What breed/s is my Henrietta? (thanks)

[junebuggena]

This is So interesting! I'm so happy to be learning from everyone here.
So, EE's that will lay blue/green eggs must have blue earlobes, a pea comb and...what other qualities would an EE hen have?
Is that also true of Olive Eggers? I think I'll need to look at lots of pics

Earlobe color has nothing to do with it. The pea comb gene is located very near the gene for blue eggshells, and they are usually inherited together. However, there are no guarantees.

 

[donrae]

I can't get the pics to enlarge, so I can't see her comb well. What I can see reminds me of my pea comb x straight comb crosses. She does have an EE "look" to her, so one parent could be an EE or themselves an EE mix, and she's just been bred back to brown eggers enough to lose that blue gene and has either all brown or brown and white genes.

You could work on getting an EE or a pure Ameraucana rooster to breed to her, if you want. Pure Ameraucana are pure for the blue egg gene, so on matter who you breed them to the offspring should lay blue or green eggs, not brown. They're harder to find than EE, but if you put out a wanted ad you might be surprised who is breeding what in say a 30 mile radius from you.

Or, you could just go with hatchery EE chicks this fall or next spring. Not that I'm an enabler or anything

I sure wish roosters would wear a sign saying what egg color genetics they have. It would make various breeding projects so much easier!

 

[yeye5]

Nope. The only way to tell if an Easter Egger rooster has the blue eggshell gene is to breed him and grow out his chicks. If all of the pullets lay blue or green eggs, he's got two copies of the gene. If any of her daughters lay a color other than blue or green, he only has one copy of the gene.

Truly fascinating Junebuggena! Thanks!
I find myself now between the idea of breeding a certain genetic lineage in order to find out...while also not wanting to inbreed!

Do you have any thoughts on line-breeding? I've heard one extreme to the other.

 

[yeye5]

I can't get the pics to enlarge, so I can't see her comb well. What I can see reminds me of my pea comb x straight comb crosses. She does have an EE "look" to her, so one parent could be an EE or themselves an EE mix, and she's just been bred back to brown eggers enough to lose that blue gene and has either all brown or brown and white genes.

You could work on getting an EE or a pure Ameraucana rooster to breed to her, if you want. Pure Ameraucana are pure for the blue egg gene, so on matter who you breed them to the offspring should lay blue or green eggs, not brown. They're harder to find than EE, but if you put out a wanted ad you might be surprised who is breeding what in say a 30 mile radius from you.

Or, you could just go with hatchery EE chicks this fall or next spring. Not that I'm an enabler or anything

I sure wish roosters would wear a sign saying what egg color genetics they have. It would make various breeding projects so much easier!

Thanks for that good idea to post a wanted ad! I browsed thru that section a few times.
This may be a very odd question, but what is considered to be a fair price for an EE (not counting shipping since I'd want to go to get the chicken/s) ?
I don't have any experrience with incubators other then one failed attempt to save the eggs of my lovely hen Betty who was killed by a predator when she was sitting on a full clutch (that was heart breaking).
In addition to perhaps including an EE or two in my feathered family, I also want to include a few more Buff Orps, cochins and broody hen.
Henrietta is not interested in brooding. And I've tried fake eggs, or leaving a pile of real eggs in their nest box...so far, nope.
The co-hens of Henrietta are Lucy (pictured above with H) and Lucy is more a grandmother figure...almost lays not at all anymore, plus Snow White, who is a white leghorn and could care less about brooding. Betty was with those hens and was an awesome broody hen!

I also vote to the roos wearing a sign...wouldn't that make it so much easier?!

 

[junebuggena]

Line breeding chickens is much safer than line breeding mammals. However, you don't need to line breed to figure out what genes your rooster has. Just breed him to some white or brown layers and wait to see what color eggs the pullets grow up to lay.

 

[donrae]

I wouldn't post in the Wanted section of CL. I'd post in the regular Farm and Garden section, just make your ad "Wanted, Easter Egger/Ameraucana Rooster" or similar. I do pretty much everything in the Farm and Garden section. Besides the pot growers (Oregon

) it's a very safe place to post. Other areas of CL can get a little sketchy, from my understanding.

I've been amazed at the breeds available in my area, just by looking at the for sale ads, or posting wanted ads.

 

[yeye5]

I wouldn't post in the Wanted section of CL. I'd post in the regular Farm and Garden section, just make your ad "Wanted, Easter Egger/Ameraucana Rooster" or similar. I do pretty much everything in the Farm and Garden section. Besides the pot growers (Oregon

) it's a very safe place to post. Other areas of CL can get a little sketchy, from my understanding.

I've been amazed at the breeds available in my area, just by looking at the for sale ads, or posting wanted ads.

Thank you. I've not looked at the farm and garden section yet so I'll go there today and look around.
don't know what CL section is but I guess it's where people advertise? I've seen that section and I didn't see people in my area which is north-east Florida.
Thanks for the idea.

And thank you Junebuggena for your response too.

 

[donrae]

I don't know exactly where you are, but I searched for Pensacola and Panama City Craigslist. Went to Farm and Garden section and searched for "chicken" and got a good number of hits on both. I'd say you've got a decent chance of finding something local-ish.

 

[yeye5]

I don't know exactly where you are, but I searched for Pensacola and Panama City Craigslist. Went to Farm and Garden section and searched for "chicken" and got a good number of hits on both. I'd say you've got a decent chance of finding something local-ish.

Thanks, I just went looking for a section called "farm and garden" on this forum. I have searched craigslist in the past and yes, it can be a great resource!