Easter Egger: What To Know About Rainbow Egg Layers (2023)

FAQs

Easter Egger: What To Know About Rainbow Egg Layers? ›

Some of the most popular crosses are called Easter Egger or Olive Egger chickens. Easter Eggers can lay a variety of egg colors, from blue to green and sometimes even pink. Olive Eggers are aptly named for the olive-colored eggs they lay and are a result of crossing brown egg layers with blue egg layers.

Some of the most popular crosses are called Easter Egger or Olive Egger chickens. Easter Eggers can lay a variety of egg colors, from blue to green and sometimes even pink. Olive Eggers are aptly named for the olive-colored eggs they lay and are a result of crossing brown egg layers with blue egg layers.

“Easter Eggers” are mixed-breed chickens that have been crossed at some point with Araucanas or Ameraucanas. This means that the body type, comb, and other features will often resemble those of one of these breeds, but the egg color and feather color/pattern can vary widely.

Written by Chris Lesley. The Easter Egger is a much loved hybrid chicken. They are extremely popular because you are never quite sure what you are going to get in the way of plumage or egg color. As their nickname Rainbow layers suggests they are layers of eggs with colored shells.

Easter Eggers are notoriously excellent egg layers, and lay at least four eggs a week most of the time. A common misconception of Easter Eggers is that they will lay a multitude of different colored eggs. Whichever color the first egg that your Easter Egger lays is will be the only color they lay.

There is no outer ear, such as we humans have, but chickens do have earlobes which can be clearly seen. The colour of the lobe varies with the breed of the chicken, ranging from white to almost black. Chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs exclusively while birds with dark lobes lay brown eggs.

The breed of the chicken determines eggshell color. The color of a hen's ear area is the color indicator, with a white or light spot meaning white eggs. Usually, white hens lay white eggs, and brown hens lay brown eggs.

On average, young female chickens start laying eggs or “come into lay” around 6 months of age.

Appearance. 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.

Chickens stop laying eggs for a variety of reasons. Hens may lay fewer eggs due to light, stress, poor nutrition, molt or age. Some of these reasons are natural responses, while others can be fixed with simple changes and egg laying can return to normal.

How to make rainbow dyed eggs? ›

In four small bowls, mix together 1 cup of water with 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 15 drops of food coloring. Dip the egg whites into each bowl of food coloring. Allow eggs to soak until the desired color is reached. Remove from food coloring and dry off with a clean paper towel.

If the egg white is pink or iridescent this is an indication of spoilage due to Pseudomonas bacteria. Some of these bacteria can make us sick when eaten and they will produce a greenish, fluorescent, water-soluble color. Also, a spoiled egg (cooked or raw) will have an unpleasant odor once you crack it open.

But do eggs with different colored shells taste different? No. Eggshell color has nothing to do with taste. Egg tastes only change because of a hen's diet and the egg's freshness.

1. Leghorn. Any discussion of the best egg-producing chickens must include the Leghorn. Named after a town in Italy where the breed partially originated, Leghorns are well-known for their ability to efficiently convert feed into eggs ¹—a fact that has made them the stars of America's egg industry.

Easter Eggers can lay multiple different egg colors such as blue, green, white, pink, tan or dark brown eggs. But one thing to keep in mind, the color eggs one chicken lays will stay that same color throughout her lifetime. Their egg colors don't change.

Araucanas. If you've been thinking about raising a few chickens for eggs, consider the Araucana. Although there are a lot of great egg-layers out there, such as Rhode Island Reds and Leghorns, few chickens are as delightful, especially if you have children. This breed was originally developed in Chile.

There are only two genetically determined egg colors: white and blue. The blue egg gene is dominant. Brown eggs are produced by an allele that produces a brown coating over a white egg. Thus, green eggs come from a brown coating over a blue egg.

They get their color from the hen's genetics as the egg forms.” Archer said, more often than not, chickens with lighter earlobes also have white feathers and produce white eggs. Those with colored feathers and darker earlobes will likely produce colored eggs.

In general, the leg—or shank—color is a genetic trait that is (spoiler alert) not directly related to egg color. Rather, it's determined by a series of traits that interact, including plumage traits.

Spurs are most likely to show up on roosters but hens can have them. And all chicks will have a little bump where the spur might grow. Right now I have a Cuckoo Maran with big old spurs, unrelated but shes a great mom. They don't grow in until around 3-8 months so I don't put a lot of importance on them at all.

Can Easter Eggers handle cold weather? ›

Easter Eggers are Hardy Birds

They can handle cold winters and also do pretty well in the heat. What is this? They have small combs that make frost bite less likely in the cold.

Birds usually start to lay at around five months (20-21 weeks) of age and continue to lay for 12 months (52 weeks) on average, laying fewer eggs as they near the moulting period. The typical production cycle lasts about 17 months (72 weeks) and involves three distinct phases, as follows.

Evergreen Olive

It's no surprise that the most popular breed for laying springy green eggs is aptly named the Easter Egger. Their eggs tend to be extra large and can range in color from teal, to green, and even light pink! These chickens make great family pets due to their cuddly nature and tolerance of small children.

However, here are some additional tips that can be helpful for sexing young Easter Egger chickens: Roosters: Tend to have separate colors for their head and neck plumage, often more splotchy coloring, pointy and longer feathers, and a redder comb. Hens: More even color pattern, rounded feathers, small comb & wattles.

There is no one color that Easter Egger chickens lay. The most common colors range in shade from blue, blue-green, olive green, browns, and even pink. These colors range in vibrance and shade, resulting in a beautiful selection of nicely-colored eggs.

Stimulating hen to lay more eggs in winter season

Trace elements like iodized potassium (10 mg/week/hen) are also fed. More fodder (5 times/day) mixed with boiled pumpkin (in spring season, 4gm/day/hen) is fed and warm water is provided for drinking. This way has been reported to stimulate 15% more egg production.

A dirty coop can cause healthy chickens to stop laying eggs. A few animals are intelligent enough to rebel against their owners when they are left to live in dirty conditions. A dirty environment, however, will cause chickens to stop producing eggs.

3 Mix 1/2 cup boiling water, 1 teaspoon vinegar and 10 to 20 drops food color in a cup to achieve desired colors. Repeat for each color. Dip hard-cooked eggs in dye for about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon, wire egg holder or tongs to add and remove eggs from dye.

Mix 20 drops of food coloring with ½ cup water in a mug or small cup. Place egg into colored water and allow them to sit for two hours. Remove eggs from the colored water and rinse well. Slice in half to reveal the beautiful rings around the whites of the cooked egg!

How do you color eggs quickly? ›

Make a dye using food coloring by adding 1 teaspoon of white vinegar and 40 drops of food coloring to a ½ cup of boiling water. Pour the solution along the inside of the glass until a quarter of the egg is submerged, then allow it to sit for 5 minutes.

If you see any of these colors, discard the egg immediately. Off-color egg white, green or iridescent – Spoilage due to Pseudomonas bacteria, a very common type of bacteria that healthy people often carry without knowing it. This bacteria produces a greenish, fluorescent, water-soluble pigment in the egg white.

The yolk color actually comes from what the hens eat: a diet rich in carotenoids, the natural yellow-orange pigment found in fruits (cantaloupe), vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, and kale), and flowers. No artificial color additives are allowed in chicken feed, so any orange yolks you spot come from a pure source.

Pink or pearly egg white (albumen) indicates spoilage due to Pseudomonas bacteria. Some of these microorganisms -- which produce a greenish, fluorescent, water-soluble pigment -- are harmful to humans. The color of yolk varies in shades of yellow depending upon the diet of the hen.

Guinea fowl eggs are rare because these birds only lay about 60 eggs each year. Because of its rarity, a guinea fowl egg is a tasty treat in certain parts of the world. A guinea hen egg has a thick shell that's the color of oatmeal with speckles of brown.

There are not any naturally purple eggs. Still, plenty of hens lay dark brown eggs covered in a thick layer of purple bloom, making the eggs look lavender, purple, or plum in color. Some naturally occurring purple eggs come from chickens, but this purple color can be washed or scrubbed away.

Brown and white eggs are nutritionally identical. The only reason brown eggs cost more is because all that brown pigment takes more food – and more money – to produce.

Ameraucanas & Easter Eggers

These breeds lay up to 300 eggs per year, and as a bonus, they're colorful. Ameraucanas lay bright blue eggs, and Easter Eggers can lay blue, green, cream, or even pink eggs. These breeds tend to be more flighty and frantic than other breeds, unless you handle them a lot as chicks.

Popular breeds that lay colored eggs include Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, Ameraucana and Welsummer chickens. Fun fact: You may be able to tell the shell color by the hen's earlobe. Hens with white earlobes typically lay white or lightly tinted eggs.

Silkies adapt well to confinement and even make good house pets because of their laid-back, docile personality! And Silkie hens are known to be good mothers and will eagerly hatch out any eggs you give them!

What age do Easter Eggers stop laying? ›

Easter Egger Chicken

5-8 years.

As for broodiness, you'll find that the Easter Egger rarely goes broody, which is even better if you keep them for their eggs. They've specifically been bred for laying colored eggs, so breeders have worked hard to reduce broodiness in the breed.

Are Easter Eggers Good Layers? Yes! They're excellent layers who will give you lovely, large eggs. The color of the eggs will depend on the genetics of the individual chicken.

Easter Eggers are not purebred chickens, but rather a hybrid breed that is created by crossing specific breeds of chickens to produce blue or green eggs. The breeds commonly used in creating Easter Eggers include Ameraucanas, Araucanas, and sometimes other blue-egg-laying breeds such as Legbars.

There is no one color that Easter Egger chickens lay. The most common colors range in shade from blue, blue-green, olive green, browns, and even pink.

The Disappointment of Brown Laying “Olive” Eggers

Light and medium brown eggs are sometimes the result of attempting to use Easter Eggers to breed Olive Eggers or using roosters who do not carry dark enough egg genes. Most experienced breeders know this and use only dark gene carrying roos.

Unfortunately, Easter Eggers cannot lay purple eggs.

Yet, they can lay a variety of other colors, including light blue, sea-foam green, dark green, and pink. There are no known chicken breeds that produce purple eggs.

Ameraucana and Araucana chickens both originated in South America, specifically the region where Chile is today. Eventually, these breeds found their way to the United States in the 1930s, where they have since become the only two blue egg laying breeds to be accepted by the American Poultry Association.

“A Chilean Tinamou is a chicken-like bird that lays a dark (and very shiny) purple egg. They are not actually a chicken though, but some people do keep them as part of their backyard flock.

At what age do Easter Eggers start laying? ›

On average, young female chickens start laying eggs or “come into lay” around 6 months of age.

It's a common misconception that the colour of a bird's feathers influences the colour of the eggs that they lay. The truth is feather colour has no relation to eggshell colour. Are brown eggs better than white eggs? Several studies have found that shell colour has no significant effect on egg quality and composition.

When it comes to the different eggshell colors available, green eggs are perhaps the rarest. Only a few breeds lay green eggs, and many of them are newer to the chicken world as they're crosses between top egg layers, like Leghorns and Ameraucanas.

Starlight Green Egger™

This breed was created by crossing the Prairie Bluebell Egger™ with a brown egg layer, the result is a chicken breed that lays high quantities of only green eggs.

Here's proof that it's totally possible for one chicken to lay multiple colors of eggs. As you can see, some days they have faint speckles. Some days are shinier than others. Some days the egg shell is darker, some days it's lighter.

Easter Eggers can have varied feathering, comb type, leg color, and egg color, though most of them lay blue eggs. Some Easter Eggers will lay green, olive, tan, or cream-colored eggs.