Easter Egger

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A nine-month-old easter-egger hen at Jacob Springs Farm displaying the white ears typical of a white and brown egg laying breeds

Easter Egger is a strain of hens bred for their unique greenish-blue eggs. Easter-egger is not to be thought of as a breed but rather a loosely defined strain of chickens with many different physical and color traits that have one trait in common, the ability to lay eggs of unusual color.

This breed is generally kept for the novelty of the colored eggs, however their egg production is reasonably good and they are generally good foragers.

The Araucana, Ameraucana, and Easter Egger are descended from a population of chickens native to Chile and the Falklands Islands known as Mapuche fowl.

The egg colour is an autosomal dominant trait linked to a DNA retrovirus insertion into the genetic code.

This gene has been the subject of a [scientific study]

The egg color that a hen will lay can usually be determined by the color of the ears, however, a green egg layer, such as an Easter egger, will have the white ears typical of a white egg layer.