The EE braggers thread!!!

[junebuggena]

Huh?

Hatchery sourced Easter Eggers are not mixed breeds.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Hatchery sourced Easter Eggers are not mixed breeds.

I don't understand what you are saying could you explain this please?

 

[jerryse]

I don't understand what you are saying could you explain this please?

Not meaning to butt in or answer for her . I am older than most of you so I remember . EE are more of a landrace . So no standard . Hatcheries are selling the same looking birds they did in the late 1960's . So these are not hybrids or mixes . Yes some hatcheries have newer colors but for the most part these are unchanged . More like Icelandic chickens and other land race chickens .

 

[debid]

Not meaning to butt in or answer for her . I am older than most of you so I remember . EE are more of a landrace . So no standard . Hatcheries are selling the same looking birds they did in the late 1960's . So these are not hybrids or mixes . Yes some hatcheries have newer colors but for the most part these are unchanged . More like Icelandic chickens and other land race chickens .

So, if you were a micro hatchery... A couple and your children on a farm, say. Would you be more likely to have outcrossing or less? I'm curious because I have gotten two with rose combs out of a relatively small sample size over several years and they've both had a heavier build to go with that comb. Zero EEs with single combs and none with the same color pattern yet. And in case you're wondering, they've all had the blue shell gene whether pea or rose combed.

 

[jerryse]

So, if you were a micro hatchery... A couple and your children on a farm, say. Would you be more likely to have outcrossing or less? I'm curious because I have gotten two with rose combs out of a relatively small sample size over several years and they've both had a heavier build to go with that comb. Zero EEs with single combs and none with the same color pattern yet. And in case you're wondering, they've all had the blue shell gene whether pea or rose combed.

I would say crossing is more likely in a small operation . The blue egg gene likes to travel with the pea comb . However it can be found with any comb type . Cushion comb is rose/pea . Cushion often is not noticed by some people . So your rose combs are segregating out of cushion comb parents . I bought some bantam EE last fall . One had a cushion comb . Hatched some cushion comb chicks . I am sure these were hatchery sourced . Here is another thing to remember . Hatcheries often buy eggs from growers on contract . Sometimes the hatchery supplies the stock but not always . In the case of rare breeds they may buy on contract from large breeders . Used to be several hatcheries operate out of Windsor Mo. Locals were contracted to supply the eggs . If they did not sell enough chicks the grower lost money on the eggs not the hatchery . I think some of the breeders supplied more than one hatchery . If they had extra eggs it was up to them to sell elsewhere or for eating .

 

[debid]

I think it's likely they are getting eggs for some of their breeds from others. The scope of the selection given the size of the hatchery suggests it. And they hatch a ton of EEs so these could actually be from multiple neighbors' flocks. That could explain the variety of physical attributes. I should dig up a pic of the rose-pea combed hen. It had the flat, shield shape as a chick and I thought it might be cushion but then it had bumps on it when she matured? (forgive the lack of proper terminology).

 

[junebuggena]

Not meaning to butt in or answer for her . I am older than most of you so I remember . EE are more of a landrace . So no standard . Hatcheries are selling the same looking birds they did in the late 1960's . So these are not hybrids or mixes . Yes some hatcheries have newer colors but for the most part these are unchanged . More like Icelandic chickens and other land race chickens .

Exactly.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Easter Island?

 

[junebuggena]

Easter Island?

Easter Eggers have nothing to do with Easter Island. They were developed in Chile.

 

[debid]

The name Easter Egger was part of the marketing. They were said to lay a rainbow of egg colors and these were likened to the dyed eggs popular at Easter.

@jerryse, do you remember whether the bearded and muffed look was popular prior to the establishment of the Araucana and Ameraucana standards or if the hatcheries changed their birds after that was decided? I've always wondered about that. How much of the standard was based on the original EEs and how much was arbitrary.