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You forgot Isbar, Arkansas Blues, Super Blue Egg Layers (and I am sure there are more).... they all carry the blue/green egg gene too....
It would be nice if we could get the hatcheries to change the name to "Rainbow Layers". Some of their "Americaunas" have lost the blue egg gene - so they wouldn't be Easter Eggers any more (unless EEs are allowed to lay brown, white and pink eggs?).
Here's an opinion that might(read: will probably/definitely) REALLY crinkle some noses... But the intention is not to troll... just to throw another thought out there...
*Deep breath*
here goes.
The Catch All term, "Easter Eggers", should probably be used like "Brown Layers" or "White Layers" or "Tinted Layers" or "Chocolate Layers"... And it should include any individual bird or breed that possesses the blue egg gene... Pure Breed or not... I've seen some hatcheries use the term "Rainbow Layer" which suggests a variety of genes and egg colors... and as such, "Rainbow Layer" really ought to be the interchangeable term for a "Mixed Breed Easter Egger".
And I also think Ameraucanas as a breed should probably include green eggs as well as blue eggs in their standard since they can and often do occur and are a result of the breeding done to create the Ameraucanas to begin with.
Which would mean...
Easter Eggers would include Cream Legbars, Araucana, Ameraucana, and Mixed Breed Easter Eggers.
If you boolean these terms out... they would be distinguished thusly.
All Araucanas are Easter Eggers, but not all Easter Eggers are Araucanas. They lay ONLY blue eggs. This is their breed standard (insert standard here)
All Cream Legbars are Easter Eggers, but not all Easter Eggers are Cream Legbars. They lay ONLY blue eggs. This is their breed standard (insert standard here)
All Ameraucanas are Easter Eggers, but not all Easter Eggers are Ameraucanas. They lay ONLY blue or pale green eggs. This is their breed standard (insert standard here)
All Mixed Breed Easter Eggers are Rainbow Layers/Easter Eggers, but ZERO Mixed Breed Easter Eggers/ Rainbow Layers are Araucanas, Cream Legbars or Ameraucanas. Because their heritage is all over the map... lay the gamut from blue to green to olive to brown to khaki to tinted. There is no standard for a Mixed Breed Easter Egger.
There... Now I've done it...
I will now enter into a witness protection program and move into an unmarked fallout shelter in an undisclosed location so that I may survive the wrath of The Araucana Folks, the Cream Legbar folks, AND The Ameraucana folks. *runs away*
We WILL hunt you down and we WILL find you
I totally agree. But on the hatchery pages under "White layers" and "Brown layers" they have APA recognized BREEDS. I wonder if the hatcheries have a mindset of "here are the BREEDS we sell" and since EEs are NOT a breed they just can not convince themselves that they CAN sell a "non-breed" bird that DOES have some "expected" characteristics.
Given, I would guess, that the vast majority of the hatchery chicks are sold to people who want cheap chickens for meat/eggs/yard art", they aren't going to tick anyone off selling "rainbow egg layers" as a "type" but not a "breed". You would think they would tick off MORE people selling birds that aren't what they are supposed to be (especially in cases like Ideal who, when challenged, STILL claim they are selling Ameraucana. My 2 girls are a million miles from any APA recognized Ameraucana color. They are NOT Ameraucana). If they have breed standard Ameraucana, by all means sell them as such. Otherwise list them by Gifa's description. Heck, the hatcheries KNOW what they are crossing, they COULD even offer "this crossed with that, would be expected to have these traits" non-breeds.
Here's an opinion that might(read: will probably/definitely) REALLY crinkle some noses... But the intention is not to troll... just to throw another thought out there...
*Deep breath*
here goes.
The Catch All term, "Easter Eggers", should probably be used like "Brown Layers" or "White Layers" or "Tinted Layers" or "Chocolate Layers"... And it should include any individual bird or breed that possesses the blue egg gene... Pure Breed or not... I've seen some hatcheries use the term "Rainbow Layer" which suggests a variety of genes and egg colors... and as such, "Rainbow Layer" really ought to be the interchangeable term for a "Mixed Breed Easter Egger".
And I also think Ameraucanas as a breed should probably include green eggs as well as blue eggs in their standard since they can and often do occur and are a result of the breeding done to create the Ameraucanas to begin with.
Which would mean...
Easter Eggers would include Cream Legbars, Araucana, Ameraucana, and Mixed Breed Easter Eggers.
If you boolean these terms out... they would be distinguished thusly.
All Araucanas are Easter Eggers, but not all Easter Eggers are Araucanas. They lay ONLY blue eggs. This is their breed standard (insert standard here)
All Cream Legbars are Easter Eggers, but not all Easter Eggers are Cream Legbars. They lay ONLY blue eggs. This is their breed standard (insert standard here)
All Ameraucanas are Easter Eggers, but not all Easter Eggers are Ameraucanas. They lay ONLY blue or pale green eggs. This is their breed standard (insert standard here)
All Mixed Breed Easter Eggers are Rainbow Layers/Easter Eggers, but ZERO Mixed Breed Easter Eggers/ Rainbow Layers are Araucanas, Cream Legbars or Ameraucanas. Because their heritage is all over the map... lay the gamut from blue to green to olive to brown to khaki to tinted. There is no standard for a Mixed Breed Easter Egger.
There... Now I've done it...
I will now enter into a witness protection program and move into an unmarked fallout shelter in an undisclosed location so that I may survive the wrath of The Araucana Folks, the Cream Legbar folks, AND The Ameraucana folks. *runs away*
Well being as EE's are so wonderfully unique and colorful I thought it would be fun to share some pic's of my young birds. Still not sure of sex, right now I am thinking pullets? They are somewhere around 8-10 weeks old. They were part of my friends project pen and she just had way too many chickens, so I took a few.
more pretty coloringWow, the post count doubled since I last checked in. It's been a while. Here's one of my EE. She lays a large grayish green to olive egg every other day, almost without fail. The color varies with every egg; it's kind of neat that way. I put three of her eggs in the incubator along with three blue eggs from another EE. Our roo is a BO. Anyone here ever mix those two? Are the resulting eggs laid brown, typically? It doesn't matter to me but I'm curious. I just can't wait to see what the little critters are like. She's such a pretty and smart bird.
Outrun Acres, that bird is beautiful!
You wont know till they lay. brown , green or olive. if it is a dark brown layer hopefully you will get nice olive eggs lighter brown hopefully green could be brown to though
Creme legbars are really developed Easter eggers lol.Here's an opinion that might(read: will probably/definitely) REALLY crinkle some noses... But the intention is not to troll... just to throw another thought out there...
*Deep breath*
here goes.
The Catch All term, "Easter Eggers", should probably be used like "Brown Layers" or "White Layers" or "Tinted Layers" or "Chocolate Layers"... And it should include any individual bird or breed that possesses the blue egg gene... Pure Breed or not... I've seen some hatcheries use the term "Rainbow Layer" which suggests a variety of genes and egg colors... and as such, "Rainbow Layer" really ought to be the interchangeable term for a "Mixed Breed Easter Egger".
And I also think Ameraucanas as a breed should probably include green eggs as well as blue eggs in their standard since they can and often do occur and are a result of the breeding done to create the Ameraucanas to begin with.
Which would mean...
Easter Eggers would include Cream Legbars, Araucana, Ameraucana, and Mixed Breed Easter Eggers.
If you boolean these terms out... they would be distinguished thusly.
All Araucanas are Easter Eggers, but not all Easter Eggers are Araucanas. They lay ONLY blue eggs. This is their breed standard (insert standard here)
All Cream Legbars are Easter Eggers, but not all Easter Eggers are Cream Legbars. They lay ONLY blue eggs. This is their breed standard (insert standard here)
All Ameraucanas are Easter Eggers, but not all Easter Eggers are Ameraucanas. They lay ONLY blue or pale green eggs. This is their breed standard (insert standard here)
All Mixed Breed Easter Eggers are Rainbow Layers/Easter Eggers, but ZERO Mixed Breed Easter Eggers/ Rainbow Layers are Araucanas, Cream Legbars or Ameraucanas. Because their heritage is all over the map... lay the gamut from blue to green to olive to brown to khaki to tinted. There is no standard for a Mixed Breed Easter Egger.
There... Now I've done it...
I will now enter into a witness protection program and move into an unmarked fallout shelter in an undisclosed location so that I may survive the wrath of The Araucana Folks, the Cream Legbar folks, AND The Ameraucana folks. *runs away*
You forgot Isbar, Arkansas Blues, Super Blue Egg Layers (and I am sure there are more).... they all carry the blue/green egg gene too....
It would be nice if we could get the hatcheries to change the name to "Rainbow Layers". Some of their "Americaunas" have lost the blue egg gene - so they wouldn't be Easter Eggers any more (unless EEs are allowed to lay brown, white and pink eggs?).
the hatcheries are the main problem and cause 90% of it.I like it. I think the part I enjoyed the most is that you have obviously put a lot of thought into your post and are passionate about Ameraucanas and EE's and trying to find a way to create a better classification system. I like the idea of maybe calling non-standard Ameraucanas blue-egg-layers. If they don't conform to the standard and lay a different colored egg maybe that would be an EE? I don't know. Yours is one of the first posts I have read that made me think outside the box but also made perfect sense to me.
Yes... any individual bird or breed that possesses the blue egg gene... So, yes, Isbars, Arkansas Blue, Super Blue, etc...You forgot Isbar, Arkansas Blues, Super Blue Egg Layers (and I am sure there are more).... they all carry the blue/green egg gene too....
It would be nice if we could get the hatcheries to change the name to "Rainbow Layers". Some of their "Americaunas" have lost the blue egg gene - so they wouldn't be Easter Eggers any more (unless EEs are allowed to lay brown, white and pink eggs?).
Really love the gold and grey. I have a couple girls similar to this; their daddy was a lavender Orpington and their mammas were EE.Well being as EE's are so wonderfully unique and colorful I thought it would be fun to share some pic's of my young birds. Still not sure of sex, right now I am thinking pullets? They are somewhere around 8-10 weeks old. They were part of my friends project pen and she just had way too many chickens, so I took a few
Very nice, you have some very differently colored birds there!Did you buy them or did you breed them?
However, there's also a white and a splash silkie in that pen with them. Blue/black silkie EE bantams? I think yes!
Quote: Well they are beautiful! Is it someplace I can get a few too? YUM!
Oooooo.... I want BLUE egg laying SILKIES!!!!Alright, so I recently acquired a pair of Wheaton Ameraucana bantamsHowever, there's also a white and a splash silkie in that pen with them. Blue/black silkie EE bantams? I think yes!
However, the WheatEn coloring might mess up your beautiful blue/black colors - Aaaah - who CARES! They will be COOL!
