In American usage, an Easter egger or Easter-egger is any

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

or mixed-breed

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

resulting from breeding of a bird carrying the blue-egg (oocyan) gene with one that lays brown eggs. Eggs from such a bird may be any shade of blue or brown, or occasionally pink or pale yellow. These birds do not constitute a

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

, and so are not recognized by the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in the North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in respo ...

or the

American Bantam Association The American Bantam Association is a poultry fancy association for breeders of bantam poultry. It publishes the ''Bantam Standard'', with detailed descriptions of all the bantam breeds and varieties that it recognizes; in most – but not all � ...

. They may be marketed as "Americana", but are quite different from the

Ameraucana The Ameraucana is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was developed in the United States in the 1970s, and derives from Araucana chickens brought from Chile. It was bred to retain the blue-egg gene but eliminate the lethal alleles of the p ...

, a recognized breed.

Characteristics

Hybrid birds of this type may be of any

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

. They are commonly muffed and bearded, often with a pea-

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

; the

wattle Wattle or wattles may refer to: Plants *''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australia and South Africa **''Acacia'', large genus of shrubs and trees, native to Australasia **Black wattle, c ...

s may be small or entirely absent. The legs are often greenish.

References

{{Reflist, refs= Araucana; Ameraucana; Americana or the Easter Eggers
APA-ABA Youth Poultry Club. Archived 19 October 2013. Kathy Shea Mormino (2017)
''The Chicken Chick's Guide to Backyard Chickens''. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Voyageur Press, 2017. {{isbn, 9780760359792. Chicken crossbreeds