Olive Egger and egg color

[Meg-in-MT]

Can someone explain to me why olive eggers don't always lay olive colored eggs?

ETA: If the olive egger lays any other color than "olive", does that make it an EE?

 

[nicalandia]

It's not an olive egger if it does not lay Olive Colored eggs

 

[Meg-in-MT]

So, in the interest of avoiding confusion, when someone buys an olive egger from a hatchery that ends up laying any other color what would you call it? Not an EE or an OE, but a crossbreed?

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

"Olive egger"can be used as a marketing term, to get people to buy more chicks & pay more money. Could be an unethical seller (i.e. they Know the resulting offspring will likely lay lighter green eggs), & could be the offspring hatched from dark brown/blue egg cross, & the resulting colors simply werent very olive. I have some olive eggers that lay Very dark olive. Most came from blue egger/welsummer cross, & oddly, blue egger/isa brown cross. Blue egger/cuckoo marans cross are mostly a comparatively very light olive. And some eggs from above crosses i wouldnt consider olive colored at all, just a medium green. Technically all olive eggers are easter eggers anyway. Egg color shades will vary.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Ps. I used term "blue egger" because i dont have true ameraucanas, but easter eggers that carry the blue gene. And blue egg gene crossed with very dark brown egg SHOuld result in an olive egg. The vividness of olive color depends on the blue shade contribution too. U can crack a green egg & look at inside of shell color. (Peel off white inner membrane first.) A green egg of any shade will be blue inside shell.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Thanks for your explanation, Allsfair! There seems to be some debate about what to call what depending on the egg color. I guess that's where I'm getting lost.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

U r very welcome. Re welsummers & their supposedly very dark brown eggs, want to add this too. I bought welsummer chicks from privet hatchery 5 years ago, that lay VERY dark brown eggs, some (but not all) with even darker speckles. Bought welsummers from another hatchery i wont mention 2 years ago. They lay medium brown eggs. Nuthin special at all. Bought more welsummer chicks this year, again from privet. Those girls are now 9 weeks old. Will b curious to see if their eggs are as dark and pretty as the layers from 2015. Egg shade genetics can be complicated, and im no genetics expert. But my broody hens (many breeds) have hatched over a thousand chicks, so i know what ive personally seen.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

I hope you'll post pictures when they start laying. I get a couple fairly good olives, but I've seen way darker ones. I'm not sure who's laying the nice dark brown egg, either welsummer or bcm. Pretty certain it's the bcm.

I need to set up some cams to catch them.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

 

[Pullet Press]

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Oh, the color selection is soooo amazing!