Olive & Green Eggs - how & when?

[themenagerie]

I think I understand it. You get shades of green from crossing a brown egg layer type bird with a blue type. and an olive egg comes from a cross with a dark brown egg layer , but my question is WHEN do you get the olive eggs? Is it immediate in the eggs or do you have to hatch out chicks and wait for them to lay to get your green and olive. INquiring minds want to know...

ps...FWIW... There's a tall dark and handsome BCM rooster waiting to meet my EE ladies.

 

[turbodog]

The EE's won't lay olive eggs from mating with the BCM roo.
If you raise the chicks from their mating though, the future hens will lay the olive eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is a surprisingly common question, which means you are not the only one that wants to know.

The color of the eggs is related to genetics. When the hen is hatched, the color of eggs she will lay is already determined by her parents, whether she ever mates with a rooster or not. The rooster only affects the daughter's egg color.

Maybe think of it this way. If a red hen mates with a black rooster, the red hen's feathers do not change color. But the rooster's color will have an effect on the color of her chicks.