The Olive-Egger thread!

[NellaBean]

Bare Bottom....I am over in the Lenoir City/Loudon area. I have 3 olive eggers although they are not laying every day now. I have them running loose with my cochin roosters and a single blue wheaten ameracauna. I have 2 wheaten marans girls as well as a a couple Wellsummers. I plan on making an olive egger pen with these 5 girls and my Blue Wheaten Rooster in Spring. Should make some great olive eggers. If you want some eggs in Spring, let me know.

 

[Happy Chooks]

bare bottom.........my girls are just beginning to start back up with laying. I'm not getting enough right now to ship, hopefully soon. Most of mine are Welsummer over pure Ameraucana hens. I do have 1 EE hen (also covered by a welsummer roo).

Not many auctions right now, many people have molting girls at the moment. By the time a month is up, I bet you'll see a bunch of auctions.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Question regarding the egg color and breeding... are olive eggers like sex-links where you have to go back to the original pairing (which is how I got the olive egger in the first place, AmerxBCM)? If I hatch the olive eggs (crossed back to Amer or BCM) will the olive color continue on? I'm just wondering how that works. You've seen the hen and the egg...where should I take it from here?

This is my first year with them so I haven't seen what the next generation does.

 

[Wynette]

Mrs. AK - is it the very dark olive that your black girl is laying? That's a tough one to decide on who to breed her to. If you bred her to a marans roo, assuming he came from a very dark egg laying line, the resulting color eggs MAY be almost too dark to look green at all (may look just like a Marans egg. Monique [Ruth] has some like that that she posted pics of earlier in this thread). I had a hen last year that laid about that color, and I bred her to a blue ameraucana....the offspring are just now beginning to lay, and the egg color is a very pretty medium olive green. So, bred back to the Marans roo, the offspring should lay a very dark army green/olive egg. When I get to the point where I am pleased with the egg color (so far, they are not quite where I want them), I will keep a cockerel, breed them together, and hopefully the egg color will "stick."

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
I'd be curious to see what your next generation has to offer.

They are SO pretty! I have a white ameraucana rooster, that is the son of my peach-faced white girl that lays glacial blue eggs. Maybe I'll try pairing her up with him. I have people asking me for olive-egger eggs, so I'm guessing I will want to continue to do the original cross for the time being.

This little girl was a big surprise, (was supposed to be pure BCM) but everyone is in love with her eggs, including me!

I think you're right, that the eggs would be too dark if bred back to a BCM. I think I will continue to hatch the green and dark eggs from my layer coop just for the fun colors.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Wynette]

I did put 3 olive egger eggies in my bator, due on 12/29 to hatch. However, I feel fairly certain my rooster isn't breeding now, as he got his comb quite frostbitten in the cold snap we had a few weeks ago. I just couldn't break them open to check, so I guess I'll know whenI candle at day 10 if they were fertile!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:

 

[Wynette]

Thanks, Mrs. AK! Here's hoping, but I do not have high hopes. I'll candle them Saturday evening, so I'll post on Monday! The other things I'm anxious to find out is whether any will be blue. The pullets are black, but are fathered by a purebred blue ameraucana. So, they should be carrying a recessive blue gene.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Wynette, dear, we need pictures of these "new" olive eggs.

And good luck with the ones in the bator!

 

[Wynette]

I actually DO have pics, but I can't seem to get them off my camera! I'm going to work on that this weekend. Sorry! (and Thanks!)