# My Americana doesn't lay green eggs!



## Dazlin (Nov 26, 2007)

I always keep about 2 americana's for the green eggs. So, one lays green eggs, and the other (she has muffs) lays a beige egg...???
How could this be?


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## JonM (Oct 23, 2009)

its my understanding that the Americana or easter eggers are crosses of average American poultry and an araucana they usually lay green or blue eggs but some of them lay a brownish colored egg just depends on the base stock.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

you have one Easter Egger and one mutt. probably hatchery stock, by definition a true Americana should not lay anything but BLue eggs, if you get green eggs its an Easter Egger and not a pure Americana, if you get any color other than blue or green it is just a mix breed and no better than any other mutt. muffs don't mean anything, several breeds have muffs, I bet she has a single comb too. 

Americanas are bred to standard for type and color and egg color, Easter Egger is anything that does not fit the standard for the recognized color forms body type but still lays a blue or green egg.


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## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

..and ALOT of AmerIcanas are not AmerAUcanas, they are Easter Eggers or just mutts with muffs.


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## Dazlin (Nov 26, 2007)

Ohhh verrry interesting...yes, she came from a Hatchery (Ideal). She does have a single comb. As far as the comb, I thought that a single comb was the standard feature?? So ...there's no gaurantee any americana will lay a green egg?


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

no single comb is a DQ, they should have a pea comb, single comb means there is way too much other blood mixed in,


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## JasoninMN (Feb 24, 2006)

> Ameraucanas, known as the "Easter Egg Breed", are a multicolored breed. They have beards, muffs and a normal tail with a tail head. They are often incorrectly called Araucanas, which have ear tuffs, are rumpless, and do not have a tail head which gives them a bunny tail appearance. Most of the chicks sold as Araucanas are really Ameraucanas, which are excellent, efficient producers of large eggs of *many colors* and shades including blue and green.


This is the description off of Ideals website of their birds. The majority if it is incorrect. An Americauana is a breed of chicken bred to a APA standard. All Americaunas lay blue eggs, are muffed, bearded and all have a pea comb. Unfortunately hatcheries like to call any chicken that carries the blue egg gene an Americauna, whereas they should be called Easter eggers because they are not bred to a standard so vary greatly in looks and egg color. While Ideal does advise that the birds they are selling as Americaunas lay many different colors which would be correct, they totally mislead their purchasers that they are getting a "purebred" chicken that would display all the traits of a true Americauna.


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## wannalive (Aug 29, 2013)

what jasoninMN said.. 90 percent of so called americaunas you buy are actually easter eggers....


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

Mine are hatchery birds-got them from a feed store-and while they sold them as Americaunas, one does lay brown eggs. 

I also have 2 that I know are a mix-one lays green eggs, the other hasn't started laying yet, so I don't know what she's going to give me. I just call mine Easter eggers. It's much easier to pronounce, and those not familiar w/chickens find that easier to understand.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

laying brown eggs means that they have been crossed way way way too much onto other breeds and have lost the Blue egg genetic trait, cross once or twice and you get green eggs, the blue gene is strong and can be passed for several crosses but once its lost you have nothing left to claim even the Easter Egger title you just have a pretty mutt. 

at best hatchery stock is going to be non standard color type Americanna stock from mixing all the standard colors into one breeding pen to see what happens, but that is still causing Easter Egger chicks, but in reality the simple fact that a lot of people get birds that lay brown eggs from these hatcherys means they are basically mixing in random extra birds into the breeding pens and passing them off as what they hope will at least be an Easter Egger but is not. 

Easter Eggers can lay blue and green eggs of many differint shades but once it looses this ability its a mutt, Ameracanna has to lay blue eggs or its automatically an Easter Egger because the only way you get green is by mixing blue and brown egg genes. but also on top of this just like Jason said Ameracanna HAVE to be bred to APA standard in all standard colors just like any other breed.


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2013)

Dazlin said:


> Ohhh verrry interesting...yes, she came from a Hatchery (Ideal). She does have a single comb. As far as the comb, I thought that a single comb was the standard feature?? So ...there's no gaurantee any americana will lay a green egg?


Pea comb is genetically linked to the blue egg gene.

Although you *can* get a blue/green egg layer with a single comb, it's rare.


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## Dazlin (Nov 26, 2007)

This is a first for me...all the "so called" americanas I had in the past, laid green eggs, and had a single comb. Guess I got lucky:huh:. Thanks for insight!


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## Jakk (Aug 14, 2008)

If you got them from a hatchery or a feed store they are Easter Eggers, AKA Americana. 

True Ameraucana come from breeders. I have both, and they EE's are just as sweet and friendly as the pure bred Ameraucana. My EE's lay every color from lavender, pink, blue, green and brown. I get speckled eggs and olive colored ones too. There is nothing wrong with EE's except that you cannot show them, because they are "mutts".


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## Terri in WV (May 10, 2002)

I kind of argued with the worker at TSC this spring because of this. They had chicks advertised as Ameraucana's and insisted they were when I questioned them. They got a bit miffed with me when I said that they were EE's and that I was very doubtful that they were true to breed.

They weren't. I ended up with 2 pullets(out of 6) and one is now laying a green egg and the other a pinkish tinged one.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

TSC and other retail providers are only selling chicks for someone else, they are only supposed to know what they are told, maybe you will find one that knows something but not likely, 

and again, Pink is no more a color for Easter eggers than a Leghorn, you can get pink eggs from Bard Rocks, Buff Orpingtons and any number of other breeds, if your "Easter Egger" does not lay a blue or green egg then you have a bird that has been crossed so many times to a NON Blue Egg breed that it has no claim to ANY title other than MUTT. it takes SEVERAL generations of crossing to a brown egg breed before you loose the Blue egg Gene that causes the eggs to look green when combined with brown, 

I am sorry for people who want to think other wise but its just not true, anything that lays a non blue or green egg is NOT an Easter Egger, Americanna, or Auracana. it is a MUTT or some other breed.


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

It actually can take only one generation to lose the blue egg gene, but it's very rare to do that.

Pea combs are "linked" with the blue egg gene. The gene for pea combs and blue egg colour are located on the same chromosome. Not only they are located on the same chromosome, they are very close together on that chromosome. So when the chromosome breaks to form the new pairing during fertilization, most of the time those two genes will go together. Imagine a yardstick with red marks at, say, 10" and 11". If you break that yardstick over your knee, you would think that most of the time, the two red marks will be on the same part of the yardstick when you break it. That's essentially what is going on with the pea comb and blue egg gene. So if you mate a Leghorn and an Ameraucana and you get a chick with a single comb, 95% of the time you will have a white egg layer. And if another chick from the mating has a pea comb, 95% of the time it will carry the blue egg gene. Only 5% of the time, will you get a chick with a single comb that lays a blue egg, or the flip side, only 5% of the time will you get a pea combed bird that lays that non-blue egg (brown in the case of the OP).

So you can see it's rare that it happens. I have some game chickens that all have a pea comb, and they all lay tinted/white eggs. Somewhere along the way before I got the birds, someone broke that linkage and bred them back together to keep the blue egg gene out of those birds. Probably happened many years ago.

Hope that explanation is clear.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

pea comb is dominant like other rose combs to single, although I have had a sinlge comb game hen that laid a green eggs. having bred Easter Eggers for basically the WHOLE time I have had chickens basically the last 25 years, the blue egg gene passes on pretty easy for quite a few generations, if you loose it in one cross then there were other crosses before yours you don't know about or you have the 1 in a Million chance, 

these hatcheries and such that are perpetuating the myth that you can get "pink" eggs from Easter eggers are only trying to validate the fact that they will mix anything in to the pot to hatch more eggs to sell more chicks with some kind of title attached.


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

I sell a lot of easter egger chicks~ I hatch off green eggs that come from the barn I run too EE roos in. You would be amazed how many people ask me if my Easter Eggers are purebred easter eggers. When I explain there is no such thing as a purebred easter egger they are always surprised.


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