Easter Egger and Olive Egger confusion

[redinator]

Er, I suppose I should specifify that the bird has to have the genes for olive colored eggs. I say that 'cause obviously roosters don't lay eggs

Yeah I have BYM cockerel that's a weird looking dude. I'd love to know what his chicks would look like, but if his attitude gets any worse he may not be around much longer.

 

[AMURPHY227]

Olive Eggers are not Easter Eggers.

They are what they're called, Olive Eggers - they are guaranteed to lay green eggs.

Olive Eggers have 2 Homozygous parents- meaning 1 parent carries 2 copies of the blue gene, and the other parent carries 2 copies of the brown gene. The parents of first generation OE's must come from a pure lineage.

Ex: A black Copper Marans carries 2 copies of the brown gene.
A Cream Legbar carries 2 copies of the blue gene.
You breed these together and you have a First generation Olive Egger (F1OE).​

Most Easter eggers carry at least one white recessive gene.

Here is a very helpful and informative article about EE genetics, you can find Olive Eggers genetics explained on this website also!

https://silverhomestead.com/easter-egger-egg-shell-color-genetics/

 

[Iluveggers]

My Olive Egger is from Ideal. She looks like a Welsummer but has a pea comb. Ideal says their Olive Eggers are Easter Eggers crossed with Barnevelder or Welsummer. My OE’s eggs are army green, sometimes speckled.

They offer other Olive Eggers, but their generic ones are not black so no Marans in the cross.

I also have 3 BYM that lay green eggs. Same father, an Easter Egger, but one hatched out of a blue egg and the other two out of brown eggs. Their eggs are olive colored, so I got lucky. I just call them BYM lol

 

[JacinLarkwell]

So Olive Eggers can be colors other than black, but tend to be black because as @nuthatched stated Marans are typically used in the mix to get the olive colored eggs . . . . am I understanding that correctly?

Yes. My three are splash and blue just because the marans I used was a splash and couldn't make black chicks

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Olive Eggers are not Easter Eggers.

They are what they're called, Olive Eggers - they are guaranteed to lay green eggs.

Olive Eggers have 2 Homozygous parents- meaning 1 parent carries 2 copies of the blue gene, and the other parent carries 2 copies of the brown gene. The parents of first generation OE's must come from a pure lineage.

Ex: A black Copper Marans carries 2 copies of the brown gene.
A Cream Legbar carries 2 copies of the blue gene.
You breed these together and you have a First generation Olive Egger (F1OE).​

Most Easter eggers carry at least one white recessive gene.

Here is a very helpful and informative article about EE genetics, you can find Olive Eggers genetics explained on this website also!

https://silverhomestead.com/easter-egger-egg-shell-color-genetics/

? Pardon, but your explanation doesn't make sense?

An Olive Egger IS an Easter Egger...
F1 Olive Egger can carry exactly the same amount of white eggshell as F1 Easter Egger?

An Egger is a mix.
An Easter Egger encapsulates most mixes that -might- have the blue eggshell gene. (Easter as in colorful. Dyed easter eggs, plastic easter eggs, candy eggs, etc. Color variety in both eggs and feathers, hopefully.)
Up until recently, the only way to test for the blue eggshell gene was to hatch birds and see if it passed on... You had no idea if your "purebred" blue egg bird had 2 copies, 1, or if the rooster had none.

"Olive Egger" is just a "Green Egger" but expected to have darker green because of more brown pigment.

You can get olive eggs from Easter Eggers.
We literally have. Many years before Marans were imported and somebody tried to trademark the term as if they "invented" something. Ours crossed and we had dozens of pullets with that dark brownish green "olive" color. It was fun (the egg color was so ugly, but new colors you don't usually see are what made it fun.) And they were still easter eggers, but today they would be called olive eggers because of their egg color.
I'm sure thousands of people had the same surprise with their mixed flocks.

I'm very confused about why some people think olive eggers aren't easter eggers...? It's just the umbrella term.
F2 olive egger is just as likely to not inherit blue eggshell gene as an f2 easter egger or etc ridiculous color names people are using... (mint, moss, plum...)

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

My Olive Egger is from Ideal. She looks like a Welsummer but has a pea comb. Ideal says their Olive Eggers are Easter Eggers crossed with Barnevelder or Welsummer. My OE’s eggs are army green, sometimes speckled.

They offer other Olive Eggers, but their generic ones are not black so no Marans in the cross.

I also have 3 BYM that lay green eggs. Same father, an Easter Egger, but one hatched out of a blue egg and the other two out of brown eggs. Their eggs are olive colored, so I got lucky. I just call them BYM lol

I'm not speaking for Ideal, but various breeds can be used for eggers or the deep green olive color.
Anything that's supposed to have a "dark brown" egg.

Welsummer is one of the common ones. As are Barnevelder.
Supposedly Penedesenca are used by some people.
Marans are just famous for those dark brown "chocolate" eggs. But, you really only see that color from breeders who select for it.
Plus, the brown color will vary through the laying season. So in spring it can be dark, but by winter it might look like any other egg.
(Not exclusive to Marans. The brown and speckles is "painted" on the shell. Some are more consistent than others.)

There are also different colors of Marans. "Black Copper Marans" are just the more famous ones. Some people claim they have the darkest eggs, but that seems to be based on selected genetics and not feather color?

 

[AMURPHY227]

? Pardon, but your explanation doesn't make sense?

An Olive Egger IS an Easter Egger...
F1 Olive Egger can carry exactly the same amount of white eggshell as F1 Easter Egger?

An Egger is a mix.
An Easter Egger encapsulates most mixes that -might- have the blue eggshell gene. (Easter as in colorful. Dyed easter eggs, plastic easter eggs, candy eggs, etc. Color variety in both eggs and feathers, hopefully.)
Up until recently, the only way to test for the blue eggshell gene was to hatch birds and see if it passed on... You had no idea if your "purebred" blue egg bird had 2 copies, 1, or if the rooster had none.

"Olive Egger" is just a "Green Egger" but expected to have darker green because of more brown pigment.

You can get olive eggs from Easter Eggers.
We literally have. Many years before Marans were imported and somebody tried to trademark the term as if they "invented" something. Ours crossed and we had dozens of pullets with that dark brownish green "olive" color. It was fun (the egg color was so ugly, but new colors you don't usually see are what made it fun.) And they were still easter eggers, but today they would be called olive eggers because of their egg color.
I'm sure thousands of people had the same surprise with their mixed flocks.

I'm very confused about why some people think olive eggers aren't easter eggers...? It's just the umbrella term.
F2 olive egger is just as likely to not inherit blue eggshell gene as an f2 easter egger or etc ridiculous color names people are using... (mint, moss, plum...)

It’s genetics. I explained and it makes perfect sense lol. If you can’t make sense of genetics from my explanation i also posted a link. Feel free to do your own research but the link I posted explains very well I think.

I agree with all the egger names getting out of hand.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

It’s genetics. I explained and it makes perfect sense lol. If you can’t make sense of genetics from my explanation i also posted a link. Feel free to do your own research but the link I posted explains very well I think.

I agree with all the egger names getting out of hand.

Sorry, but you may have to clarify if I'm missing something.

Your link is somebody saying to assume that all easter eggers carry at least one copy of white eggshell.

They also appear to be assuming that all "purebred" blue egg breeds will have 2 copies of the blue eggshell gene... which, though they're "supposed to", it isn't guaranteed.

There is new technology that can test if your bird carries a blue egg gene.
Up until fairly recently, you had to test hatch to figure that out.

It's also very difficult to remove brown coating once it's in the genetics.
These are issues that crop up fairly often.
That's why people have to say "x% chance of laying a tan egg" (or green)

Marans are common for olive eggers. But any "dark brown" egg producer can be used.
Brown eggs are white eggshells, with a brown coat painted on top.
F1 Olive eggers automatically have 1 copy of white.

Things can get messy with F2 (or F1b. Etc whatever number you put) as they can inherit the white shell, instead of blue.

If somebody wanted to create a breed that produced olive eggs, I'm sure they could. (It can't be called an "Olive Egger" though.)
With the new technology to test for the blue egg gene, they would no longer have to test hatch hundreds or thousands of times. It could take years off the work to create a breed.

There's already green egg breeds, so it can obviously be done (Shetland Hen, Silverrudd's Blue)

 

[AMURPHY227]

Sorry, but you may have to clarify if I'm missing something.

Your link is somebody saying to assume that all easter eggers carry at least one copy of white eggshell.

They also appear to be assuming that all "purebred" blue egg breeds will have 2 copies of the blue eggshell gene... which, though they're "supposed to", it isn't guaranteed.

There is new technology that can test if your bird carries a blue egg gene.
Up until fairly recently, you had to test hatch to figure that out.

It's also very difficult to remove brown coating once it's in the genetics.
These are issues that crop up fairly often.
That's why people have to say "x% chance of laying a tan egg" (or green)

Marans are common for olive eggers. But any "dark brown" egg producer can be used.
Brown eggs are white eggshells, with a brown coat painted on top.
F1 Olive eggers automatically have 1 copy of white.

Things can get messy with F2 (or F1b. Etc whatever number you put) as they can inherit the white shell, instead of blue.

If somebody wanted to create a breed that produced olive eggs, I'm sure they could. (It can't be called an "Olive Egger" though.)
With the new technology to test for the blue egg gene, they would no longer have to test hatch hundreds or thousands of times. It could take years off the work to create a breed.

There's already green egg breeds, so it can obviously be done (Shetland Hen, Silverrudd's Blue)

I didn’t say marans were the only brown layers to produce Olive Eggers, simply just used them as examples because they are homozygous brown carriers.

Easter eggers aren’t guaranteed to produce blue eggs. But a cream legbar or amerecauna are guaranteed because they are pure bred with no crosses in at least 7 generations.

I’m not catching on to the eggshell argument. Genetics determine the bloom. Thats why pure breds are guaranteed to lay certain color eggs, and why a true olive egger (F1) is guaranteed to lay olive eggs.


you could have a blue laying Easter egger that has a white and blue gene from mom and a dad that has 2 blue genes. That offspring could produce a white, blue, or green layer. If green it’s an Easter egger. If blue it’s an Easter egger.
I have a green laying Easter egger and I do not claim her as an olive egger because of her genetics. She’s an Easter egger.

You could have a true blue and any other breed that produces light or medium colored brown eggs. Some call that offspring Olive Eggers but some including myself I call them green eggers.

As I said, you are free to do your own research. I am not a good teacher and don’t claim to be lol…. I work in an office at a plant and breed BCM and Olive Eggers. Google would work if you don’t like the information I posted. You can start there and do your own instead of argumentatively questioning someone who has.

Have a great day and good luck on your research!

 

[iwltfum]

This is obviously a speculative topic. Neither Easter eggers nor olive eggers have defined breed characteristics from any official entity so anyone with capital and access to a variety of chicken breeds can create a flock that lays colored eggs and call them whatever they want.

People want colorful egg baskets without having to deal with a bunch of flighty and sassy pure-bred Araucanas or the complexity of making their own crosses. And the hatcheries are trying to fill that niche.

It seems that conversationally, folks have created their own definitions and expectations for these birds- but there is no official standard for either, genetically or in terms of conformation.