The EE braggers thread!!!

[debid]

Which begs the question what came first the Easter Egger or the Ameraucana?  Hmmmmmmm   I wonder who would know,,Hmmmmm


Have a great day!

Well, the hatcheries acquired blue shelled layers long before either breed standard existed. Some called them Araucana after the Araucana from Chile so they'd sound exotic. Some called them American Araucana. Some called them Easter Egger and they were deceptively advertised as laying a rainbow of egg colors. False claims about superior nutritional content of blue shelled eggs were rampant.

When the Araucana standard was created by the APA, it required lethal genes. The hatcheries didn't exactly jump on the bandwagon, high chick mortality rates aren't appealing for them. But they did continue using the name.

Then came the Ameraucana standard with no lethal genes. The hatcheries didn't fully embrace them either but continued using the name. They did do enough to get their birds to roughly resemble Ameraucanas or the Ameraucanas were fashioned after the original hatchery look. Not really sure which came first there but either way, most hatcheries take the opinion that what they have is close enough. And so, yes, if you look at hatchery "Ameraucanas" (even if that hatchery finally started calling them Easter eggers a few years back), they will almost all have muffs and leg tint. A few might have white skin but most have yellow giving them a green leg hue rather than slate.

Now, if Meyer is abandoning the Ameraucana-ish look, that would be worth noting because it makes identifying the chicks a lot more challenging.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

If it helps, my EE Endymion is from Meyer Hatchery and she looked pretty similar. Her legs were pale and they darkened as she grew, but she definitely had a beard from day one, though it's hard to tell in pictures because of her patterning.

Her legs are very green now:

Meyer also has true Ameraucanas now, meaning they have less reason to keep their Easter-eggers resembling Ameraucanas so that they can pawn them off as such, and they have been breeding Olive-Eggers with their Legbars, so I wouldn't think it was out of the question for them to be using the Legbars in their Easter-egger pen, too. That being said, as Debid noted, the problem with identifying chicks is that there are so many breeds (and mixes) that can look the same at this age, especially before combs and body types have developed. For example, when I first saw the chick in question I thought it was a Golden Campine, until I realized that the Campines have slate legs as chicks:

There are also Sicilian Buttercups from Meyer that look somewhat similar to this chick as well--but they also have slate legs. Personally, unless something similar was ordered along with them, I would just assume that chick is an Easter-egger until proven otherwise by physical traits as she grows. Just my two cents there.

 

[duluthralphie]

I did not realize we were talking about Meyer Hatchery Easter eggers only, I thought we were talking about all EE.

Sorry,

 

[debid]

Endymion looks like the typical hatchery EE. Bearding, muffs, green legs, long tail... Her patterning as a chick was similar to the one in question but the leg color and face fluff are quite different. I went on the Meyer site curious to see if they had a description of their EEs. They do disclose that not all are bearded (which has been the case at other hatcheries, too) but nothing about skin color or leg tint is mentioned. And they do have Legbars now. So, I'm very curious to see an egg from this chick! Only ~18-30 weeks to wait! Lol...

 

[SD Bird Lady]

I know there is heated debate about what constitutes an Easter Egger. If we are honest, they aren't a standardized breed so anything goes. But what is important is that Hatcheries are representing accurate representations of what they are selling. I'm glad to see many hatcheries now have Ameracauna and Easter Eggers that are what they are represented to be. Its progress!

Basically its what you like. I expect mine to have beard, muffs, pea comb, and greenish legs and for my goals I've always had good luck with Cackle. That is the great thing about having your own flock you can do whatever you want and keep whichever birds you like.

My favorite hen is a random barn yard mix that turned out looking like a blue polish with a white crest. She has slate legs and an extra toe and she's a little crazy but she is gorgeous and gives me a tiny ivory egg almost every day

Edited to add: she had an EE/mottled houdan father and a naked neck (turken) mom...genetics haha

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, yes, I agree absolutely that Easter-eggers are a mish-mash of genes, anything goes, no definite absolute appearance. After all, didn't someone post single-combed, naked-necked, bearded, wattled, dark skinned Easter-eggers not too long ago? However, I also agree that one can expect particular traits from particular sources, and as Debid said, many hatcheries still try to represent theirs as 'Americaunas', and therefore try to keep to a particular appearance, that being green or slate legs and beards, though often they miss on that particular trait...

For me, I'm not picky about appearance. I have just one requirement for my Easter-eggers: the blue egg gene. Since their personalities can be all over the place, I'd rather get a breed well known for being calmer and more docile if I'm just going to end up with another brown egg in the egg bucket! Luckily for me, all of my Easter-eggers lay in shades of blue and green, which makes up for half of them being off their rockers. My favorite eggs come from Endymion, whose first egg I posted about just a few pages back here--an absolutely gorgeous shade of green. Here it is again, because I just love showing it off. She lays one of these beauties between 4 and 5 times a week now--minus the cracking because she finally realized I had nest boxes set up for a reason.

 

[dekel18042]

Oh, yes, I agree absolutely that Easter-eggers are a mish-mash of genes, anything goes, no definite absolute appearance. After all, didn't someone post single-combed, naked-necked, bearded, wattled, dark skinned Easter-eggers not too long ago? However, I also agree that one can expect particular traits from particular sources, and as Debid said, many hatcheries still try to represent theirs as 'Americaunas', and therefore try to keep to a particular appearance, that being green or slate legs and beards, though often they miss on that particular trait...

For me, I'm not picky about appearance. I have just one requirement for my Easter-eggers: the blue egg gene. Since their personalities can be all over the place, I'd rather get a breed well known for being calmer and more docile if I'm just going to end up with another brown egg in the egg bucket! Luckily for me, all of my Easter-eggers lay in shades of blue and green, which makes up for half of them being off their rockers.

My favorite eggs come from Endymion, whose first egg I posted about just a few pages back here--an absolutely gorgeous shade of green.

Here it is again, because I just love showing it off. She lays one of these beauties between 4 and 5 times a week now--minus the cracking because she finally realized I had nest boxes set up for a reason.

After breeding several breeds of chickens I realized EE's were my favorite. They're friendly, lay interesting color eggs and have a great feed to egg ratio and aren't a "cookie cutter" breed so I started breeding them. There are so many things I can do. I'm not interested in owning a bird that can be shown but I can breed for egg color, size and number of eggs. All things within my reach and fun to do. About half mine are muffed. While I like that I would certainly use ones whose egg color and numbers are good even if muffless. Their size can be increased if you want a duel purpose breed and now I am working on some sex links and a really good egg color.

 

[melishkia]

These are my EE beauties that I hatched! I'm selling them in my area (Dallas, Tx)

 

[Cynthia12]

I am new to backyard chicken-ing. I would love to buy some EE chicks off anyone who might have some near Utah. I live in Provo.

I may have seen you on another thread. lol

There are ..or were, some EE's in Spanish Fork Cal Ranch. I got a couple of babies. There weren't many.

 

[Cynthia12]

I just got my 4 new EEs from Meyer hatchery!!! I ordered 17 babies in all and they all were alive and well when I picked them up. It took a little while to figure out who was who (I had about 6 that I knew would be chipmunk colored and two of the EEs are, too), but I did and now I can share pics!! Two of them really pleasantly surprised me with their interesting coloring. Here they are!
This is Charlotte. She's super fluffy, has a nice beard already, and is larger than the Wyandotte cockerel I got:

Here's Elsa. I think she's my favorite. She's got a couple wing feathers already that appear to be all white. Can't wait to see how she turns out:

This is Nova. One of the chipmunks. I really like the markings on her face. Doesn't look like she'll have a beard, though:

And last but not least, Greta. The other chipmunk. She looks like she's got a tiny beard, maybe, lol:


So, there they are! I'm very pleased with the colors I got. I was afraid they'd all be chipmunks. I love them already!!

Adorable!!