The EE braggers thread!!!

[HetaChick]

I actually sorta hope my "she" is a "he." I only have this one bird so if I am able to give one rooster a good home it'd make me very happy. They have an aweful time trying to find good homes, but no matter the gender I love my little chicky. It comes when I call it, still follows me around at 5/6 weeks (I'm not sure exactly I'd have to check but anyways) and waits for me by the cage door when I leave. It's on my lap as I type... Anyways~ It's wattles are pinkish (i found out the 'red' one was scratched slightly today...) but they aren't very big, but there's a slight ridge. Their fairly noticeable. But the 'tailessness' was my clue to it perhaps being a roo... the rest is less definitive at this stage. I'll try to get close pictures of it's face. Thanks for all the help in judging gender everyone! I love reading all the comments!

My mom is sure it's a hen but I keep telling her I'm not so sure. Well, let's see.

I don't know if these means anything, but it does this sort of scratching thing I saw my old rooster 'Coca Cola' do. It sorta scratches the ground with its feet but doesnt look down at all, I don't know but for some reason I remember he used to do that every now and then, and it was kind of comical because he had this "I'm look at you!" face. *shrugs* Oh well.

 

[phasianidae]

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I'll help keeping my fingers crossed, but did you see they mentioned wattles already? My EE girls didn't have wattles that were noticable until significantly older.

My Easter Egger hens never get wattles, even when fully grown - they are wattleless.

x2 Some of my roosters are also wattleless.

 

[phasianidae]

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You're welcome.
Since some of my crosses are between EE and other pea combed breeds, I get stuck with 100% pea combed chicks with no way of guesstimateing which carry the blue egg gene.

I also used an EE roo [purchased as a splash Ameraucana] that was apparently heterozygous for his pea comb and muffs but homozygous for blue eggs; meaning half of his offspring from single combed hens had single combs and/or no muffs but all off his offspring are carrying the gene for blue/green eggs.................... however I'm breeding for pea combs and muffs so......................

A P/p+ rooster that is homozygous for the O gene? Is that even possible? So half of his female offspring are single combed blue/green egg layers? About muffs, do you think they help at all in cold weather?

 

[Velvet Hairpiece]

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Well, my EE roo, Lady (who some of you may remember me posting desperate pleas to tell me he was a pullet a while back) had tail feathers earlier than most of the pullets. Lady is 100% cockeral. He crows up a storm and is so very proud. He's turning quite beautifully too. I need to get some more pictures and post his development. His saddle feathers seem to be just coming in, and they're that yellow color while the rest of him is black and white. He's also got some blue and green tail feathers starting to come in as well.

 

[SteveH]

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I sold or lost all of his offspring except a clean faced, pea combed pullet [who hasn't laid yet] from a CX cross; I'm going on reports from a buyer, so I'm not positive of how reliable it is. [It's possible some of his offspring may have exceptionally poor pea combs being mistaken for single combs.]

But yes, even p+p+ can be, and are, OO; as evidenced by the Cream Legbar. Here's the thing; once the connection between pea combs and the blue egg is broken, the breeding odds change.................................. that 97% "rule of thumb" applies only when crossing a bird heterozygous for both pea combs and blue eggs with a bird that is single combed and not carrying the blue egg gene. [With an exception stated a bit farther down.*]
For instance:
If you cross a properly bred Cream Legbar [just recently available here in the U.S. due to a Greenfire Farms' importation] to any other single combed breed, you will get 100% blue or green eggers with single combs.
Or:
Cross two of those few, single combed, green egg layers you would get from the formerly mentioned RIR X EE croos. Their offpring would be 50% heterozygous green eggers, 25% brown eggers, and 25% homozygous green eggers...................... and all with single combs. However, *cross a single combed bird carrying one copy for blue eggs to a heterozygous, pea combed bird not carrying a copy for blue eggs, and the 97% rule comes back into play. The majority of their chicks that get the gene for blue eggs will coincidently be pea combed; in theory that if it's pea combed, there is a 97% chance it's also a blue/green egger [and of course heterozygous for that trait].

This may seem clear as mud at first............................ but just remember that the 97% rule is based on the coincidence that the allee for O happens to fall near the allee for P, and if a bird has only one copy of both, and because both are dominate genes.

About muffs, do you think they help at all in cold weather?

I used to have long hair and a full beard. Now my head is shaved and I wear a short goatee......................... and suffer in the winter if I don't cover my head, ears, and face.

Hopefully we are not distracting from this thread, and those not wishing to breed their own EEs or understand the genetics behind them will be patient and tolerent. I've got to stop now, because I've given myself a headache.

 

[flower]

ABOUT HATS AND MUFFS PARENTS PLEASE READ

Many medical and scientific facts have been learned form the army/military. Over 40% of body heat is lost when the head is not protected in cold weather. In children, where the head is proportionately much larger that the adult, the figure is naturally higher.

And from reading information related to chickens, the beard also protects the eyes and nares from dust in addition to cold wind and snow. taa dah

 

[SteveH]

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[Jerseycoop]

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he's beautiful so sorry for your loss

 

[phasianidae]

SteveH and Flower, thank you both for the information. Perhaps beards/muffs do offer protection from the elements. I have four original EE hens with beards, all approaching 4 years old and have spent every winter in an uninsilated unheated barn built out of 2x4s and quarter inch plywood.

 

[wingsofglory]

Thank you, SteveH, for all the information on the comb genetics especially, and the blue egg gene. I'm saving it and filing it.

I have Chanteclers now and was wondering about introducing their gene for cushion comb into my Easter Eggers to get rid of the really poor pea combs the EE roos have. I prefer no comb, and the EE hens are ok, but most of the EE roos have really BIG UGLY combs!

Also, wondering if there any pics of the bearded Chantecler project birds?