Brown Egg layers laying green/olive eggs?

[MMelton67]

Yes I believe the one with the tuft on her head is your Olive Egger!

ok. I'm not disagreeing. But, what criteria are you using for that assertion? I know for pretty sure I've never seen her in a nesting box or otherwise laying. Her bouffant hair is immediately identifiable. Also, after the recent move to the new, larger coop (8x8) and run (8x40) We've gotten more than one olive egg in a 24 hour period. Given that, from this group, someone starting laying at least 2 weeks early and due to our late start this year, 22-24 weeks from hatching was the 2nd or 3rd week in November I was not expecting them to lay much at all as we headed into winter. We're now getting 5 eggs a day from 13 birds and at least one, if not two olives a day. And, the olives only showed up last week. So, I don't think it's just one girl. The mis-id'd-lone-olive-egger theory doesn't seem to hold true. Again, as I said in the first or second post, it doesn't really matter. It's just an anomaly I'm looking for an answer to. Cheers!

 

[ShrekDawg]

ok. I'm not disagreeing. But, what criteria are you using for that assertion? I know for pretty sure I've never seen her in a nesting box or otherwise laying. Her bouffant hair is immediately identifiable. Also, after the recent move to the new, larger coop (8x8) and run (8x40) We've gotten more than one olive egg in a 24 hour period. Given that, from this group, someone starting laying at least 2 weeks early and due to our late start this year, 22-24 weeks from hatching was the 2nd or 3rd week in November I was not expecting them to lay much at all as we headed into winter. We're now getting 5 eggs a day from 13 birds and at least one, if not two olives a day. And, the olives only showed up last week. So, I don't think it's just one girl. The mis-id'd-lone-olive-egger theory doesn't seem to hold true. Again, as I said in the first or second post, it doesn't really matter. It's just an anomaly I'm looking for an answer to. Cheers!

Barred Rocks don’t have crests so she’s definitely an Olive Egger. But you’re right, there might be another one.

 

[MommyGirl]

ok. I'm not disagreeing. But, what criteria are you using for that assertion? I know for pretty sure I've never seen her in a nesting box or otherwise laying. Her bouffant hair is immediately identifiable. Also, after the recent move to the new, larger coop (8x8) and run (8x40) We've gotten more than one olive egg in a 24 hour period. Given that, from this group, someone starting laying at least 2 weeks early and due to our late start this year, 22-24 weeks from hatching was the 2nd or 3rd week in November I was not expecting them to lay much at all as we headed into winter. We're now getting 5 eggs a day from 13 birds and at least one, if not two olives a day. And, the olives only showed up last week. So, I don't think it's just one girl. The mis-id'd-lone-olive-egger theory doesn't seem to hold true. Again, as I said in the first or second post, it doesn't really matter. It's just an anomaly I'm looking for an answer to. Cheers!

It’s just a guess I’m really not sure but I’ve seen olive eggers on this site that looked like barred rocks though. But I’m no expert only been chicken keeping for 3 1/2 years. So all I know is what I’ve learned from my flock or on BYC. I’ve learned so much from this place and still learning.

 

[NatJ]

Barred Rocks don’t have crests so she’s definitely an Olive Egger. But you’re right, there might be another one.

I was going to say the same thing about the crested one.
And I agree that there could be others.

We're now getting 5 eggs a day from 13 birds and at least one, if not two olives a day. And, the olives only showed up last week. So, I don't think it's just one girl. The mis-id'd-lone-olive-egger theory doesn't seem to hold true. Again, as I said in the first or second post, it doesn't really matter. It's just an anomaly I'm looking for an answer to. Cheers!

With those egg numbers, I am starting to wonder if there are any actual Barred Rocks, or if they are all Olive Eggers.

When they are all laying, you can count how many olive eggs you get in a day-- and you may want to let Hoovers know. Even if you don't care about a refund for wrong-breed chicks, it does show that someone was careless, and they may want to look into the matter.

(I don't know if someone was careless about which chicks went in your box, or about which rooster went in the "Barred Rock" breeding pen.)

 

[MMelton67]

ok. so, just to be clear, I'm not trying to be aggro on anyone. And, I realize, other than a DNA test, no one can be sure. However, how does a crest mean she's an OE? I don't have a camera on the nesting box or inside the coop but she's the last chicken I'd expect to be laying; period. Mind you, this is my 'job' as it is and I'm doing all the keeping and am in the coop/run twice a day if not more. And, the assertion that the hatchery messed up seems to be a fallback position to take if there is no other likely reason. I understand mistakes can happen as we ended up with one rooster out of the 8 BPR pullets we ordered (may his prolapsed vent and he RIP.) I'm truly curious about the assertion that mistakes are common at the hatcheries as I'm not in this to keep chickens as pets and just ordered a batch of 16 Australorps from Hoover's for early March delivery. Can I really expect not to get 16 female Australorps from them? fwiw, I've gone back to Hoover because Murray need's a 25 chick minimum before April 1 and none of the local farm store's (Bomgaars, TSC, RK) seem to be able to tell me that their chicks are immunized against anything (it's retail, i get it).

 

[MMelton67]

I was going to say the same thing about the crested one.
And I agree that there could be others.


With those egg numbers, I am starting to wonder if there are any actual Barred Rocks, or if they are all Olive Eggers.

When they are all laying, you can count how many olive eggs you get in a day-- and you may want to let Hoovers know. Even if you don't care about a refund for wrong-breed chicks, it does show that someone was careless, and they may want to look into the matter.

(I don't know if someone was careless about which chicks went in your box, or about which rooster went in the "Barred Rock" breeding pen.)

ok, we just cross posted so I didn't see this till after my last post. I'll call Hoover's tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Crested Cream Legbars lay a blue egg and, of course have a crest. Your hen with the crest sounds like she may have some of this breed in her. She's laying a blue egg (crack it and look at the inside of the shell) with a brown coating, resulting in a greenish or olive colored egg. She has the genes for a white egg with a brown coating, and for a blue egg, resulting in a greenish egg. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure, but that's my understanding.

 

[NatJ]

ok. so, just to be clear, I'm not trying to be aggro on anyone. And, I realize, other than a DNA test, no one can be sure. However, how does a crest mean she's an OE?

The crest proves that she is not a pure Barred Rock.

Olive eggs prove that somebody is an Olive Egger.

Since some Olive Eggers do look like your barred pullets (the crested one and the not-crested ones), the simplest explanation is that Hoovers sent you some Olive Eggers, either instead of Barred Rocks or else mixed with some Barred Rocks.

I don't have a camera on the nesting box or inside the coop but she's the last chicken I'd expect to be laying; period.

In the photos, it looks like her comb and wattles and face are very red (more than some of the others.) The pullets with the reddest faces are usually the ones that start laying first. So that is why I think that she easily could be one of the pullets who is laying eggs at the present time.

If they were all laying and you only got one olive egg each day, I would bet it came from her. One odd chicken, one odd egg, mystery solved.

But you actually have 2 olive eggers (and may have more, when the rest start laying), so it is NOT as simple as just finding one bird who doesn't match. I think the olive eggs are more likely to come from the barred birds, and less likely to come from the lavender birds, due to which coloring is more common in Olive Eggers.

And, the assertion that the hatchery messed up seems to be a fallback position to take if there is no other likely reason. I understand mistakes can happen as we ended up with one rooster out of the 8 BPR pullets we ordered (may his prolapsed vent and he RIP.) I'm truly curious about the assertion that mistakes are common at the hatcheries as I'm not in this to keep chickens as pets and just ordered a batch of 16 Australorps from Hoover's for early March delivery. Can I really expect not to get 16 female Australorps from them? fwiw, I've gone back to Hoover because Murray need's a 25 chick minimum before April 1 and none of the local farm store's (Bomgaars, TSC, RK) seem to be able to tell me that their chicks are immunized against anything (it's retail, i get it).

When ordering from a hatchery, you can expect most orders to be fairly close to correct. If a particular hatchery made too many errors, word would spread and no-one would order, and they would go out of business.

But with all the thousands (probably millions) of chicks that get hatched and shipped, some mistaked definitely do happen. As you've experienced, there can be wrong-sex and wrong-breed mixups.

There can also be chickens that are the correct breed & sex but have something "wrong" because the hatchery flock was not being carefully selected for the right traits (single comb chicks in breeds that should have rose comb, clean faced chicks in breeds that should have muff/beard, tiny breeds that are not small enough, big breeds that are not large enough, patterned breeds that are a bit mis-marked, etc.)

If you want chickens that have ALL the correct traits for their breed (any breed, from any source), you need to either buy adult chickens after inspecting them to see if they have the right traits, or buy more chicks than you need and plan to keep only the best while eating/selling/rehoming the less good ones.

But if you want a flock of mostly-correct chickens that are healthy and good layers, it is usually possible to get that by ordering chicks from a hatchery.

 

[NatJ]

I realize, other than a DNA test, no one can be sure.

Actually, for olive eggers, you can be sure without a DNA test. Put any hen in a cage by herself until she lays an egg, then look at the color of the egg.

If she lays an olive-colored egg, then she is an Olive Egger.

 

[MMelton67]

Actually, for olive eggers, you can be sure without a DNA test. Put any hen in a cage by herself until she lays an egg, then look at the color of the egg.

If she lays an olive-colored egg, then she is an Olive Egger.

Thank you for everything you've said. I am new at this and actually expected to get what I ordered. It seems that OE's are cold hardy like BPR's so that's fine but it looks like the production is significantly less. I am aiming to have a total of 50 chickens by the middle of 2024 and am wanting to produce eggs for sale, so production in the BPR's was the goal. Can you get more $$ for the olive eggs at farmer's markets? lol. The Lavender Orp's were an aesthetic choice. The next two batches are going to be Australorps for pure production.