Jeremy, I used the wheaten Penedesenca hen that I had to begin my olive egger program because she was an awesome layer. But, it did seem that with her, I got more than 25% single combs in the 2nd generation. That's not to say that you'd have a similar result, it's just what I saw. Also, though she laid dark eggs, they were probably only a 4-5 in darkness, and I wasn't getting the super dark olive that I was lookign for. My hope is to lessen the chances of single combs coming out, while using what I have, rather than attaining specific birds just for my olive egger program, and getting more of the color like the egg in my avatar (the very first of the generation I'm now using). Also, the Penedesenca I had was a bit flighty...I often get comments from folks who've hatched my olive eggers that their birds are docile & laid back, and I honestly don't think my Penedesenca would have helped much it that dept., either. Again, all this is just my own, personal experience - yours may differ!
Our Olive Eggers and Java's from you are doing wonderfully and have turned out to be some of our favorite breeds.
