Oliver egger laying very light green eggs

[bigz1983]

Last summer I hatched out 4 oliver egger chicks and they are a cross between a Blue Amerucana rooster(true Amerucana not EE) and Partridge Spanish Penedesenca hens.
2 are blue, 1 is black and 1 is a partridge color.
In the same coop as the olive eggers I have 1 light green egger hen that is from a blue Amerucana rooster crossed with a silver laced wyandotte.
Plus a hen that is a cross of Blue Amerucana x white legorn.
I have been getting 3 olive eggs, 2 very light green eggs and 1 light blue egg a day.
I know the light blue egg comes from the Amerucana x legorn cross.
I know the Amerucana x wyandotte should lay a very light green egg.
So I have been trying to figure out who lays the 2nd very light green egg.
Well I saw one of the olive eggers in a nest box about 1 hour before nightfall. She is definitely a olive egger she looks just like her partridge Penedesenca mom.
Anyway I removed all the eggs in the nest boxes and under her and came back to check for eggs shortly after dark. There was a very light green egg.
I don't get it she's definitely a Amerucana x Penedesenca cross.
How common is it for a olive egger to lay a very pale green egg?
Here is her egg

 

[Peaches Lee]

I know with my hens, towards the end of the year, the color of the eggs starts to fade.

I'm not super familiar with Penedesencas, do they have a very dark brown egg? That may also play part of it.

I have an EE/Orp mix that lays a very light mint greenish blue egg. Orps having a light brown color and all.

I'm certainly no expert though!

 

[bigz1983]

I know with my hens, towards the end of the year, the color of the eggs starts to fade.

I'm not super familiar with Penedesencas, do they have a very dark brown egg? That may also play part of it.

I have an EE/Orp mix that lays a very light mint greenish blue egg. Orps having a light brown color and all.

I'm certainly no expert though!

Penedesencas lay dark brown eggs so they are good for breeding olive eggers.
I'm confused because so far every blue Amerucana crossed with Penedesenca oliver egger that I have hatched lays a dark green egg. I'm baffled that I'm getting a mint egg from this cross.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Well brown egg genetics are caused by lots of different genes… some even seem to cancel each other… it’s confusing. It is possible the Z chromosome contributed by her sire had genes that block some of the brown genes or the W chromosome she got from her mum was not as strong as Z chromosome her mum carries from the browning genes

 

[bigz1983]

Well brown egg genetics are caused by lots of different genes… some even seem to cancel each other… it’s confusing. It is possible the Z chromosome contributed by her sire had genes that block some of the brown genes or the W chromosome she got from her mum was not as strong as Z chromosome her mum carries from the browning genes

Ok. So occasionally the brown egg gene isn't as strong and a olive egger will lay light green eggs?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

At any rate I think it is a beautiful and unusual color!

 

[theoldchick]

https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Genetics_of_Egg_Color_in_Chickens

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/understanding-egg-color-genetics.1445199/

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Ok. So occasionally the brown egg gene isn't as strong and a olive egger will lay light green eggs?

Basically yes… and if you read the links the old chick posted you will see it can be complex.

These come from my 9 hens… the pinkish brown and the second darkest egg on the far right are from Naked Necks. Very different looking browns from the same breed. The tan eggs are from 3 different breeds. The green eggs look washed out in the picture but are a bit darker in real life… the dark brown is Maran.

The Olive green in different lighting. You can see the difference between the two hens brown genes better with this photo.

The browning genes in all my hens is very different even between the two Olive Eggers. If all of them had the Blue egg gene the shades of green would look very different.

Crossing a Welsummer with a Maran has been tried on BYC and the pullets from that cross produced brown eggs lighter than either parent breeds.

My Olive Eggers are Crested Cream Legbar x Welsummer so South American Blue gene.

Your eggs may vary a bit in shade as well throughout the laying cycle.