Olive egger or Maran?

[A & H]

So sorry to plague you guys again with chick buying questions, but i really want to make a good decision on this. I am getting chicks to replace the ones that got caught by a hawk. We only have coop room for four chickens or so. I had two ameraucanas and two Rhode island reds, and in this next batch I want one of each to honor the little featherballs' memory. So I have only two openings for new breeds. As is the case for many, I have 3 breeds I want to cram in that space: Brown leghorn, Cuckoo Maran, and Olive egger. The Brown leghorn would be for the rate of lay, (brown instead of white because of the hawk problem), and the other two just for eggshell color. Which combo would you suggest?

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are no right or wrong choices as far as I'm concerned, though some with a personal preference may disagree. Flip a coin, cut a deck of cards, somehow randomly select two and go for it. It's as good a method as any other.

 

[TLCMidMichigan]

I choose the Black French Copper Marans because of the rarer status and dark brown eggs. The eggs are a very thick shell. Hatching chicks are not the easiest.

 

[Minky]

Hi I wouldn't choose the brown leghorn. I have 23 hens and my 2 danish brown leghorns are my least favourite. Standoffish, will peck you hard over and over if you go under them to get eggs while they are on the nest, and they lay maybe 3 eggs a week. My EE are way better layers.
I would certainly get a Marans and an olive egger- although I find the dark green color to be off putting- how about a Welsummer. A lovely friendly calm bird, with beautiful colour, does well in the cold and lays gorgeous dark terracotta speckled eggs every other day.

 

[MountainWoman73]

This is bad advice, but I'd get all 5 because something will probably happen to one of them before they're grown. (This is how chicken math starts.)

Or, if you can find Welsummers near you, they are my hands down favorite for a beautiful speckled egg.