Easter Eggers are one of my absolute favorite hybrid chickens. They come in a huge range of feather colors, so it’s interesting to watch chicks feather out in patterns unique to each individual. The wait for the egg seems to be the most exciting of all because you never know what you’re going to get: Blue? Green? Peach? Or maybe something really special?!! This article is going to explain the most common Easter Egger egg shell color genetics found among hatchery and feed store Americanas/Easter Eggers and how you can use this knowledge to your advantage if you would like to breed them!
Understanding Easter Egger Egg Shell Color Genetics
If you are unfamiliar with basic chicken egg shell color genetics, I’m going to suggest you read that article first. The graphics below will be easier to use if you understand how dominant & recessive shell colors and tint overlay genes work. We are also using the terms “Easter Egger” and “Americana” spelled with an i to indicate these are hybrid chickens, not the purebred homozygous blue egg gene Ameraucanas which must come from local breeders. No matter how the hatchery or feed store is spelling (or misspelling) Americana, the chicks are Easter Egger colored layer hybrids.
Most Easter Eggers Are Carrying a Recessive Gene
Colored egg layers are wildly popular among backyard chicken keepers and hatcheries have been offering Easter Egger chicks for decades. They know buyers want hens who have a chance of laying blue, green or peach. Producing a small percentage of peach colored layers actually requires that the majority of their breeding flock carry one recessive white egg gene. In fact, that’s a secret tell you can look for: if the hatchery advertises that a portion of the pullets will lay peach, you should assume all your Easter Eggers carry the recessive white egg gene.
Blue Easter Egger Genetics
Here are the genes you should assume your blue egg laying Easter Egger hen is carrying:
Green & Bluey-Green Easter Egger Genetics
If you have a hen laying any shade of green, spearmint or bluey-green, here are the genes you should assume she is carrying:
Peach Easter Egger Genetics
A peach laying Easter Egger hen, whether she lays peach, pink, cream, light brown or grocery store brown eggs, is always carrying these genes:
White Easter Egger Genetics
This is extremely rare but possible. A heterozygous blue EE roo can cross with a heterozygous blue EE hen and produce white laying offspring. This happens more often when Prairie Bluebell Eggers are crossed by backyard breeders and is extremely rare among hatchery Easter Eggers/Americanas. Here are the genes a white laying Easter Egger is carrying:
Breeding Easter Eggers
Colored egg layers are some of the most fun to breed! And since Easter Eggers are a hybrid, it is an easy “breed” to begin with. Let’s walk through all the options you have when it comes to breeding with your Easter Egger hens!
Breeding Guaranteed Blue Laying Easter Eggers
If you want guaranteed blue laying Easter Eggers, you are going to need to use a homozygous blue rooster. Easter Eggers are already a hybrid (a mixed breed chicken) so there is no issue when it comes to crossing them with another breed – they are going to produce offspring that is still properly called “Easter Eggers”. My advice is to use a purebred Ameraucana from a local breeder, which is a breed with muffs, or select a purebred Whiting True Blue rooster who has a beard and muffs. Most people expect Easter Eggers to be fluffy faced so opting for roos with beards and muffs is how you guarantee almost 100% fluffy-faced offspring. Let’s look at what to expect when you breed the homozygous roo to blue egg laying Easter Egger hens to get 100% blue laying offspring:
Breeding Guaranteed Green Laying Easter Eggers
It should be no surprise that you can use the same homozygous blue roo over your green laying Easter Egger hens to breed 100% green laying offspring! While the offspring will all lay some shade of green, you will get slightly different tones depending on the genes each female inherits.
How Do I Breed for ZERO Peach Laying Easter Eggers?
If you’re using a homozygous blue rooster over Easter Egger hens, it is impossible to produce peach laying offspring. Even if a chick hatches from a peach egg she will lay a shade of green. This is because each chick is guaranteed to inherit one blue egg gene from the rooster and if a chick carries a blue egg gene, she cannot lay a white egg with a tint (peach).
How do I Breed for All 3 Colors Like the Hatcheries Do?
If you’d like to breed for blue, green and peach layers from one rooster, you need a rooster who carries one blue and one white egg gene (heterozygous). Buying a Prairie Bluebell Egger male to breed with can accomplish this. You’ll use him over your blue, green and peach Easter Eggers. Peach laying offspring will be possible from the green Easter Egger hens (25% chance peach) and from the peach Easter Egger hens (50% chance peach). You need a heterozygous blue roo over blue laying Easter Egger hens if you want blue laying offspring. Bonus: You could also end up with 25% white laying Easter Egger offspring!
What if I Breed a Hatchery Easter Egger Roo to my Hens?
This can be a fun breeding experiment! Statistics tells us a hatchery rooster has a 25% chance of being a heterozygous “blue layer” (even though roosters don’t lay eggs), a 50% chance of being a “green layer” and 25% chance of being a “peach layer”. Here is what these Easter Egger roosters can produce:
Easter Eggers are Amazing!
I love keeping this hybrid in my flock and always seem to have at least one sweet, fluffy faced EE girl! Hopefully the graphics I’ve shared have helped you to understand Easter Egger egg shell color genetics. If you’re ready to start breeding, I’ve got articles on how to breed for every egg color, how to breed for olive eggs, how to breed for speckled olive eggs, plus how to get heavy blooms and pink eggers! There’s even a colored egg category where you can research all the different breeds and crosses. If you’re serious about becoming a colored egg breeder, I have PDF Breeding Guides for sale in my shop that can walk beginner breeders through the advanced steps required to produce jaw-dropping egg colors!
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