What breed is this chicken?

[Pghelp]

Many of the Easter Eggers are from Americauna bloodlines. Those distinctive muffs and beards, the fluffy cheeks, are very typical of the Americauna. They usually lay blueish eggs so your girl may have been bred from a brown egg layer such as a Welsummer to attempt to get an Olive Egger.

 

[katycouts]

Many of the Easter Eggers are from Americauna bloodlines. Those distinctive muffs and beards, the fluffy cheeks, are very typical of the Americauna. They usually lay blueish eggs so your girl may have been bred from a brown egg layer such as a Welsummer to attempt to get an Olive Egger.

Oh I would love blue eggs they are so pretty I get all sorts of colors but not blue.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Easter Egger! To be more specific, Red Brown Easter Eggers/Ameraucanas. We have seven of those that came from Tractor Supply! They're one of my favorite breeds, mostly because their temperament has a wide range (in my opinion) but they will still usually accept human attention.

 

[Pghelp]

Oh I would love blue eggs they are so pretty I get all sorts of colors but not blue.

Pretty! My Americauna lays lovely blue eggs. I’m still waiting to see what color my pullets will lay!

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Easter Eggers are not a breed. There is no standard for them to conform too. We can't even all agree on a definition of what an EE is. They can be any color or pattern, have any color of legs or skin, and have any type of comb. They can lay any color of egg, not just blue or green. EE's can be made from any breed that lays a blue or green egg. They can be a barnyard mix that had a green or blue egg laying hen somewhere in their ancestry.

Everyone has different opinions, but the general rule for EEs is “A chicken of mixed heritage that carries a blue egg gene.” The “lay any color” was started by hatcheries who couldn’t promise all of their mutts would lay blue/green, as a small percentage don’t inherit the gene.
So while there are people out there calling their brown or white laying mutts EEs, they should really just call them mutts, because they don’t carry the characteristic that makes them an EE.

That said, the first bird pictured is clearly an EE. Not making any argument against that.

 

[Ridgerunner]

TSC stores can get their chicks from three different hatcheries. I have no idea which hatchery your chickens came from. Different hatcheries offer different breeds and they also offer different mixes. With the recent surge in popularity of backyard chickens many hatcheries have started creating their own mixes and give them marketing names. They aren't all breeds for sure and a grey color is trendy. Your grey is more likely a mix than a breed but who knows. It could be a "blue" or a "lavender" of some breed.

There is a lot more to breed than just feather color/pattern and comb type. I agree Mottled Java is a good guess for your black and white one. You might look through this link to see what some of those are for a Java and see how your hen compares,

https://livestockconservancy.org/heritage-breeds/heritage-breeds-list/java-chicken/

As for people hating on TSC. When I go to a certain fast food chain for a hamburger I sometimes get good service and quality and I sometimes don't. The difference is in the personnel. The same is true for any farm store chain. They all have different personnel in the different stores. Don't let people guilt you because you got your chicks from a TSC just because it is a TSC. And no, I do not own stock in TSC.

There are a lot of myths out there about EE's. The original blue egg layers were discovered in Chile. In the same region of Chile they discovered a different type of chicken with a pea comb and feathers on the face. Different landraces of chickens but the origin story was really mixed up by the time they made it to Europe. All blue/green egg laying breeds were developed from this barnyard mix of chickens that originated in Chile and many have characteristics of those other chickens.

The Auracana and Ameraucana breeds were developed in the USA from the original EE's. The Ameraucana were developed and recognized as a breed in the 1970's. I can't remember when the Auracana were recognized but it wasn't much before that. You can make EE's by crossing Ameraucana or Auracana with other breeds or barnyard mixes, many people do. But some of the hatcheries we buy from had their EE flocks before those breeds were recognized. They could not have created their EE flocks by using either of those breeds because those breeds did not exist at that time.

There are a lot of different myths and stories about EE's. The truth is often more exciting than many of these myths. To me they are just chickens that can lay some really pretty eggs. Hope yours do.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Yes all of my chickens came from there. This is my first time having chickens so I wasn’t sure the best places to buy. We did get them as soon as they arrived so they hadn’t been at the store for long.

They definitely look healthy, they're all really pretty. I'm not a TSC hater I shop there alot. But to the point made about the differences between stores, mine just doesn't have the best set up for chicks compared to the family-owned feed store I've been going to for years. Just didn't want to discourage you from getting chicks from TSC if yours has a good process, especially because you seem to have done great this time!

 

[3KillerBs]

As for people hating on TSC. When I go to a certain fast food chain for a hamburger I sometimes get good service and quality and I sometimes don't. The difference is in the personnel. The same is true for any farm store chain. They all have different personnel in the different stores. Don't let people guilt you because you got your chicks from a TSC just because it is a TSC. And no, I do not own stock in TSC.

Well said.

I've seen chicks at a well-thought-of local feed store mixing themselves by jumping from bin to bin. IMO, chicks from any farm store should be a buyer beware situation where you go armed with the knowledge of what the chicks you want to buy should look like.

Today I'm taking two bags of feed back to a normally even more reliable local feed store because the guys in the warehouse loaded layer instead of Super Breeder. Mistakes happen. (They're even willing to take back the open bag despite me having feed my birds from it in the dark before the time change and not seeing that DH had brought home the wrong feed until Sunday afternoon).

 

[Mother Clucker 69]

These blue and green eggs are from my EEs. I absolutely love my EEs. I just bought 15 more and just integrated them into the big coop. They haven't started laying yet. I am anxious about what pretty colors I will get.