my pet chicken reviews

[dekel18042]

Thumbs down on Olive Eggers from MyPetChicken!

I received my 3 olive egger chicks back in July from MyPetChicken. They clearly are welsummer/crested cream legbar mix. Sweet girls, docile. Looking forward to pretty green eggs of any degree of light or darkness. Happy girls that stick together and get along well with the rest of the flock.

They all recently started laying eggs too - BROWN eggs, slightly speckled... all of them. When girl 1 started producing a brown egg, that was ok, I knew there was a chance this could happen, brown eggs from her was fine because the other two would lay green. A week later girl #2 plopped her first egg at my feet (she was excited I brought treats outside which made her leave the nesting box she was in). It was also brown. And just yesterday I found little lady 3 squawking up a storm in the coop;I peeked inside to find a still warm little brown egg in a nest and litlle lady was screaming to the world about it.

I'm just thinking out loud here. I got all my EE's and chocolate layers from My Pet Chicken. I wanted to order an olive egger but there were none available on my shipping dates so I decided to make my own. All those I hatched lay beautiful olive eggs including some I wouldn't have expected (Mom snuck a nest and went broody.) So I'm wondering if the best olive eggs come from a first generation cross of a blue and dark brown egg layer? Maybe when you start crossing second generation OE or other colors you muddy the waters so to speak.
I'm getting some nice olive eggs from a blue x pink cross which is something I didn't expect. I would have thought those pullets would lay minty green or paler green eggs. Obviously they have their own agenda.

 

[MyPetChicken]

I'm just thinking out loud here. I got all my EE's and chocolate layers from My Pet Chicken. I wanted to order an olive egger but there were none available on my shipping dates so I decided to make my own. All those I hatched lay beautiful olive eggs including some I wouldn't have expected (Mom snuck a nest and went broody.) So I'm wondering if the best olive eggs come from a first generation cross of a blue and dark brown egg layer? Maybe when you start crossing second generation OE or other colors you muddy the waters so to speak.
I'm getting some nice olive eggs from a blue x pink cross which is something I didn't expect. I would have thought those pullets would lay minty green or paler green eggs. Obviously they have their own agenda.

Without getting deep into genetics....

Blue + Brown = Olive MOST of the time there is a 1/16 chance that the blue egg color won't "follow"

Olive + Olive = Olive Most of the time.

You are getting Olive out of the Blue + Pink because the pink is actually a fault in the hen's "painter". She still carries the original genes for egg color. Cross them back to blue for a lighter mint or pale green color.

The problems you run into when making F2, F3 Olive Eggers is not being able to tell 100% the egg color associated with the rooster. He hens will lay eggs, proving their genetic make up. You will almost always run a 1/16 chance of hatching a brown egg layer, they just might not be the hens that carry that non-blue genetic make up.


Alex
My Pet Chicken

 

[Jujubara]

Just to add, I have 4 bantams from MPC, all are sexed girls. And two are silkies.

 

[bauerdog]

I have 5 MPC bantams (3 silkies) that were all correctly sexed female

 

[MyPetChicken]

Just to add, I have 4 bantams from MPC, all are sexed girls. And two are silkies.

I have 5 MPC bantams (3 silkies) that were all correctly sexed female

YAY that is so good to hear!

Thank you for sharing!

Alex
My Pet Chicken

 

[chickisoup]

And that, folks, is why I will continue to order from MPC and have become a fairly consistent cheerleader!

Wow, I think I can stop holding my breath now about if I made the right decision to switch to MPC for my spring order. If things don't go "just right" (and we all know how often "perfect" exists when dealing with critters) I just saw proof that MPC really does do their best to make it right.

Now It's going to be harder than ever to wait all the way to May for my SLW baby girls to arrive!!!

 

[Jujubara]

Wow,  I think I can stop holding my breath now about if I made the right decision to switch to MPC for my spring order.  If things don't go "just right" (and we all know how often "perfect" exists when dealing with critters) I just saw proof that MPC really does do their best to make it right.  

Now It's going to be harder than ever to wait all the way to May for my SLW baby girls to arrive!!!

Oh wow, you have a wait to go. And yes, they do make mistakes, but I think the big this is how a company handles those mistakes and MPC is great in that department!

 

[chickisoup]

Oh wow, you have a wait to go. And yes, they do make mistakes, but I think the big this is how a company handles those mistakes and MPC is great in that department!

Thanks Jujubara,
Yes, it is a long wait mostly because I am so far north that shipping any sooner can be a real roll of the dice whether they will be traveling thru a rainstorm or a blizzard. Not uncommon for us to have 50's one day and 30's at noon the next day in April. We can be working in the garden one day or still can have a foot of snow on the ground in May (like last year) and who knows with this crazy El Nino thing. Two years ago myself and our neighbor took off for town before dawn the last week of April to pick up chicks and we had to blast the heater all the way there and we still wrapped the box in a blanket and crossed our fingers nobody froze before we got them home. Having animals in the frozen tozen country can be fun sometimes.

 

[MyPetChicken]

Quote:
I'm so glad we could easy your mind about your decision. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I would be anxious waiting that long for chicks too! I understand the weather issue though. Smart to keep the chicks safe! Thank you, Alex My Pet Chicken

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thanks Jujubara,
Yes, it is a long wait mostly because I am so far north that shipping any sooner can be a real roll of the dice whether they will be traveling thru a rainstorm or a blizzard.  Not uncommon for us to have 50's one day and 30's at noon the next day in April.  We can be working in the garden one day or still can have a foot of snow on the ground in May (like last year) and who knows with this crazy El Nino thing.  Two years ago myself and our neighbor took off for town before dawn the last week of April to pick up chicks and we had to blast the heater all the way there and we still wrapped the box in a blanket and crossed our fingers nobody froze before we got them home.  Having animals in the frozen tozen country can be fun sometimes.

I usually get my in June because I want good weather too, this year I'm getting them at the end of May, it is a long wait but it's better for the chicks, so I suffer through it, but the plus side is they are out on fresh grass by two weeks old and require less heat..