Easter Egger roosters are lovely guys who can help give you a colorful egg basket! Let me share my tips for selecting the absolute best boy plus some pics of various adult feather colors. And of course we can’t talk about Easter Egger roosters without showing some chick and egg color pics!
The Wonderful Easter Egger Rooster
Easter Eggers (sometimes called Americanas) are such fun birds to keep! They often start out as chipmunk striped chicks and feather out in a rainbow of colors. Fluffy faces, called muffs, and beards are common among this popular hybrid bird. These big, bearded boys can look especially masculine while strutting around the yard but are some of the friendliest and cuddliest chicks you’ll ever raise!
Easter Egger Chick Pictures
These fluffy faced balls of cotton will steal your heart! It is so fun to see all the different chick colors hatch and watch each feather out into his or her own unique patterning. Then the 5-6 month wait for eggs is rewarding when you see the pretty hues each girl lays.
Easter Egger Rooster Images
These handsome guys often have the perfect lumberjack-looking beards. Some even have black beards against brown or cream hackle feathers that are so striking! Shhh…the lack of large wattles on an Easter Egger rooster’s face makes it harder for suburban dwelling friends to tell he’s male! His crow and long, flashy tail feathers are some of the only give-aways. Otherwise he blends in quite well among Easter Egger hens who look remarkably like him.
Sexing Easter Egger Roosters
While it is very difficult to tell whether an Easter Egger chick is a male or female at hatch, by the time a cockerel reaches 4 months old, it’s much easier. Two longer, arching tail feathers and a rusty patch of feathers on both shoulders are easily visible. A large, reddening pea comb will be obvious (hens will have very faint pink combs). He will typically begin to have pointy saddle feathers begin growing in on his back that start to become long and point down towards the ground while hens develop a “cushion” made of broader, rounded feathers. His thick, sturdy legs and upright posture are other signs to look for if he’s not yet crowing.
Selecting an Easter Egger Rooster
You cannot tell by looking at an Easter Egger rooster whether he is carrying one – or more – copies of the blue egg gene. If you hatched him yourself, you can leg band all the chicks who hatch from blue eggs then select from among the males. Otherwise, you are going to pick your roo based on feather color. Easter Eggers are beloved for their fluffy faces so the ideal EE roo will have a nice beard. This indicates he is carrying at least one copy of the muff & beard (Mb) gene, which only requires one copy to express.
Which Feather Color?
Easter Eggers typically come in shades of black, brown, and gold with roosters who may have cream or white accents in their hackle or saddle feathers. Gray colored feathers indicate the rooster is carrying one copy of the Blue dilute (Bl) gene and is considered desirable. Two copies of this gene (Bl/Bl) will produce a Splash Easter Egger rooster, which is rare. Silver Duckwing is another pattern you may see. Choose whichever boy hatched from the best colored egg or has the feather colors to forward your breeding goals.
Easter Egger Rooster Personalities
While each male is an individual and temperaments can vary, Easter Egger roosters are friendly in general. If Buff Orpingtons are the golden retrievers of the chicken world, Easter Eggers are the happy-go-lucky lab mixes. When handled as chicks they are calm and enjoy the company of their keeper. They learn to come for treats quickly and will perk up when you call their name. I’ve never had one be irritable nor prone to attacking me. They are one of the few rooster breeds or hybrids that has been trustworthy around grade schoolers and not quick to attack toddlers. (All roosters will attack toddlers that approach the hens.) This makes them a wonderful first rooster for older children who are beginning FFA or 4-H breeding projects.
Breeding Colored Egg Layers with an Easter Egger Rooster
These guys do a fantastic job of keeping our egg baskets full of colored eggs! Just like an Easter Egger hen, the rooster may or may not be carrying a copy of the blue egg gene. If you are hoping for more blue eggs, you need to get a rooster who hatched from a blue egg himself and breed him to blue egg laying hens to hopefully produce more blue egg layers (50%+ chance of green layers, too).
Knowing What Egg Colors He Can Make
Most Easter Egger roosters can produce green egg laying offspring. If you aren’t sure what color egg he hatched from nor what genes he may be carrying, you’ll need to test breed him. Start on our Easter Egger egg color genetics page if you need a quick and visually simple course in basic colored egg genetics. Here are some helpful breeding graphics that show what you can expect:
Figuring Out the Easter Egger Roo’s Genes
By working backwards from what his offspring daughters lay, you can determine what genes he was carrying. If NONE of his daughters lay blue, he was a “peach” Easter Egger and did not carry a copy of the blue egg gene. If his daughters lay mostly green and only a few lay peach shades but none lay blue, he is likely to be a Green Easter Egger. If his daughters lay mostly blue and green eggs, he is likely to be a Blue Easter Egger rooster. White egg laying offspring is very rare but possible from a Blue Easter Egger roo who was carrying one copy of the recessive white egg gene and was bred to a hen who laid a blue or white egg.
Need More Breeding Help?
If you can only keep one rooster, you need to know what type of roo will produce the BEST rainbow egg basket. I’ve got an easy, beginner PDF guide that walks you through every step!
Breeding ONLY Blue & Green Laying Easter Eggers
If you want your Easter Egger rooster to only be able to produce blue and green egg laying daughters, that linked article walks you through exactly how to do it! Our Bright Layer breeding project page will then take you through how to selectively breed for bright blue and glowing green eggs forever more.
Cross Breed “Easter Egger” Roosters
If you’re wanting to hatch blue and green egg layers, a cross-breed rooster may not be carrying the blue egg genes needed. These mutt roosters, which sometimes hatch from blue or green Americana eggs fathered by any rooster, are more of a barnyard mix. They may not have the classic Easter Egger beard and may have crests, tufts, feathered legs, silkie feathers, unusual patterns or other oddities that make it clear they aren’t the classic Easter Egger hybrid you’re expecting. While it is technically accurate to call a barnyard mix chick who hatched from a blue or green colored egg an “Easter Egger”, you will want to be careful when selecting a rooster and avoid these cross breeds if you hope for blue egg laying daughters.
You’ll Love Easter Egger Roosters!
I have kept Easter Eggers since I purchased my very first chicks in 2018. They are my absolute favorite hybrid and lay fantastic amounts of pretty pastel eggs. My flock has never been without these friendly sweethearts. If you’re considering an Easter Egger rooster, go for it! I think you’ll be thrilled with the egg colors and companionship he adds to the coop!
You Might Also Enjoy:
Guaranteed Blue Egg Laying Prairie Bluebell Eggers
Hoover’s Hatchery Americana Easter Egger Egg Pics
Hatcheries Offering the BEST Colored Egg Layer Chicks
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