This is the bird you’ll most often find in hatchery catalogs as a blue egg layer. The Easter Egger lacking a tail or exhibiting ear tufts would better fit into the Araucana breed line. The Blue Egg Layers. Prev. Buying vs Breeding Chickens for Egg Color. That said, they have completely different origins, and the Easter Egger is not recognized as a breed. It is a dual purpose bird that’s a rapid grower and a good egg producer. The beloved Easter Egger is not in fact a recognized breed but a hybrid or ‘mutt’ chicken. Easter Egger Chicken Colors as Babies . Chickens lay a rainbow of colors when it comes to egg shells. Easter Egger vs. Ameraucana . Easter Eggers Upkeep . From afar, you’d see a beautiful creature that does not look … White, cream, tan, pink, blue, green, brown and speckled. However, these chickens are popular for another reason, too – they do really well in the heat. When breeding chickens for egg color, especially outstanding and unique egg colors, it can take many generations, lots of fails, and definitely some frustration. Some might think that the Easter Egger is a good candidate for making Olive Eggers. Post navigation. If your pullet has a pea comb and the classic gray-green colored legs, there is a higher chance of her laying a blue, green or olive egg. Here are the basic differences between the three predominant blue egg laying breeds of chickens: AMERAUCANA. Ana Hotaling Appearance. They're super duper layers! If that weren’t enough, this bird can tolerate a variety of climates and can handle being penned or in a coop. The Araucana is often confused with other fowl, especially the Ameraucana and Easter Egger chickens… Disreputable hatcheries use the similarities to pass off EE chicks on an unsuspecting public. It is so cool how different they all look even if they looked kind of similar as baby chicks. Many people tend to confuse it with the Easter Egger chicken due to the similarities in looks and production of slightly blue eggs. The Easter Egger chicken is different because they have a full beard under the beak rather than a tuft and have a tail rather than rumpless and do NOT have pure color types. The Easter Egger vs Ameraucana vs Araucana Debate: You will frequently see Ameraucana or Araucanas for sale and the majority of the time they are mislabeled and are actually Easter Eggers. Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers sport fluffy muffs and beards, both of which give these chickens their characteristic full-cheeked faces. There is a considerable amount of confusion about this ‘breed’ of chicken. The terms Ameraucana, Easter Egger, and Araucana are often used interchangeably despite the fact that they are not one and the same. Hens are not prolific layers but will produce 3-4 blue eggs each week (around 150-180 per year). Easter Eggers are one of the most popular hybrids in backyard flocks because of their egg color. Ever since Martha Stewart appeared on television several years ago holding a basket of blue eggs laid by her chickens, the demand for the blue egg laying breeds has skyrocketed. How to Tell if Your Easter Egger Hen will Lay a Colored Egg. Pure Ameraucana and pure Araucanas are rare and carry two blue egg genes. Since Easter Egger chicken colors come in different patterns, they’re quite easy to tell apart; Overall, even though they’re more of a chicken-mutt and not quite “worthy” of the show ring, Easter Eggers seem to be hardy, fun, and a great chicken breed for a first-timer like myself. Chickens; Cute Egg Molds. If you want a colorful egg basket from your backyard chicken flock an easter egger chicken is a great choice! This is because Easter Eggers are not an actual breed either. Ameraucana Health Issues. Ameraucana, Araucana, and Easter Egg Chickens. Some hatcheries mislabel these birds as Ameraucanas or Araucanas, or other variations on those spellings. Easter Egger HedgehogWhisperer [CC BY-SA 3.0] The Easter Egger chicken is one of the most popular backyard breeds because it lays multicolored eggs, with options including blue, green, and pink – you’ll never know what you are going to get! The Easter Eggers skin color is white. But did you realize that a chicken’s earlobes are different colors as well, and that some people can make guesses as to what color egg a certain hen … Easter Egger chickens are usually happy with some confinement but are also good at foraging. Note: One Easter Egger hen will not lay a rainbow of egg colors but rather one color throughout her laying years. Ameraucanas are a pure breed that has been recognized by the APA (American Poultry Association) since 1984. What makes Easter Egger chicken breed stand out from the rest is its ability to lay eggs of different colours. Jun 30, 2013 - Colored Egg Layer Chickens The Araucana is a pure breed of chicken originating in Chile. Egg Production: around 200 to 280 eggs for the first year. Next. Egg colour: brown. This breed of chicken is easily confused with the Araucana chicken and Easter Eggers – especially since both breeds lay blue eggs. These birds produce a certain variety of egg colors, which is usually what makes them a top choice for backyard chicken … Reading Time: 6 minutes Breed: The Ameraucana chicken is a bearded, muffed, and tailed blue-egg layer developed to a standard in the U.S. from Easter Egger chickens.. This is for educational purposes only! The third, known as the Easter Egger Chicken, is not a recognized breed, but rather a cross between any other chicken and either an Ameraucana or an Araucana. Easter Eggers are generally very friendly and active. They are very good … This is a hybrid bird that lays blue, green, rose or even brown eggs. The hen weighs about five and a half pounds with the cock weighing in at about six and a half pounds. If you have any questions of other breeds we will do our best to help! Tammy. The Ameraucana has only existed since the 1970s and only were recognized as their own standard back in the 1980s. And last but not least the Buff Orpingtons at 3 weeks old and 3 days old for comparison. These chickens are also called Easter Eggers, or Easter Egg Chickens, perhaps because of a National Geographic Magazine article by that name, published in 1948, describing crossbred chickens that produced eggs with a rainbow of pastel shells ranging from green to greenish blue, from pinkish to brown, and from white to pale yellow or gray. Here are the White Silkies at 3 weeks old and 3 days old. While bantam eggs are smaller than normal, our Easter Egger bantams can easily churn out 5-6 eggs a week. Two Easter Egger chickens and their beautiful blue eggs have recently been putting smiles on our faces! Easter Egger Chicken Gender Gurus! The Delaware chicken originated from the State of Delaware, in the USA, around the 1940s. It is a cross between a Barred Plymouth Rock rooster, and New Hampshire hen. Some hatcheries accurately call their stock by the Easter Egger name. Add to Favorites . In several other countries the Easter Egger and Ameraucana are considered the same breed. https://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Easter-Eggers-B145.aspx Ameraucana vs. Araucana vs. Easter Egger. Percentage correct is about 90% of the time. After all, what are olive egger chickens mixed with? The Easter Egger is not a recognized breed so you will not find them listed in the APA Standard of Perfection. We have come along way since we first embarked on our chicken raising venture, when we chose our first flock of chickens ‘blindly’, so to speak. Chicks. Many hatcheries sell ‘Ameraucana’ chickens or various misspellings of this name. Choosing to breed your own colorful egg layers is quite an undertaking that isn’t for everyone. They come in a wide variety of feather colors making it a guessing game as to what your little chick may look like as an adult. Temperament: These are sweet birds and are not usually aggressive. Easter Egger bantams are also popular – they’re the result of crossing a blue egg layer (full size or bantam) with a bantam chicken. It is, therefore, a hybrid and not a pure chicken breed. The blue egg gene (which gives us blue & green eggs) is linked to the same gene that gives chickens a pea comb. They're easily tameable and can be a super sweet pet. In fact, the untrained eye often confuses the Americuana breed with Easter Egger chickens. The hens will lay around 200 eggs per year. Easter Egger chickens can give you a variety of blue, green, white, and pink. We are masters at sexing Easter Egger chicks at around 7-8 weeks of age. Easter Eggers can be any color at all, and we just love the variety: from pure white, to silver penciled-looking, to buff, gray, blue, brown and black. Easter Egger Chicken. By: Lisa Steele - Fresh Eggs Daily . Typically, they are called “Easter Egg” chickens because their eggs are multicolored, and the eggs are very delicious. You can even create fun memories serving “green eggs and ham” to your family. Again this is a small breed with roosters weighing up to 6.5lb and hens weighing 5.5lb. But Easter Eggers aren’t guaranteed to pass down their genetics to produce true Olive Eggers. This chicken breed can be cross-bred with any breed provided that one parent has a blue eggs gene. The Ameraucana must have a beard, muffs and a tail to reach the APA standard here in the US. See more ideas about easter eggers, easter egger chicken…