Food for best tasting eggs:
- Hydration. Besides having a generous supplementary feed, chickens need the perfect mix of carbohydrates, fiber,...
- Fresh Food. Just sprinkling some fresh foods on their main meal should be enough. Chicken pet owners can also...
- Herbs And Fibers. You can add garlic, alfalfa, dried oregano, and oatmeal to your chickens’ diet. Moreover,...
Are Easter eggers chickens real chickens?
So, Easter Eggers are not an actual chicken breed. They are hybrid chickens developed from breeding Araucana chicken with other pure breeds. Easter Egger chickens lay around 200-220 eggs per year, i.e., four eggs per week. They typically lay blue to green-colored eggs but sometimes you can see white, brown and olive-colored eggs.
What do you feed your chickens to get better eggs?
✔️ GET BETTER EGGS & GOLDEN YOLKS! Along with the wheat grass, I add oatmeal, alfalfa, garlic (fresh or powdered), and dried oregano to my chicken’s feed. You can find those herbs in this non-GMO product I love: Best Eggs Ever! (TM) Nesting Herbs (Chamomile, Roses, Lavender, Cornflowers, & Calendula) For Pet Chickens
Do Easter eggers eat a lot of food?
Since Easter Eggers are a fairly small breed, they don’t consume as much food. Many chicken keepers love Easter Eggers for their feed efficiency and excellent production.
What can I Feed my chickens Besides wheat grass?
Along with the wheat grass, I add oatmeal, alfalfa, kelp, garlic (fresh or powdered), and dried oregano to my chicken’s feed. The oatmeal provides fiber in an easy to break down form. Recent studies have shown that garlic and oregano have antibiotic properties, and help keep hens healthy and disease-free.
Are Easter Egger chickens good eating?
Size and Weight. Easter Eggers are petite chickens and are definitely not a bird you would consider for meat production. Hens weigh approximately 4 pounds, and roosters weigh about 5 pounds. These birds do not have particularly fluffy feathers, so they have a rather small appearance as well.
Are Easter egg chickens good layers?
Easter Egger chickens are known as very good egg layers and can produce about four eggs a week. The eggs themselves are usually extra large in size. This means that keepers of the Easter Egger chicken can expect to obtain about 200 to 280 extra large eggs each year.
Do Easter Eggers lay well?
All things considered the Easter Egger is a great addition to any flock. She lays well and their egg color will always add some pizazz to your egg carton! They are friendly, docile and enjoy exploring the yard. She can also be left to free range and forage to supplement their diet which in turns reduces the feed bill.
How can you tell if a chicken is Easter Egger?
The Easter Egger can literally be a mixed bag of features. They can have any comb, with single and pea being the most common (depends on their parents). Their ear lobes can be any color but are usually red or white, and occasionally a bird will have ear tufts. The wattles on both sexes are red but small.
At what age do Easter Egger chickens lay eggs?
around 6 monthsOn average, young female chickens start laying eggs or “come into lay” around 6 months of age. Some chickens may start laying eggs as early as 16 to 18 weeks old, while others may take upwards of 28 to 32 weeks (closer to 8 months old)!
What chicken lays purple eggs?
Sadly, there is no chicken breed that lays truly purple eggs. If your eggs look purple, it's the bloom to blame. The bloom is a protective layer on the outside of the gg that helps prevent bacteria from entering the shell. It also helps the eggs stay fresh.
When can Easter Eggers go outside?
The chicks will still be outgrowing their original brooder and still be ready to move outside around 4-6 weeks, but they will definitely not be ready to meet their grown up chicken friends. What is this? Ideally, you should hold off until 10-12 weeks before you let your young chicks mix with your adult hens.
Can Easter Egger chickens fly?
Easter Egger chickens can fly, but they generally like to stick to the comfort of the flock. Unless you have another more flighty bird in your flock, the chances are that your Easter Eggers will stay put on your side of the fence.
Are Easter Egger chickens noisy?
Easter Eggers, for example, are a breed that tend to be incredibly broody. These are sweet, non-aggressive chickens, but tend to make a lot of noise at all times (particularly when they are getting ready to lay eggs).
What age do Easter Egger roosters start crowing?
At 4-5 months old, any roosters in the bunch will begin to crow and it is at this crucial time that you may just discover that your favorite hen is really a “he”. Sometimes it is easy to tell that a hen is really a rooster before any crowing starts.
How many eggs does an Easter Egger chicken lay a year?
280 eggsEaster Egger Chickens' Unique Features These chickens gain their notoriety from their uniquely colored eggs. 90% of the eggs they lay will be blue, green, or blue/green—while the rest will be cream, light brown, or light pink. The Easter Eggers we breed lay 280 eggs per year and are tolerant of a number of climates.
Is my Easter Egger a hen or rooster?
As adults they look like they have very thick necks, almost like the necks are larger than the heads. It gives the hens a bit of rooster appearance but they are regular feathers, not the umbrella of hackle feathers roosters poof up when they fight.
What is the best egg laying chicken?
Here are 10 of the best chicken breeds for producing eggs.Leghorn. Any discussion of the best egg-producing chickens must include the Leghorn. ... Rhode Island Red. ... Plymouth Rock. ... Australorp. ... Red Star. ... Orpington. ... Spanish (White-Faced Black Spanish) ... Sussex.More items...•
What color eggs do Easter egg chickens lay?
A: Hens of the Araucana and Ameraucana breeds lay eggs with pale blue to bluish green shells. The chickens known as "Easter Eggers" can lay blue, green, olive or even pink eggs.
What are Easter egg layer chickens?
“Easter Eggers” are a mixed breed chicken with delightful, amusing personalities that many people add to their flock due to the fact that they lay eggs in a wide variety of colors, including blue, pink, green, sage, and yellow.
Are Easter Egger chickens noisy?
Easter Eggers, for example, are a breed that tend to be incredibly broody. These are sweet, non-aggressive chickens, but tend to make a lot of noise at all times (particularly when they are getting ready to lay eggs).
Feeding Your Layers For Egg Production
The simplest and most effective way of feeding your flock of hens for egg production is to buy a complete feed intended for this purpose. Complete chicken feeds are processed to provide all essential nutrients needed by your egg-layers for better production.
Top 5 Chicken Feeds for Laying Eggs
Here comes Hiland-Naturals Non-GMO Chicken Grower feed for your hens. This brand offers different types of chicken feed, especially for layers. Also, you can provide it to your growers and starters if you want to.
1. Hydration
Besides having a generous supplementary feed, chickens need the perfect mix of carbohydrates, fiber, proteins, and fats. However, to break it all down while keeping the chickens in tip-top shape, you will need to supply them with a lot of water.
2. Fresh Food
Just sprinkling some fresh foods on their main meal should be enough. Chicken pet owners can also incorporate fresh vegetables such as tomatoes or cabbage into the chickens’ diet.
3. Herbs And Fibers
You can add garlic, alfalfa, dried oregano, and oatmeal to your chickens’ diet. Moreover, for nesting chickens, ingredients such as calendula, cornflower, lavender, roses, and chamomile can do wonders for the best smelling and tasting eggs.
4. Protein
Wheatgrass can be the foundation of a long, high-protein dietary list for your chickens. Wheatgrass consists of high protein contents and is vital for making chickens stronger, healthier, and, of course – eggs that taste like heaven drops.
5. Free Range
Do you believe in setting nature free? You should. If you’re a proud owner of a giant or mid-ranged backyard, let your chicken forage through it to find some joy and hidden treasures. This sets a stress-free environment for them, and sometimes that can play a more significant role than generic dietary regulations.
6. Calcium
Focusing on better-tasting eggs alone is never enough. A healthy egg overall must have the most rigid exterior shell too. Calcium is an all-time essential ingredient that promotes the production of sturdy, tasty, and appealing eggs.
Step 1: A high protein diet
The foundation of that diet is the wheat grass fodder I grow. Wheat grass is very high in protein, and protein is key to healthy chickens and better tasting eggs. You can also use barley, but I use wheat because barley isn’t available in the quantities I need in my area, and I try to support local businesses.
Step 2: Fiber and Herbs
Along with the wheat grass, I add oatmeal, alfalfa, garlic (fresh or powdered), and dried oregano to my chicken’s feed. You can find those herbs in this non-GMO product I love:
Step 3: Fresh foods
I don’t use a set recipe. I just sprinkle and mix. I also add kitchen scraps, as well as fresh veggies like cabbage, tomatoes (which they can pick through), etc. Since it’s winter and their water keeps freezing, the fresh veggies help them stay hydrated in addition to giving me better tasting eggs.
About Easter Egger Chickens
Though Easter Egger chickens do have several defining characteristics and traits, Easter Eggers does not have a standard of perfection, nor do they fully meet any other breed’s standards with the American Poultry Association. According to most people, an Easter Egger is defined as a bird that carries a blue egg gene.
Easter Egger Characteristics
Easter Eggers are petite chickens and are definitely not a bird you would consider for meat production. Hens weigh approximately 4 pounds, and roosters weigh about 5 pounds. These birds do not have particularly fluffy feathers, so they have a rather small appearance as well.
Caring for Easter Eggers
Since Easter Eggers are a fairly small breed, they don’t consume as much food. Many chicken keepers love Easter Eggers for their feed efficiency and excellent production.
Breed Alternatives
As previously described, Ameraucanas are very similar to Easter Eggers. If you’re looking for a slightly more refined breed with a set of standards, Ameraucanas might fit the bill.
Did You Know?
Though all appearances with Easter Eggers vary, these birds are some of the few that occasionally have beautiful slate blue legs. These are certainly an interesting change from the ordinary yellow or white chicken legs.
Easter Egger Chickens-Breed History
As mentioned earlier, Easter Eager type of chickens are not a breed as such. They are a variety of chickens that have a blue egg laying gene. The modern version of these chickens is descended from a breed of chickens known as Araucana.
The Pigment
Their blue colored eggs have a pigment known as enocyanin. This pigment covers the eggshells, thus giving the blue eggs their unique characteristic color. Studies show that this blue color is nothing else other than a genetic anomaly.
Not an Actual Breed
Since they are not an actual chicken breed, two or more Easter Eggers are more likely to look completely different. Interestingly, an Easter Egger chicken crossed with any dark brown egg layers, the offspring is an Olive Egger chicken.
Physical Appearance of Easter Egger Chickens
Easter Egger chickens are a combination of other chicken breeds and blue egg layers. This explains why there are variations in looks among them. Due to these physical differences in looks, there is no breed standard. No wonder they are not considered a true chicken breed.
Egg Colors
Most of the eggs laid by Easter Eggers vary in colors. The color of the eggs range from seafoam green to light blue and dark green to pink. Much to your surprise, each bird lays eggs with only one color. For example, if one of your hens lays blue eggs, she will always lay the same type of egg color consistently.
Egg Laying Ability
Some people will ask you if Easter Eggers are good layers. The answer is, yes. These birds are excellent layers and they are likely to produce lovely, large eggs of different colors. Only that the color of their eggs will depend solely on an individual chicken’s genetics.
Taking Good Care of Your Easter Egger Chickens
Being able to know about Easter Egger chickens, you need to feed them a high-quality chicken feed. You may consider chicken start feed if your birds are still small to help them grow faster.
History of Easter Egger Chickens
However, the history of Easter Eggers is not clear, but we can compare the history with the parent chicken i.e Araucana chickens. Araucana are older blue-green eggers than Ameraucana.
The lifespan of Easter Egger Chickens
The lifespan of the Easter Eggers is around 7-8 years. However, the parent breed, i.e., Araucanas, may live 1-2 years more.
Temperament and Behavior
Easter Eggers are one of the best friendly chickens. If you have kids in your home, they will love to play with them.
Weight
Easter Eggers hens weigh around 4-4.2 lbs, and roosters weigh 5-5.2 lbs. So, you can consider them in the list of medium size fowl.
Beautiful Egg Layers
Yes, Easter Eggers lay colorful eggs, but they are hybrid egg layers. So, you can’t say what the egg color will be from the start.
Physical Characteristic of Easter Eggers
As we know, Easter Eggers are hybrid chickens developed from blue egg layers and other chicken breeds. So, It is common to get genes and characteristics of both types of chicken varieties.
Easter Eggers Rooster Vs Hen
Easter Eggers are developed from blue-green egg layers like Araucana chickens. As they are mixed breed chickens they are not known as a perfect breed. The roosters of this breed are found in different colors like black, blue, golden brown, and more.
