The EE braggers thread!!!

[bruceha2000]

If it ends up laying blue/green eggs, it is an Easter egger

Actually that is a hard one to answer.

Not all EEs lay blue or green, some lay brown, tan or light pinkish or cream. Not all EEs have beards and muffs. It depends on what genetics it picked up from its parents. I would say if it had no muffs, beard and didn't lay blue or green could could safely say it isn't an EE.

Since EE is not a recognized breed there are no standards but USUALLY one would expect an EE to have a tail, beard, muffs and lay blue or green eggs. If olive green, they are called Olive Eggers but that isn't a recognized breed either. Generally speaking, an EE would come from 2 EEs, an Ameraucana pairing that didn't come out with APA recognized colors or crossed with something else or an EE crossed with something else. Otherwise the bird wouldn't have the beard and muff genes. Though Faverolles do so I suppose if you crossed a Faverolles with a Cream Legbar or Araucana (for the blue egg gene) MAYBE you would end up with some chicks that are bearded, have muffs and lay blue or green eggs). Maybe it would be a Frankenbird

 

[duluthralphie]

If it ends up laying blue/green eggs, it is an Easter egger

I would say so. This is what I pulled from Wiki,

An Easter Egger is any chicken that possesses the "blue, green,and pink egg" gene, but doesn't fully meet any breed standard defined in the American Poultry Association's (APA) standards, or in the case of Easter Egger bantams, the American Bantam Association's (ABA) standards. The name derives from the resemblance of their colorful eggs to Easter eggs.



Wiki sure isn't the last word on anything, but it is pretty good for what most people think. In my little mind if it is not a "special" breed, like Ameraucana or Cream legbars, and it lays a colored egg, I call it a EE. I think most of us would.

 

[FowlStuff]

I would say so. This is what I pulled from Wiki,

An Easter Egger is any chicken that possesses the "blue, green,and pink egg" gene, but doesn't fully meet any breed standard defined in the American Poultry Association's (APA) standards, or in the case of Easter Egger bantams, the American Bantam Association's (ABA) standards. The name derives from the resemblance of their colorful eggs to Easter eggs.

Wiki sure isn't the last word on anything, but it is pretty good for what most people think. In my little mind if it is not a "special" breed, like Ameraucana or Cream legbars, and it lays a colored egg, I call it a EE. I think most of us would.

Why not just go with the definition several of us came up with many years ago? It sounds like the Wiki definition started with ours and made some changes, but there is no pink egg gene and it doesn't address meeting a variety description.

Quote: http://AmeraucanaAlliance.org/faq.html#Seven

 

[duluthralphie]

Why not just go with the definition several of us came up with many years ago? It sounds like the Wiki definition started with ours and made some changes, but there is no pink egg gene and it doesn't address meeting a variety description.

I have no problem with that one either. I am personally rooting for someone to find a "purple" gene.

 

[junebuggena]

I have no problem with that one either. I am personally rooting for someone to find a "purple" gene.

I've got an Australorp that lays light brown with pale purple flecks sometimes. They look beautiful next to the pinkish eggs that one of the Barred Rocks lays.

 

[bruceha2000]

I have no problem with that one either. I am personally rooting for someone to find a "purple" gene.

I can see it now - GMO chicken using eggplant genes

 

[bruceha2000]

Why not just go with the definition several of us came up with many years ago? It sounds like the Wiki definition started with ours and made some changes, but there is no pink egg gene and it doesn't address meeting a variety description.

Of course the hard part is that there is no sticker on the outside that says "blue egg gene inside".

Is it not possible that a hen that looks like an Ameraucana except for proper color could lay a brown egg but if crossed with an Ameraucana rooster could throw chicks that lay blue eggs? Does the hen need 2 blue egg genes to lay blue?

 

[junebuggena]

Of course the hard part is that there is no sticker on the outside that says "blue egg gene inside".

Is it not possible that a hen that looks like an Ameraucana except for proper color could lay a brown egg but if crossed with an Ameraucana rooster could throw chicks that lay blue eggs? Does the hen need 2 blue egg genes to lay blue?

Think of it this way, there are only two colors for eggshells, blue or white. Brown eggs have a coating applied to white eggshells. Green eggs have the brown coating applied to blue eggshells. The blue eggshell gene is dominant over the white eggshell gene, so it only takes one copy to get blue eggshells. There are many genes for the brown coating, and birds can have lots of combinations of those genes. That's why there are so many shades of brown and green eggs.
A true Ameraucana crossed with any white or brown layer should produce only blue or green layers.
Off course, when you are breeding Easter Eggers, strange things can happen. I crossed my Easter Egger rooster with my Barred Rock hens to get black sexlinks. According to the genetic possibilities, I should have only green or brown layers. One pullet has just started laying, and her eggs are pale blue. Not what I was expecting. This is Penny's little pullet egg, next to my adult Easter Egger's blue egg. The brown eggs are all from Barred Rocks.


I've got my fingers crossed that her sister (not pictured) lays green, but she's still a few more weeks from laying.

 

[bruceha2000]

OK, so if a hen is laying brown eggs, she has no blue egg gene and unless the rooster does, her offspring will not have a blue egg gene either.

Next hard question. Can a cockerel hatched from a brown egg carry the blue gene? And if a cockerel hatches from a blue egg, is it guaranteed to have the blue egg gene and pass it on?

 

[junebuggena]

OK, so if a hen is laying brown eggs, she has no blue egg gene and unless the rooster does, her offspring will not have a blue egg gene either.

Next hard question. Can a cockerel hatched from a brown egg carry the blue gene? And if a cockerel hatches from a blue egg, is it guaranteed to have the blue egg gene and pass it on?

Question 1 - Only if the rooster that fathered him produces pullets that lay blue or green eggs.
Question 2 - Nothing is guaranteed unless the cockerel is 100% true Ameraucana or Araucana. Pea combed birds are more likely to inherit the 'blue' egg gene, but it's not 100%. The only way to know what an Easter Egger cockerel is carrying, is to breed and grow out the pullets. If he produces pullets that all lay colored eggs, then he's got two copies of the blue egg gene. If only some of the pullets lay colored eggs, then he only has one copy. If all the pullets lay brown or white, then he doesn't have the gene at all.