EE suit most people just fine, cashdl was just mentioning the feed store issue because many hatcheries (and the feed stores that get their chicks from them) still label their Easter Eggers as "Araucanas" or "Ameraucanas" and they are three totally different breeds. Not that one is necessarily better than the other, but it's always good to know what you're getting into.
EE seem to be a mixed bag depending on which hatchery you get them from. A lot of people say that their EE lay very well and others say that they are poor layers in their experience. With small pea combs and very small to nonexistent wattles they are typically very cold hardy. Pea combs tend to be slightly less heat hardy than larger single combs, but my EE have all done well with the 90-100 degree heat + 80% humidity that we get here in the summer time. Disease resistance is probably also a pretty mixed bag. For the most part, they seem to be a very healthy type of chicken. Although I will say that out of the 5 EE I ordered, at least 2 had some issues that were probably genetic. One had a cross beak, which kept her from eating enough to thrive although she was able to eat enough to produce eggs and be a very reliable layer. Cross beak seems to be more prevalent in EE and silkies, although it may just be that those are the breeds who's owners talk about it online more than others. The other one was an internal layer, which can happen with any breed but is more common in hatchery birds because the hatcheries focus on high egg production which can often lead to an increase in reproductive cancers and issues like internal laying. Of the two dozen or so eggs she laid, maybe one of them was anywhere close to normal. The others were all large, soft shelled, and frequently misshapen and covered in a slimy membrane.
