Easter Eggers are a favorite among backyard chicken flocks. Not only are they friendly, easy to care for and produce colored eggs - but their egg color range spans the spectrum! A hybrid breed made up of Araucana and Ameraucana breeds, Easter Eggers produce eggs in shades ranging from tan, teal, blue/green and pink! Plus they sport beards or muffs on their ears.
Characteristics
Easter Eggers are an excellent option for chicken keepers seeking eggs with bright hues. Created by crossing Ameraucanas or Araucanas with other breeds that typically lay brown eggs, Easter Eggers produce eggs in various hues--including light brown, sage green, turquoise sky blue spring pea green dark olive green depending on which parentage dominates genetically.
Easter Eggers, like their Araucana and Ameraucana counterparts, are very docile birds that get along well with both people and other chickens. Hens can produce four eggs every week or 200 annually on average; to raise baby Easter Eggers you'll have to hatch chicks yourself.
Easter Eggers, being a mix of several breeds, come in an assortment of shapes and sizes. Their features may include single or double combs, beards, and muffs; all white or all red hues; they may have single or double beaks; curious and social behavior make these birds perfect pets, plus their ability to avoid predators makes them easy to train to follow human hands or treats; however their curiosity makes them susceptible to escape attempts so it is best kept within a secure coop or free range environment.
Breeding
The Easter Egger chicken has become an immensely popular backyard breed, garnering widespread acclaim for its beautiful eggs and gentle disposition. Their small and quiet nature make them great choices for novice chicken keepers or children as pets, while their curious personalities and easy care make them excellent additions to backyard flocks in urban areas with limited space.
Easter Eggers do not guarantee specific egg colors; rather, this depends on their genetic makeup. These hybrids are produced by crossing any dark brown egg-laying breed like Barnevelders, Empordanesa, Marans, Pendesenca or Welsummers with any blue egg-laying breed such as Ameraucanas, Araucanas or Cream Legbars; some chicks from this pairing may produce olive green eggs while others will lay regular bluish or brown ones.
As Easter Eggers aren't true breeds, there are no standards defining their appearance or parentage. All that's necessary to achieve blue egg production is for one parent to pass down a blue-egg-laying gene to their offspring; their eggs may range in color from light green to rich robin's egg blue; feather colors could range from brownish-pink. Ear tufts, beards or no facial features at all may also appear; their combs range from single to pea-style.
Health
Easter Eggers are hardy chickens that can tolerate cold temperatures without succumbing to disease, with few parasites such as lice or mites affecting them. Regular feather checks should help ensure these parasites don't take hold and appropriate treatments should be used against any lice or mite infestations that do arise; otherwise they tend to remain healthy, robust birds which shouldn't encounter genetic issues.
Curious and active chickens will want to explore their environment when given the chance; this could also mean trying to escape confinement if not properly secured or monitored in a free-range environment.
These birds don't tend to make much noise, but their egg song and predator alerts can be heard clearly. Additionally, they tend to be chatty birds who will interact with humans when not engaged with laying eggs or pecking at food sources.
Easter Eggers can add plenty of color and variety to a backyard flock, but may not be your ideal choice if you require consistent blue eggs from your flock. As they are not purebred breeds, their egg colors vary depending on which parent chickens they came from; for those seeking constant supply of blue eggs it would be more suitable to choose Araucana or Ameraucana chickens specifically bred for this purpose over generations.
Feeding
Easter Eggers are not considered a breed; therefore they come with many varying feather patterns and colors. Because they're adaptable birds that thrive in many climates and conditions, Easter Eggers tend to enjoy free-ranging as much as living in a small coop as long as there's room to roam and they often follow humans around or even sit in their laps! Easter Eggers make ideal chickens for novice owners as they tend to be gentle yet curious creatures.
Easter Eggers attribute their distinctive blue eggs' hue to liver pigment called oo-cyanin, which penetrates their shell and gives them their signature hue. Similar to that found on robin eggs, its pigment does not come off when cleaned off like it would do when cleaning regular hen's eggs.
Easter Eggers are not recognized as a distinct breed, but do inherit the blue egg-laying gene from Araucana and Ameraucauna ancestors. These bantam sized chickens may feature single, pea, or rooster combs and come equipped with either muffs, beards, or even ear tufts depending on ancestry; some even boast slate colored or mottled feathers depending on which genes were passed down from parent stock. Although robust chickens these birds tend to succumb to parasites like lice and mites more readily than most breeds!