggestions, it is easiest when you have a list of possible real parents. Then genetic statistical probabilities can factor in.

What I can say is look at the beard/muffs and the comb. If it is pea comb, then likely you'll get some blue or green eggs as likely the blue shell gene passed too. If you get clear blue eggs, it is likely some white layers were close back as the genes for brown wash didn't present ahead...which they usually do even in some tone if one of the parents is a brown layer type.

All that can be said without more information of the actual parentage. You can also look up the hatchery and see what birds they carry. That can help you figure out what might be behind them...but hatcheries will work on their EE lines for a long time, so there can be many, many genes represented.

Hopefully they will lay lovely green eggs for you soon. (Then you'll know you've got some brown layers close back

LofMc

 

[Chicken_Guru]

Pretty impossible to know what breeds behind a hatchery EE especially without photos of the actual bird. "Looks like this" isn't the same as a real photo...if you notice the birds in all the photos have different leg colors.

If there is beard and muff, then Ameraucana was fairly close back as those drop out pretty quickly.

If it is not a solid black or a solid white, then likely not closely related to either Australorp or White Leghorn as black and white base colors are pretty dominant.

But that leaves a long list of possibilities with red tone birds like RIR and RSL (however you usually get a lot of base red with those) and a whole list of possibilities with partridge types, brown types, mahogany types, and buff types....and that's not counting for if an EE was used as a parent (which is likely) who can completely skew results as well.

So to create a list of suggestions, it is easiest when you have a list of possible real parents. Then genetic statistical probabilities can factor in.

What I can say is look at the beard/muffs and the comb. If it is pea comb, then likely you'll get some blue or green eggs as likely the blue shell gene passed too. If you get clear blue eggs, it is likely some white layers were close back as the genes for brown wash didn't present ahead...which they usually do even in some tone if one of the parents is a brown layer type.

All that can be said without more information of the actual parentage. You can also look up the hatchery and see what birds they carry. That can help you figure out what might be behind them...but hatcheries will work on their EE lines for a long time, so there can be many, many genes represented.

Hopefully they will lay lovely green eggs for you soon. (Then you'll know you've got some brown layers close back

LofMc

Wait a second, let me take a picture

 

[Chicken_Guru]

Here she is.

 

[drumstick diva]

does she have feathered feet??

 

[Chicken_Guru]

does she have feathered feet??

No, she doesn't.

 

[junebuggena]

Typical hatchery type Easter Egger. Not exactly a mixed breed, just not bred to meet a specific standard. And no, Ameraucana are not commonly used by hatcheries to start Easter Egger lines. Hatchery Easter Eggers predate the creation of the Ameraucana breed.

 

[Chicken_Guru]

Typical hatchery type Easter Egger. Not exactly a mixed breed, just not bred to meet a specific standard. And no, Ameraucana are not commonly used by hatcheries to start Easter Egger lines. Hatchery Easter Eggers predate the creation of the Ameraucana breed.

But is mine mixed with an Ameraucana??

 

[junebuggena]

But is mine mixed with an Ameraucana??

It's a common misconception that Easter Eggers are Ameraucana crossbreeds. The reality is that the Ameraucana breed was actually derived from Easter Eggers.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

They look like this

There is a little silver lace in there.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Typical hatchery type Easter Egger. Not exactly a mixed breed, just not bred to meet a specific standard. And no, Ameraucana are not commonly used by hatcheries to start Easter Egger lines. Hatchery Easter Eggers predate the creation of the Ameraucana breed.

Hmmm, I'd quibble a bit on that point from the research I've done.

The confusion lies in the the lack of defining terms as well as a very convoluted history of the Araucana breed.

A number of sources I've read (one I'll link below) state that the birds brought over from Chile (of which there were 2 to 3 types) were always called Araucana after the region they came from.

Those Chilean birds were definitely a motley group of mixed heritage, but had several of the known traits. One type was rumpless and laid blue eggs. Another was tailed and laid a brown egg. The Araucana Indians (named as such by the Spanish in the 1500's) learned that by crossing the two types they could get the coveted tail-less birds which they felt were better protected from predators by having no tail. (They had learned how difficult it was to breed the rumpless and tufted variety on its own.)

A more solidified type was introduced at the World's Fair in 1914 as a rare bird breed from Chile, but it had already been selectively bred for over a number of bird generations and represented the work of one man. One source states a picture in the National Geographic of a rumpless type listed it as Araucana gave the Chilean bird its national notoriety and name. Another source states it was the World Poultry convention at the Hague in 1921 that did the deed.

However it was, from my readings, Araucana thereafter was the term used for any Chilean birds that laid blue eggs. The term Easter Egger arose to refer to the deceptive practice by those who took the Araucana and cross bred it with other breeds to sell as coveted Araucanas without having to actually own a flock of them.

Araucanas were bred in the United States since the 1920's, with different breeders taking different cues from the two different types of Chilean Araucanas. The rumpless tufted types were recognized first by the ABA in the early 1970's leaving the muffed and tailed Araucana breeders basically left out in the cold by internal politics and maneuvering. These muffed/tailed type breeders came together to rename their lines Ameraucana (American Araucana) which were finally recognized by the ABA in the early 1980's. (Interestingly the European tailed Araucana owes its body type to a ship wreck of several Chilean types off the Hebrides in the 1880's).

Hatcheries were keen to jump on board of the blue egg popularity and typically billed their birds as Araucanas though they were mixed with other layer breeds. In time Araucana and Easter Egger was used interchangeably by the public.

So while Ameraucanas were recognized later, technically, they were orginally considered Araucana, the official name for the Chilean bird types, and have been in America under such name since the 1920's.

So it is a matter of defining your terms. While it is true that the Chilean birds were mongrel types (having a heritage intermixed with European types as well as the Indian types), the name for these birds among reputable breeders (from my research) has always been Araucana for the region from which they came. Easter Egger has been a term used by reputable breeders to distinguish between lines being held carefully with those that are being diluted and mixed for profit (since the blue eggs were originally toted as being lower in fat and higher in nutrition to the point of being a "health food.")

Interestingly, Araucana is not what the birds are known as in Chile. While there are hardly any of the original types left, what is now being reconstructed of the original Indian lines is referred to as Gallina Mapuche.

What the hatcheries have now are lines that have been intermixed and do not breed true. At some point I think they must throw back in some pure blood just to keep the characteristics that make the birds confusing enough to be assumed Ameraucana. (But not by intention for reputable hatcheries...reputable hatcheries admit their EEs do not breed true and are not Araucanas or Ameraucanas but mixed breeds from the original Chilean "Araucanas" (are any hatchery lines that old???) or more likely modern mixes of American Araucana and Ameraucanas).

LofMc

http://ameraucanabreedersclub.org/history.html

http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/09e06a13.pdf