Sapphire Olive Eggers from Hoover's Hatchery

[ChickenChick889]

Hi! I hope it's okay to post here (and if not please point me in the right direction). I'm not sure which hatchery my girl is from but she is supposed to be an olive egger and has the sapphire coloring so possibly a sapphire OE like all of yours, she's from TSC. She is right at 5 months and I haven't seen her laying yet or in any of the nests yet, haven't heard her squawking at all, doesn't squat, no olive eggs yet (and she is the only OE in the flock). It's slightly possibly she has very discreetly laid a brown egg the exact same color/size/shape/etc as my more mature Cinnamon Queens that have been laying for over month now....as there was 1 day we got 5 brown eggs from the 4 girls, just once, but I'm hoping she's still holding out on some pretty green eggs. My big question is on her comb. Is this a small rose comb? Small pea comb? There are no defined lines/ridges like my other pea comb'ed ladies have. She also does have some bluish greenish color on her ears which I know isn't a reliable rule but a girl can hope!

 

[Kwoka]

Hi! I hope it's okay to post here (and if not please point me in the right direction). I'm not sure which hatchery my girl is from but she is supposed to be an olive egger and has the sapphire coloring so possibly a sapphire OE like all of yours, she's from TSC. She is right at 5 months and I haven't seen her laying yet or in any of the nests yet, haven't heard her squawking at all, doesn't squat, no olive eggs yet (and she is the only OE in the flock). It's slightly possibly she has very discreetly laid a brown egg the exact same color/size/shape/etc as my more mature Cinnamon Queens that have been laying for over month now....as there was 1 day we got 5 brown eggs from the 4 girls, just once, but I'm hoping she's still holding out on some pretty green eggs. My big question is on her comb. Is this a small rose comb? Small pea comb? There are no defined lines/ridges like my other pea comb'ed ladies have. She also does have some bluish greenish color on her ears which I know isn't a reliable rule but a girl can hope!

I think Hoover’s Hatchery usually supplies TSC but I’m not 100% sure all locations do? Anyway, if your girl is from Hoover’s, there’sa good chance she’s either an Americana (Ameraucana x Araucana mix) OR a Prairie Bluebell Egger (Araucana x White Leghorn) …if I had to guess by the earlobe, I would say Prairie Bluebell, but if she’s laying brown eggs, then maybe the Americana, because those have a chance for blue, olive or brown. She has a pea comb for sure, so she’s (probably) NOT a Sapphire Olive Egger. Either way, she’s a pretty little bird!

 

[ChickChick2121]

She might be, someone has laid a pale brown, faintly speckled egg last couple of days. I've got 5 confirmed layers and she's the closest to POL compared to the remaining ones not laying yet. Or she could be one of the dreaded 5%....

*This hybrid is not perfect, about 5% of the hens may lay brown eggs.*

LoL, sure why not? I've got 2 speckled Sussex that I didn't order (but they're so awfully cute!) and 2 supposed Beielfelders (ordered one) that I'm suspicious are brown leghorns instead. One is laying a lovely cream colored egg and both have white ears and don't look or act very much like a beiel . Hey, I'm totally new to chickens, they could've put a duckling in my order and probably would've taken me a day or so to notice .

Whatever may be wonky about what I received, all are healthy happy girls, no one has crowed, and finally starting to get eggs! I'm happy with my blessings

Oh my goodness. Speckled Sussex are the best. I got 3 in the spring.

 

[ChickChick2121]

Hi! I hope it's okay to post here (and if not please point me in the right direction). I'm not sure which hatchery my girl is from but she is supposed to be an olive egger and has the sapphire coloring so possibly a sapphire OE like all of yours, she's from TSC. She is right at 5 months and I haven't seen her laying yet or in any of the nests yet, haven't heard her squawking at all, doesn't squat, no olive eggs yet (and she is the only OE in the flock). It's slightly possibly she has very discreetly laid a brown egg the exact same color/size/shape/etc as my more mature Cinnamon Queens that have been laying for over month now....as there was 1 day we got 5 brown eggs from the 4 girls, just once, but I'm hoping she's still holding out on some pretty green eggs. My big question is on her comb. Is this a small rose comb? Small pea comb? There are no defined lines/ridges like my other pea comb'ed ladies have. She also does have some bluish greenish color on her ears which I know isn't a reliable rule but a girl can hope!

She's a Sapphire Gem. Will lay brown eggs. Sapphire Olive Eggers have Tufts on their head and white earlobes. But Gems are awesome!!!! Love mine

 

[GreenJay]

Oh my goodness. Speckled Sussex are the best. I got 3 in the spring.

I'm totally smitten with mine, cute personable girls and their feathers are just gorgeous!

 

[ChickenChick889]

I think Hoover’s Hatchery usually supplies TSC but I’m not 100% sure all locations do? Anyway, if your girl is from Hoover’s, there’sa good chance she’s either an Americana (Ameraucana x Araucana mix) OR a Prairie Bluebell Egger (Araucana x White Leghorn) …if I had to guess by the earlobe, I would say Prairie Bluebell, but if she’s laying brown eggs, then maybe the Americana, because those have a chance for blue, olive or brown. She has a pea comb for sure, so she’s (probably) NOT a Sapphire Olive Egger. Either way, she’s a pretty little bird!

Thank you! This was very helpful. She was a wedding gift from a friend and she had bought her as an Olive Egger but then thought she was a Sapphire....whether that was Sapphire OE or Sapphire Gem we weren't really sure. She had 4 in her batch though and all 4 were this color so we are leaning towards Gem. I actually got 5 Prairie Bluebell pullets earlier this year and 4 turned out to be roosters but I love my lone little hen and her eggs are gorgeous, so I wouldn't mind having another!

 

[ChickenChick889]

She's a Sapphire Gem. Will lay brown eggs. Sapphire Olive Eggers have Tufts on their head and white earlobes. But Gems are awesome!!!! Love mine

She's definitely a lap chicken, I joked when I got her that I had to teach her how to be a chicken

 

[Kwoka]

Thank you! This was very helpful. She was a wedding gift from a friend and she had bought her as an Olive Egger but then thought she was a Sapphire....whether that was Sapphire OE or Sapphire Gem we weren't really sure. She had 4 in her batch though and all 4 were this color so we are leaning towards Gem. I actually got 5 Prairie Bluebell pullets earlier this year and 4 turned out to be roosters but I love my lone little hen and her eggs are gorgeous, so I wouldn't mind having another!

Sapphire Gems are listed as a single comb breed on Hoover’s site, as well as on the Czech hatchery website (original breed developers) are listed as a hybrid of Blue Plymouth Rocks with Barred Plymouth Rocks, making them a single-comb sex-link breed. She is NOT a gem. (lmao I hate to be a pedant but her cute little pea comb disqualifies her)

and upon further research, Hoover’s lists their “Olive Eggers” as either Americana x Cuckoo Marans crosses or Welsummer x Legbar (def not this one) There’s a good chance your girl is the blue OE that got the darned brown egg gene

 

[ChickenChick889]

Sapphire Gems are listed as a single comb breed on Hoover’s site, as well as on the Czech hatchery website (original breed developers) are listed as a hybrid of Blue Plymouth Rocks with Barred Plymouth Rocks, making them a single-comb sex-link breed. She is NOT a gem. (lmao I hate to be a pedant but her cute little pea comb disqualifies her)

and upon further research, Hoover’s lists their “Olive Eggers” as either Americana x Cuckoo Marans crosses or Welsummer x Legbar (def not this one) There’s a good chance your girl is the blue OE that got the darned brown egg gene

Thank you! I love facts, so I appreciate the clarification on her comb! I don't believe she is laying yet as I have 4 brown layers (Cinn Queens) that have been laying and most days we get 3 or 4 eggs from them. There has only been 1 day we got 5 eggs and none of them looked like a first egg, and all of those were in those girls' preferred nest spots. So hopefully this little lady is just taking her sweet time and will lay some olives. I've started stalking all of them as much as I can these last few days to confirm who is actually laying the eggs and I haven't seen the olive girl near the nests and she doesn’t participate in the egg song or squat....we have been joking she probably has a secret hoard of eggs somewhere but I think she just isn't laying yet.

 

[GreenJay]

I've started stalking all of them as much as I can these last few days to confirm who is actually laying the eggs

Good to know I'm not the only "nest stalker", I tried to explain to DH that how else will I know who's laying which eggs?