Andalusians are a beautiful breed. They are not much for meat production and there are better egg producers; the males are edible of course and 5-6 hens will keep a family in eggs for most of the year. Any chicken breed does well in any part of the U.S., some with large combs such as the Andalusian may suffer frost bite and loss of part of the comb and wattles in cold weather; doesnt look nice but has very little effect on the animal.
The gene(Bl) which makes this color needs but 1 copy to make a blue colored bird, if 2 genes are present the bird will be splash( white with black/blue spots). To get all blue offspring, a blu and a splash must be bred together,crossing blu to blu will result in all 3 colored chicks.

jwetzel,

A friend and neighbor has a small flock of birds. She has nineteen, orginally wanted ten but a friend asked her to take some so she ended up with more than she wanted. Out of the nineteen hens, two are Andalusians. They are pretty birds and she has been kind enough to give me a couple dozen eggs. Every time she gives me a new batch, their is always an 'Easter Egg'. It's a blue or green colored shell and she tells me that it is from one of the Andalusians.

It's definately a site to see a blue or green egg during the holidays.

Good luck!

Wendi

Andalusians do NOT make blue/green eggs. It may be a crossbreed easter egger mongrel. To make a blue shell there must be a gene((O)for blue shell, Andalusians are (o) for no blue, or white shell color.

fancifowl,

Sorry, I am not into the genetics of chickens and I did not read your post obviously. I believed my friend when she told me it was an Andalusian, I will tell her that I was scolded on GW for implying that the Andalusian was the one that laid the colored egg. Thank you for the information, I will be sure to pass it along.

Thanks for the comments. I'm really hoping to get some of these in the spring.

The colored egg question is interesting. To quote the McMurray website, "Andalusian hens are fine layers of white or slightly tinted eggs with very little tendency towards broodiness."

Anyone else ever seen Andalusians lay tinted eggs?

Thanks again!

Peonie, please understand, I am not scolding! poultry genetics and breeding top quality fowl is my hobby, I am not a professional but do like to get it right as possible!
Andalusians are white egg producers, BUT, poultry breeds are mostly recognized by phenoptype(the way they appear)and many breeds have genetic influence from other breeds which may be cause for off colored egg shell color. The brown and the blue are both dominant genes, thetefore, some tinted shell shell color may occur in some families of breeds. Any more than a slight blush of tint in a white egg breed such as Andalusians, would indicate the has been cross breeding.

Hi fancifowl,

Please do not think that I think you personally were scolding me, I only meant that I posted something that someone actually was able prove was incorrect. I truly appreciate someone actually knowing and being able to share the knowledge. I can't believe how guillable I was that I just automatically assumed that what my friend said was true. Before I added to the thread I should have made sure that what I was going to add was correct. The chickens being Blue Andalusians is true, but she also has three other types, so she may be confused. Trust me, if I can convince my DH to build a small little coop, I will be posting a thread specifically calling you to ask if you can help me choose what types are best to have in my small brood. For right now, DH is happy to have our friends deal with the "girls". I do thank you for sharing your knowledge!

I have Blue Andalusians - they most definitely lay white eggs. As far as their color, they come in 3 colors, blue, black and splash (white). The blue gene has shared dominance, so if you breed black to splash you will get 100% blue (barring anomalies), if you breed blue to blue you will get 25% black, 50% blue, 25% splash. Here's my page about Blue Andalusians that gives some more info: http://chickens4kids.com/home/our-breeds/blue-andalusians/

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Andalusian

Hey all, I know this is an old thread, but I have just recently gotten chickens again after about 25 years and wanted some birds like I had back when I was in Jr. High and Highschool (early 80's)
The birds I had back then I was told were Andalusian Blues (Blue Andalusians) and looked just like the birds I'm finding now as Blue Andalusians, although I thought mine had rose combs but I could be wrong about that.
What I am NOT wrong about is that they all laid Multi-colored Eggs! As Easter Eggers were not an official breed yet, I can only assume they had Araucana in their family tree somewhere. But it was far enough back that all offspring and the entire flock I got mine from, were all identical to Blue Andalusians. They were Solid Black with White Ear lobes. They were smaller than my Leghorns and even chochins but larger than my Seabrights. Probably not much different than my silkies were though. They were also very high strung.
So, peoniesaremyfave you are NOT wrong. In fact, If your friends still has those birds, I would Love to see some pics. Do they ever try to hatch the Blue eggs?