The Green Queen chicken breed is a new Easter Egger variety that produces mostly green-colored eggs.
They are prolific egg layers as well as good for meat production. Adding this breed to your backyard flock will ensure that you have a constant supply of colorful eggs from your coop.
If you plan to add the Green Queen chickens to your backyard flock, then you have come to the right place.
This article will discuss everything you need to know before adding this adorable chicken breed to your flock. Keep reading to learn more.
History And Background
The Green Queen chicken is a new variety of the Easter Eggers, developed by Meyer Hatchery.
It was created hybrid chicken designed for their customers who wanted a prolific colorful egg layer with a calm and friendly personality.
Easter Egger chickens were created when breeders and chicken keepers started crossing Ameraucanas and Araucanas with other chicken breeds.
The results of the crossings led to an adorable-looking bird and multi-colored eggs. Both the Ameraucana and Araucana possess the gene for laying blue-colored eggs.
Therefore, when a breed that lays brown eggs is crossed with either of them, the result will be a green or olive-colored egg.
Green Queen Chicken Appearance And Standard
The Green Queen chicken can be a mixed bag of features. They are hybrid chickens that will come in a wide range of colors.
Like other Easter Eggers, no two Green Queen chickens will look exactly the same. The unique mix is perfect for chicken keepers who may want beautiful colors in their chicken yard or colorful eggs in their basket.
They can have any comb, with pea and single combs being the most common. The type of comb will largely depend on their parents.
Their earlobes can also be any color, depending on the parents. However, they are mostly white or red. They also have small red wattles, and most chickens will have ear tufts.
Most Green Queen chickens are bearded and may have some or no muffs at all. This gives them an appearance that some people describe as chipmunk-ish.
The birds also have a tail. However, because of the Araucana genes, some chickens may be rampless.
Their legs are usually clean, although some may have feathered legs. The shanks can be any color, ranging from yellow to slate blue or green.
esides, the foot may have four or five toes. Like the shanks, their footpad can be any color.
It is not possible to give the true coloration of the Green Queen chickens. Their feathers come in solid patterns, colors, and splashes of any color.
The color will mainly depend on what plumage the parent chicken had and which of the colors become genetically dominant.
Although they are considered standard-sized chickens, they are typically on the small side. A mature Green Queen rooster will weigh around 5 pounds, while a mature hen will weigh around 4 pounds.
Personality And Temperament
The Green Queen chickens are known to be calm and non-aggressive birds. They are family-oriented birds and are not shy with humans.
Once you add them to your flock and they get settled, they will be docile and enough to sit on your lap or even eat from your hands.
They can be a perfect choice for families with children or those who are raising backyard chickens for the first time.
These docile birds will do well if added to any backyard flock. However, they may get picked by other chicken breeds because of their docile nature.
Therefore, if you are adding them to an existing flock or if you are adding other chickens of a different breed, make sure that the birds are docile and non-aggressive too. Such chicken breeds include Faverolles, Cochins, and Polish.
Green Queen chickens are also hardy and can equally tolerate both hot and cold climates. However, you will need to ensure that they have plenty of food, clean water, and shelter. This will ensure that your chickens are comfortable and relaxed all the time.
They are also curious birds that like poking around to see what they can find in the way of snacks.
Green Queen roosters can be slightly aggressive like roosters of many chicken breeds. They will fight to defend the rest of the flock members against predators. The birds will also do well both when confined and if allowed to free-range.
Green Queen Chicken Egg Laying
Green Queen chickens are known to be good egg layers. Under good care and a balanced diet, a Green Queen hen can lay around four eggs each week.
This translates to about 200 to 250 eggs in a year. If you are looking for a chicken breed that will ensure you have a constant supply of colorful eggs throughout the year, you can try this hybrid chicken.
They usually reach their point of lay between 17 to 20 weeks. However, this will largely depend on the individual chicken.
The color of Green Queen chicken eggs can be anywhere from green to blue. Light pink or olive and shades in between.
However, you should know that a Green Queen hen will only lay eggs of a specific color throughout her lifetime. I
f you have several hens in your flock, you are more likely to get a good variety of egg colors in your egg box.
Your Green Queen hens will hardly go broody. They will spend most of their time laying those beautiful eggs.
This is good for backyard chicken keepers who only want eggs for consumption or selling. You can put your fertilized eggs in an incubator to hatch if you want chicks.
A Green Queen hen will maintain a high egg-laying rate for the first two years. After that, the rate will slowly fall as the chicken ages.
Health Issues
Green Queen chickens are healthy and robust birds. They are born without any hereditary health issues.
Since they have a pretty deep gene pool, there are rarely any genetic health issues to speak of.
However, you will have to watch out for common poultry diseases such as diarrhea. You should seek assistance from your vet as soon as possible if you notice any signs of poultry disease. You can also try home remedies before seeing your vet.
Green Queen chickens are also susceptible to parasites like lice and mites. Be sure to check your birds for parasites and treat them accordingly regularly.
You can easily manage or treat them by regular feather checks and treatment by schedule or as needed.
In addition, you will need to check them for intestinal worms. If you spot them in your chicken’s droppings, you will have to treat the bird to remove the infestation.
You can keep on top of health issues by taking a fecal sample to your vet every five or six months.
Feeding
The feeding regimen of Green Queen chickens is the same as other chicken breeds. Your Green Queen chickens will require a balanced diet to live a longer and more productive life like any other chicken breed.
Chicks will need 20% starter feed for the first few weeks of life. At 6 of 7 weeks, you can shift to a grower feed that is 16-18% protein.
The feed will ensure that your birds grow and develop strong feathers. At 20 weeks old, you can transition to 16% layer feed.
You will also need to make sure that your birds have access to oyster shells in a separate container.
Supplementing the diet of your birds with calcium will ensure that they lay quality eggs with strong eggshells.
In addition, you will need to ensure that your birds have access to fresh and clean water.
Coop Set-Up
Green Queen chickens are a bit on the small side. Therefore, you will not need to create a large space per chicken.
The 4 square feet per bird rule will do very nicely to them. For the roosting space, you can make it 8 to 10 inches each.
The size of your coop will also depend on the total number of birds you want to raise. The coop should be spacious enough to accommodate all your chickens.
Since they are on the small side and not aggressive, you will have to ensure that there are enough roosts to keep them away from the bullies in the coop.
You can add nesting boxes that are 12×12. One nesting box for every three hens will be sufficient.
However, there will always be a favorite nesting box that all chickens want to use at precisely the same time.
Green Queen chickens are good foragers and like to free-range. Allowing them time to free-range will supplement their diet and give them exercise and mental stimulation.
However, as non-aggressive and docile chickens, they tolerate confinement too. Be sure to design a run when constructing their coop.
Conclusion
The Green Queen chicken is a new variety of Easter Eggers that lay mostly green eggs. Their eggs can also be pink, brown, or light blue.
This hybrid chicken is a good layer that is worth adding to your backyard flock. They will ensure that you have a constant supply of colorful eggs throughout the year.
