My Ameraucana hen is laying tan eggs instead of blue-green

[jessschaub]

All my pullets have started laying and I have been checking on them regularly. I have only one Ameraucana and she is not laying blue-green eggs. I have watched her several times now go lay a tan colored egg that sometime has brown spots. All my other chickens are laying the correct colored eggs for their breed but her. I try to free range my chickens at least two hours everyday but if I am home I let them out all day. She is eatting and drinking just fine. I give them some scratch grain once a day when I am getting them back in the coop/run area. They always have fresh water and chicken feed in the coop. Does anyone know why?

I don't know if this helps but she lays a double york egg at least once a week.

 

[ranchhand]

She's probably not a true Ameraucana. Sorry for the bad news.

If she came from a hatchery originally, say, if you got her at the feed store, then she is probably an Easter Egger, EE. It's very rare to get a real Ameraucana from a hatchery, no matter what they say.
If she came from a breeder, they don't have a pure flock.

Enjoy her pretty brown eggs, EE's are very nice chickens!

 

[pips&peeps]

It's probably an easter egger.

 

[gckiddhouse]

Yeah, hatchery chicks are not really Ameraucanas. But they do carry the blue egg gene. They are referred to as Easter Eggers because their egg color can be anything from light cream to brown, to pinkish, to speckled, to different shades of green to blue. See? If you had a bunch of them, and they all laid different colored eggs, you would have Easter eggs!!
We had 2 EEs and one laid a beautiful light brown egg that looked pearly. The other laid a green egg.

Here is a little info on them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameraucana

 

[gvntofly05]

I currently have 23 EE's and at least half of them are laying. I am getting every shade of green, pink, brown and blue eggs. That's the wonderful thing about EE's you never know what they are going to lay!

 

[Cocotte]

That is a Beautiful egg!

 

[Eagle2026]

Here's a good one that I seen.



http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/grd/1661111226.html


You have to love it!
Mike

 

[rooster0209]

I traded keets for aracauna/ameraucana chicks last year with the neighbor up the road. I got 2 hens and a rooster. They guessed on which would lay the green eggs (what i wanted) by the ear fluffs and the green leggs. (they free range their birds too and they were hatched from green eggs) Neither hen lays green eggs. I am hoping that maybe the green egg gene will show up in some of their offspring...if not..then I have two more large brown egg layers.

 

[jessschaub]

Thank you all for your comments. I was really hoping it was something I was doing wrong. I had ordered 5 Ameraucana from a hatchery in New Mexico. I kept two (which one ended up being a cock) and gave the other three to a friend. My friend's three are laying the blue-green eggs and mine is not! No worries, I picked up 12 more pullets for a small petting zoo we are doing before Easter and I think two are Ameraucana/EE. I still have a chance to get a blue-green egg.
Thanks again,
Jess

 

[KaterCheek]

I read somewhere that you can tell what color their eggs will be by the color of their ears. In my experience, this appears to be true. The ones I have look like sparrows as chicks, and are either yellowish (with cheek ruffs) reddish (with cheek ruffs) or black and gold. The yellow and red varieties lay blue-green eggs, and the black and gold one lays pinkish eggs. They had blueish, greenish, and pinkish ears (hard to spot, but when they're molting or agitated or still, you can sometimes see the ear flesh). Doesn't help when they're chicks though.

So, according to the other comments here, mine are probably Easter Eggers, which is fine, as that's much easier to spell than the breed that starts with "A" Got two more Ameracauna/ EE chicks in December. One is yellowish, and I'm hoping/assuming her eggs will be green. The other turned into a rooster. My yellow EE and my new Rhode Island Red aven't laid yet (and the rooster never will!) but they are definitely close. I expect eggs from them any week now.