Several people have already chimed in on the olive eggs, but I will just add that my Black Copper male bred to a Black Ameraucana produced the most gorgeous black crosses with beautiful green sheen to their feathers and several are starting to lay nice olive green eggs, just like what I hoped for.I had asked the question before, how to get darker eggs thus perfecting you breed, and didn't get an answer. Now I re-ask that Q and want to know how to get olive eggers from my breed. What do you mate them to?
I recently wrote that I realized that the Black copper Marans I purchsed is actually a Wheaten Marans, and the two females are Black Marans. I asked if their off spring would look and be desirable. I received a a response that said what I would have would be 'mutts'.Not the wording I would have used to someone. They are still Marans, maybe not show quality as a pure breed, but that was not what I was asking. What I wanted to know was, would the Wheaten coloring come through when the mother is a Black marans?
About your Wheaten x Black Copper Marans, yes they are Marans, but a cross that is not a recognized color, and will not breed true itself, so not a "breed" in the true sense. You may not get an answer to your question because most of us do our best to avoid these crosses since it is hard enough to get the colors right in the pure breeds. There is not much point in crossing them, in fact it could be detrimental to the breed in general if the offspring are given away/sold and down the line some unsuspecting person now thinks they have a pure breed and continue on to bred it, causing more problems. I hope you see how things could develop or end up. Sometimes people say, well I am only breeding these for my own use, etc. but it does not always work that way. A bird or two given to a friend who also says they only want for egg layers....then down the road that bird changes hands, gets bred as if pure...once a bird leaves your hands, you have no control over what happens to it. These are just my thoughts, some things to consider. I have read over and over that mixes in the Black Copper Marans are what has caused a lot of problems in the breed today, influences from other breeds or just another variety of Marans like Wheaten mixed in. Those genes are there and play havoc in the offspring. OK, too much caffeine this morning...better go feed the birds now.
once the generations change hands way down the line: a bird may look like a certain variety but throw odd birds. It would make what one person may have worked hard at in their own project, only to cause them big problems.
