My Olive Egger is now 7 weeks. I have three of them but thought I could start with this one.
Last one is the same bird but a lighter shot.
Last one is the same bird but a lighter shot.
Barred Olive Egger gender
- Thread starter Sstewart
- Start date
chickens r life
Songster
Female
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would say pullet. Hopefully you will be getting some olive colored eggs in the next few months.
- Thread starter
- #4
As I am trying to learn, why do you say female.? The color? What about the pinky comb? Mind you, I want girls badly!
The comb is very small, and pinkish but not red.
At 7 weeks of age, roosters generally have a more pronounced comb that is really red.
I agree with pullet at this point.
LofMc
At 7 weeks of age, roosters generally have a more pronounced comb that is really red.
I agree with pullet at this point.
LofMc
)
To OP...curious as to the hybrid for the Olive Egger.
I am assuming Cuckoo Marans and ???
If so, Marans telecast pretty early, and my Marans mixes seemed to do so as well....I have Marans/Isbar mix, and that looks about right for pullet at 7 weeks.
LofMc
I am assuming Cuckoo Marans and ???
If so, Marans telecast pretty early, and my Marans mixes seemed to do so as well....I have Marans/Isbar mix, and that looks about right for pullet at 7 weeks.
LofMc
- Thread starter
- #8
Wow! Not only am I thrilled for a hen....but I love the knowledge. To get olive eggs that means a brown and a blue....so the brown would be the maran? How do you see that? Can you all please look at my splash ameracuana that I posted? I'm posting a couple more olive eggers from the same hatch....but they all look different! Thanks for the education!
You're welcome, and you're correct, it takes a blue egg gene X a brown egg gene to get green eggs, and specifically a dark brown egg like that of a Marans to get an olive green egg.
Yes, to get olive eggs you have to have a dark brown layer parent over a blue or green layer parent.
The typical dark brown layers are Barnevelder, Marans, Penedesenca (hate that breed as I always have to look up how to spell it), and Welsummer.
The typical blue or green layers are Easter Egger (very common, but is already a hybrid so not preferred for breeding olive eggers due to genetics going forward), Ameraucana (true Ameraucana not Easter Egger, less common, always breeds blue eggs), Cream Crested Legbar (CCL, always breeds blue), Isbar (always breeds green eggs, more rare), and Araucana (always breeds blue, more rare).
Why do I guess what I guess for your bird's breed?
Your bird has leg feathers indicating French Marans as that is the only dark layer with leg feathers, and she has a cuckoo pattern, indicating probably a French Cuckoo Marans as one parent, although a Cream Crested Legbar could have brought in barring as well.
I doubt your bird has Ameraucana or EE as the beard and muff generally breed forward (but not always)...so since she does not have a beard or muff, I suspicion something else for the blue side.
I think I see she has a bit of crest (hard to see in photo), so she may be a CCL/Marans cross, which is fairly common.
As to your question about the breed matching for egg coloring....since you indicate desire for more knowledge...there is reason to the process...
In the world of chickens, you either have a blue egg shell or a white egg shell, with blue being dominant if at least one blue gene is present (there are 2 possible). EE's typically have only 1 blue gene since they are already a hybrid, so generally it is best to use a breed that is true for 2 blue genes to make it easier to get Olive Eggers in your first mating.
As to the actual color process...
If you open a brown egg, you will notice it has a white shell on the inside and brown on the outside...that's because the hen produced an egg with a white shell, then her egg tract secreted a brown wash over the white shell. The longer it takes to go down the egg duct, the darker the wash will be. Dark brown layers place heavier brown wash, and you will note that those birds that lay the darkest brown eggs also lay less frequently...it simply takes their eggs longer to get out of the egg tract as they are being coated with more brown wash for dark eggs.
Blue eggs have a blue shell. Open up the egg and you will see the blue on the inside as well as the shell itself is blue.
If you breed a blue egg shell parent to a white egg shell parent, generally you will get blue egg shell offspring as blue is dominant. (Simplified answer as it depends on if the blue parent carried 2 blue genes or 1 blue gene).
To get a green egg, it takes a blue egg shell (from a blue dominant gene) with the genetics for brown wash (there are about 13 genes that cover that) to produce a green egg.
Brown wash over white shell produces a brown egg, varying with degrees of wash for colors of brown from light tint to darkest chocolate.
Brown wash over blue shell produces a green egg, varying with degrees of wash from light green to dark olive.
The darker the brown wash on a blue shell, the darker green you get.
Of the breeds mentioned, only Isbars naturally lay green eggs and breed true for that, otherwise, you have to have a hybrid to get the genetics.
Anyway, that is simplified and there is more complexity to the process, but that is the general idea.
Enjoy her, and I hope you get a lovely dark green egg.
LofMc
EDITED for clarity
The typical dark brown layers are Barnevelder, Marans, Penedesenca (hate that breed as I always have to look up how to spell it), and Welsummer.
The typical blue or green layers are Easter Egger (very common, but is already a hybrid so not preferred for breeding olive eggers due to genetics going forward), Ameraucana (true Ameraucana not Easter Egger, less common, always breeds blue eggs), Cream Crested Legbar (CCL, always breeds blue), Isbar (always breeds green eggs, more rare), and Araucana (always breeds blue, more rare).
Why do I guess what I guess for your bird's breed?
Your bird has leg feathers indicating French Marans as that is the only dark layer with leg feathers, and she has a cuckoo pattern, indicating probably a French Cuckoo Marans as one parent, although a Cream Crested Legbar could have brought in barring as well.
I doubt your bird has Ameraucana or EE as the beard and muff generally breed forward (but not always)...so since she does not have a beard or muff, I suspicion something else for the blue side.
I think I see she has a bit of crest (hard to see in photo), so she may be a CCL/Marans cross, which is fairly common.
As to your question about the breed matching for egg coloring....since you indicate desire for more knowledge...there is reason to the process...
In the world of chickens, you either have a blue egg shell or a white egg shell, with blue being dominant if at least one blue gene is present (there are 2 possible). EE's typically have only 1 blue gene since they are already a hybrid, so generally it is best to use a breed that is true for 2 blue genes to make it easier to get Olive Eggers in your first mating.
As to the actual color process...
If you open a brown egg, you will notice it has a white shell on the inside and brown on the outside...that's because the hen produced an egg with a white shell, then her egg tract secreted a brown wash over the white shell. The longer it takes to go down the egg duct, the darker the wash will be. Dark brown layers place heavier brown wash, and you will note that those birds that lay the darkest brown eggs also lay less frequently...it simply takes their eggs longer to get out of the egg tract as they are being coated with more brown wash for dark eggs.
Blue eggs have a blue shell. Open up the egg and you will see the blue on the inside as well as the shell itself is blue.
If you breed a blue egg shell parent to a white egg shell parent, generally you will get blue egg shell offspring as blue is dominant. (Simplified answer as it depends on if the blue parent carried 2 blue genes or 1 blue gene).
To get a green egg, it takes a blue egg shell (from a blue dominant gene) with the genetics for brown wash (there are about 13 genes that cover that) to produce a green egg.
Brown wash over white shell produces a brown egg, varying with degrees of wash for colors of brown from light tint to darkest chocolate.
Brown wash over blue shell produces a green egg, varying with degrees of wash from light green to dark olive.
The darker the brown wash on a blue shell, the darker green you get.
Of the breeds mentioned, only Isbars naturally lay green eggs and breed true for that, otherwise, you have to have a hybrid to get the genetics.
Anyway, that is simplified and there is more complexity to the process, but that is the general idea.
Enjoy her, and I hope you get a lovely dark green egg.
LofMc
EDITED for clarity
Last edited:
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