Newbie Old Guy-Want Blue Eggs

[bigoledude]

A friend of mine sells his green EE eggs at an Asian market down here in SE Louisiana. I really love some of the EE's chicken's colors but, hate the green eggs. It's like "THERE SUPPOSED TO BE BLUE"!!!

I'm gonna start back and finish my incubator. It looks like I'm gonna go with Welsummers and Amaraucanas.

Question; Do Easter Eggers typically lay better than the Amaraucanas?

I've already mentioned I'm an old guy. I would like to let them out of their tractor set-up to do some foraging each day. Is either breed difficult to get caged-up?

 

[Debbi]

Hi "old guy", old gal here

Easter Eggers, (EEs), lay different colored eggs, hence the name. They can be any color of white, tinted, pale pink, green, or blue. EEs are basically mutts. Now, the Ameraucana is a recognized breed, and should lay a blue egg. There is an Ameraucana thread on here you should check out so that you can tell the difference in them and an EE. While I have neither of these breeds yet, I hope to get a few Ameraucanas in the future, so that I can breed the hens to my Marans roos, and get Olive Eggers!! Stick around, there is a load of wealth of all sorts on the BYC site! Welcome aboard!!

 

[Debbi]

Here is the link to the Ameraucana thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...sting-pictures-and-discussing-our-birds/15810

 

[AinaWGSD]

EE do not have a breed standard, so there is no one color that their eggs are "supposed to be." Green is actually one of the most common colors of EE eggs. Now Ameraucanas and Araucanas are two breeds that do have a breed standard and ARE supposed to lay blue eggs. However, egg color is not something that judges really evaluate at bird shows and may or may not be something that a breeder chooses to focus on. I have an Ameraucana pullet that I bought from a breeder at a show last fall. I have to admit that I was disappointed when she started laying and her eggs were almost the same shade of green as my EE girl. If you want blue eggs, be sure to ask the breeder/seller LOTS of questions regarding egg color.

As for laying, that depends a lot on the strain. But yes, EE do frequently lay better than Ameraucanas. EE most commonly originate from hatchery stock, which is bred for high egg production. Ameraucana breeders focus on more than just egg production to produce a bird that comes as close to the written standard as possible, so they may not lay as well as a hatchery bird. In my extremely limited experience, my two are about even in the egg laying department. My EE was the first of my hens to lay and lays a large egg every day for about 3 days in a row before taking one day off. My Ameraucana took a little longer to lay, but she also lays an egg a day for several days in a row. Her eggs are more of a medium-large, but she's also a pullet and has only been laying for about 4-5 months so her eggs may get bigger yet. Again, different breeders focus on different traits so if you want good layers be sure to ask the breeder lots and lots of questions about their birds' egg production qualities.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I agree with what everyone else said about EE's and Ameraucana's.

Another breed that lays blue eggs is the Cream Legbar. They are expensive though because they are pretty rare.