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  1. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    My first two sets of Olive Eggers I used a cockerel from a project line of Legorn/Australorp/Ameraucana heritage (selected for blue egg gene) crossed over a Red Sex Link hen whose eggs weren't quite as dark as my current brown egg layer. Certain strains of Red Sex Links lay fairly dark colored...
  2. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Is the sister the one on the far right? Opposite of "sweet cheeks"? It is a bit blurry but it looks like she has a slight beard? Maybe not. The bearding gene is incomplete dominant if I remember right. 2 copies of the gene yields a larger beard if memory serves me. A single copy will...
  3. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Thanks! I used breeds people don't commonly think of for the cross because above all I wanted high production of eggs. It worked out! Hopefully the ladies from my current hatch will be just as good!
  4. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    I've got ~13 OE eggs in the incubator set to hatch on May 5th. I am using a dark egg laying Amber Link who lays daily large brown eggs crossed with a University of Arkansas Blue Cockerel who is homozygous for the blue egg gene. Looking forward to see what feather coloring I'll get. Planning...
  5. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    It is interesting that when you get so much brown over coating the shell it just starts to look brown more than green. That and the more productive the layer if the blue fades under it doesn't help. I was always impressed by several of our Red Sex links with how dark their egg shells stayed...
  6. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Very true and a good point. Even crossing "pure" BCM chickens to other BCM the eggs are often lighter than the parent stock for the first generation (from what I have read) because of the complexity of genes/interaction between the genes. This is part of the reason why I like dealing with...
  7. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    They remind me of one of my first Roosters! Unfortunately on this go around I already rehomed all my barred boys but maybe I'll keep one next hatch! Probably a Barred/Blue boy.
  8. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Ahhh must have the fuzzy blue chick! I am so excited for my next generation of blue/red Olive eggers! Have to wait at least 6 months though cause my brown egg layers are only 2 weeks old!
  9. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Yes and no. Just because they are sold at Wheaten Ameraucanas doesn't necessarily mean whoever was breeding them was better or worse than whoever bred the EE's at making sure there wasn't a single bird that was homozygous for blue eggs in their breeding pen. If you spend any time in the...
  10. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Those are some nice eggs! If those are your brown eggs from RSL hens - I think they would be a good choice for producing prolific Olive Eggers.
  11. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    My Red Sex Link hen didn't lay as deep of a brown color as previous RSL hens but she still produced some good F1 olive eggers. A few of her F1 offspring trended off to more minty colors due to their sheer productivity laying 6+ eggs a week, more than I would expect from a Maran cross. My first...
  12. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Very cool eggs! Love the speckles too. One of my current F1 Olive eggers started out a very nice shade of green but being a daily egg layer her eggs have faded to just your average green egg from an EE. Her sister started laying a few weeks ago and is still laying a nice shade of green but...
  13. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    I found it easiest to test the cockerels in each subsequent cross personally. The birds I used to test the genetics of a cockerel in question were single combed White Leghorn and single combed Red Sex Link. Any straight combed chicks tells me he is homozygous. All of my resulting...
  14. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    It depends. There are too many brown egg genes involved to consistently predict the egg color even with established/known parent stock. The shade of green that each of us call 'olive egger' isn't clearly defined and can be so dark that you can barely see any blue under it, to a shade that is...
  15. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Only way I know how to do that is to cross to a single comb white or brown egg layer and confirm each resulting hen lays blue or green eggs in the F1 generation. Would be a bit harder with a flock of hens though, easier to do with a rooster.
  16. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    If the wheaten Ameraucanas are well selected for 'pure bred' birds they should have 2 blue shell genes. They will pass one of those to their offspring and crossing them to a deep brown egg laying breed should yield 100% olive eggers in the F1 cross. Crossing to the green EE eggs, you could...
  17. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Edit: My apologies I misread your post. You mean that in the crossed generation you might get brown or green if the parent stock has only 1 blue egg gene. You are correct :-P.
  18. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    Thanks! I was hoping people wouldn't mind they aren't clean, going to be hatching the other 3 eggs so I cannot wash them for picture taking purposes. Hoping the sister starts laying eggs soon! I need some egg production from the younger birds this winter.
  19. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    One of my OE pullets started laying eggs today. Her eggs aren't quite as dark green as her prior 'sisters' eggs were/are but it's still fun to finally have a green/olive egg layer again! Eggs are next to blue and white eggs. Hoping to see some eggs from her hatch mate/sister soon.
  20. Manningjw

    The Olive-Egger thread!

    The short answer is, you never know what you are going to get particularly with so many variables. If the original EE hen layed green eggs then she at least has one blue egg gene but she may have two. If she indeed had two blue egg genes then the cockerel you have has one, if she did not he...
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