Whats wrong with Amerucanas?

[Claudias Coop]

I am a backyard chicken owner.
Bought my first Rehomed 1 yr. old Amerucana. She has optimal conditions. Coop cleaned daily, laying food & treats. But never laid one egg.
My Leghorn has laid regularly 6 days a week.
I eventually sold the first Amerucana & got another 6 month old, that started laying day 1 for a few weeks & then stopped!???
And my leghorn continues to lay daily.
So whats the problem? In California the weather is nice , the days are getting longer. I don't get it.

 

[jenjscott]

You won't find an Ameraucana that can compare to a Leghorn, they are egg laying machines. Many of mine are just now starting to lay. Long daylight hours are important, some need 14 hours of daylight to start laying. Your last one that quit laying, did she come from a place that supplemented daylight? If so, shortening her day could have caused her to stop laying.

 

[Dray67]

Could be a molt, or stress from relocation that stopped her from laying. It takes time to readjust and get back in the groove. Give her some time and the longer warmer days might give her a jump start.
Dave

 

[CountryPantry]

What feed are you using? I found with my Ameraucana/Easter Eggers that they need laying feed to lay regularly. If you give them other feed they tend to slow down and not lay as many eggs. This is just my findings.

 

[sourland]

What's wrong with Ameraucanas? Nothing. They just have not been selected for maximum egg production as leghorns have. Want lots of eggs? Do some research and buy production breeds. (But keep a couple of EE or Ameraucanas for the occassional pretty egg.)

 

[briteday]

I agree about EE's. While all the other hens continue to lay during the winter (some better than others, but they all lay eggs regularly) my EE's completely stop from Nov- Feb. And my EE's have always been hogs on feed. I only keep a couple of them for the fun of the colored eggs for our egg customers. But then the luck of it all, the one EE we have this year lays a brown egg! AHHHHHHH!!!!!

 

[gkeniston]

I have the opposite problem. My leghorns stopped and wont start again. I get 2 green and 1 white almost every day from 2 ameraucanas and 4 brown leghorns.

 

[rosegal]

I have two and they lay every day, except in the winter they will skip a day.

 

[Illia]

The thing I'm really gonna ask here is - Are you talking about Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers?


A lot of Easter Eggers are known for REALLY poor and unpredictable egg production.

 

[EELover]

Quote:
I thought that an Easter Egger is defined as a chicken that lays blue or green eggs. They can be Ameraucanas or Araucanas (yes I know the difference). Its super hard to find a pure bred Araucana. Hatcheries just call them Araucanas but if they have fuzzy cheeks and tail feathers, they are an Ameraucana. If it is an Araucana then it is rumpless and has feathers sticking out of its face. It's very interesting because if you look at the breed index on here, the website defines EE's, Ameraucanas, and Araucanas separately.