Finally, at about 30-31 weeks old, one of my young Easter Egger chickens is laying eggs. She's laying one every other day or so, as most newbie chickens will. The color is so pretty, and they have a very delicate shape, long and skinny. Here is her first egg pictured next to my faithful Phoenix's Extra Large brown egg (Phoenix is a Hubbard's Golden Comet, and lays an egg every day, sometimes two!)Easter Eggers are basically mutts, derived from a cross of any chicken with an Araucana chicken, though some people are trying to develop them into a recognized breed. Araucanas lay blue/green eggs, and come from South America originally. EEs are generally a bit for hardy with less genetic anomalies, but their egg color can be unpredictable: you don't know what color the eggs will be until they start laying. So I may get a pink, blue, green, brown or even cream colored egg from the other two. Time will tell :)
Most chickens begin laying between 16 and 24 weeks old. 30 weeks and up is very late blooming! But they come from good stock, so I am keeping the faith. At least, until thanksgiving anyways... Then we may be having chicken for dinner, lol.
1 comment:
we love our Araucanas and I think in the 20 some years of raising them, I don't think we have ever found blood in the egg, so different from our brown egg layers. Araucanas are not the best layers quantity wise but they are still my favorite chickens.
We have had a wide range of colors from them too, from blue, to army green and everything in between those two.
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