The Olive-Egger thread!

[Christie Rhae]

I have two cute cute little blue olive eggers hatched so far!
I did have three that hatched out but I had to put one down. It did not have the yolk absorbed and I think part of its insides were outside. Poor thing. I am not too terribly upset about having to put it down. I felt like it was merciful. Usually I agonize over it.
But the ones that are doing good are sooo cute! Crossing fingers for girls!

 

[DMRippy]

Well I think I had about 3 doz Olive Eggers this hatch... I think all but 4 hatched

I am trying to pick for pea combs and feathered legs and beards and muffs.... OK the first 2 are big on the list. I had a HUGE hatch... must be close to 90% of 160+ eggs..... I am not going to count them... I think I would just pull all my hair out.

I got a WHITE one, go figure.... with spots. I am keeping that one no matter. I also got several white EE oddly. Most are black but I am fine with that. Once I get my Olive Eggers looking kinda like a want then I can work on getting them BLUE or what ever color I want when that time comes.

Even with all the chicks that hatched, I have not seen any obvious cull yet. One has a little bit of something sticking out of the belly button but seems to be fine so we will see.

Christie Rhae.... I am like you when they need to be culled, I am ok with it. The first time was hard, but it really is for the best.

 

[MsCedarSwamp]

I have 2 dozen potential Olive Eggers in the makes without realizing it until reading this thread...I have two EE that have been covered with by a BCM with VERY sparce feathering...he looks to have pin feathers, but they never grow. I have some Cuckoo Marans that I now plan to use for some sex-links when they start laying, REALLY need a splash roo now. Like many others on this thread, I LOVE BLUES!

PS...can you have too many chickens...I tell my hubby they're much cheaper to feed when they range

 

[Lark Rise]

Oh help!!! I just found out that Mr. Ramey may be bringing Araucana chicks to my local chicken swap this Saturday. I'm in big trouble. How can I resist?!?! I can't keep any more roosters and can't have any more projects, but it will be so awesome to have some araucana hens for my OE pen. I know nothing about araucana, so (Illia) please help me in picking a few chicks. What colors should I look for?
I have my FBCM roo still, but might replace him with another roo. I have two 7 week old roos blue/blue copper marans.
Thanks!

 

[Illia]

There's two good options in my opinion -

One is splash cuckoo. Or blue cuckoo, either one. They will appear to look like normal blue or splash birds but with yellowish dots on their heads. We're talking chicks right? How old? If they're feathered out they truly will either look like pure white splashes or truly blue barred, but poor barring, chicks. Ramey's Cuckoos are nice and big and lay some pretty nice blue eggs. The main point though is that you'll get sex-linked OE's. Girls will be blue or black, boys will be a lighter color with yellowish on the head and likely back/butt, too.

Another one for future prettiness are duckwing colored ones. Any chicks that are chipmunk as 1 day to 2 week olds, or weird mixes of brown, white, black, red, orange, whatever fun mix of colors. Those will give you the same black offspring any other OE product from a BC Marans will give in terms of color, but the second generation granted you don't breed back to a Marans will throw some very pretty colors. The birds are often pretty well sized too. And if you want really fun colors, aim for chicks with more yellowish or buff markings than others.

The best thing of course is going for ones who are tufted too, but remember, tufted ones are often either rare or more expensive.



In a nutshell any color is okay, most any chick is okay. The big things to avoid are already well developed or odd shaped pea combs, folded or flopped looking pea combs, very short butts in ratio to the wings if they're old enough to judge that (how old are they?)

If they're just day to three weeks old, choose whichever catches your eye. Either way most crossed to a BCM will create the same colors any other will, but from what I find in Ramey's stock is if you want more bang in your blue egg genes, focus on the blues and blacks, blue cuckoos, or dark brown chicks.

ETA - Check it out! Tufted Olive Eggers!! These are F1 x F! chicks.

 

[Lark Rise]

Thanks, Illia! I'm going to print this to bring to the swap. I don't know how old the chicks will be. I do love the blues.

Your tufted chicks are super adorable!! These are OE??? Oh heavens, they are so cute!

There's two good options in my opinion -

One is splash cuckoo. Or blue cuckoo, either one. They will appear to look like normal blue or splash birds but with yellowish dots on their heads. We're talking chicks right? How old? If they're feathered out they truly will either look like pure white splashes or truly blue barred, but poor barring, chicks. Ramey's Cuckoos are nice and big and lay some pretty nice blue eggs. The main point though is that you'll get sex-linked OE's. Girls will be blue or black, boys will be a lighter color with yellowish on the head and likely back/butt, too.

Another one for future prettiness are duckwing colored ones. Any chicks that are chipmunk as 1 day to 2 week olds, or weird mixes of brown, white, black, red, orange, whatever fun mix of colors. Those will give you the same black offspring any other OE product from a BC Marans will give in terms of color, but the second generation granted you don't breed back to a Marans will throw some very pretty colors. The birds are often pretty well sized too. And if you want really fun colors, aim for chicks with more yellowish or buff markings than others.

The best thing of course is going for ones who are tufted too, but remember, tufted ones are often either rare or more expensive.



In a nutshell any color is okay, most any chick is okay. The big things to avoid are already well developed or odd shaped pea combs, folded or flopped looking pea combs, very short butts in ratio to the wings if they're old enough to judge that (how old are they?)

If they're just day to three weeks old, choose whichever catches your eye. Either way most crossed to a BCM will create the same colors any other will, but from what I find in Ramey's stock is if you want more bang in your blue egg genes, focus on the blues and blacks, blue cuckoos, or dark brown chicks.

ETA - Check it out! Tufted Olive Eggers!! These are F1 x F! chicks.

 

[Lark Rise]

OK, I'm stumped. This cute F2 OE chick hatched this morning from my F1 OE hen x FBCM roo. Some people have been reporting blue chicks from this cross. One of my friends hatched a blue and I've seen it in person. It is solid blue.

What color would you call this chick that hatched this morning? I think I'm keeping this one. It's so cute.... feather-footed and all. What color will it grow up to be? It looks like my lavender orp chicks when they hatched.



Here are the parents.

 

[naturespace]

Lark Rise
with blues you can end up with blue black or splash. This is probably a splash. Very cute. I love splash birds.

 

[spunkychickenmomma]

So I am puzzled, but then again, I don't understand the genetic factor a whole lot either. Out of 7 OE chicks that are FBCM x Lav Am crosses I have ended up with 1 that looks like a FBCM, 1 solid black, 1 solid white with feathered legs and 4 blue chicks. All of them are pea combed. How did I get blue? Can the white chick mean that one of the Lav Am's carries a dominant white gene?

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

is one of your hens a blue wheaten??? some times its really hard to tell...

i had one hatch looks just like that one... looks like a lav but i don't have any lav's in my 3 OE breeding pens and he has a pea comb and the only pea combed birds i have are in the OE breeding pens... he hatched with 3 other blue's and a splash and i swore he looks Lav lol...

OK, I'm stumped. This cute F2 OE chick hatched this morning from my F1 OE hen x FBCM roo. Some people have been reporting blue chicks from this cross. One of my friends hatched a blue and I've seen it in person. It is solid blue.

What color would you call this chick that hatched this morning? I think I'm keeping this one. It's so cute.... feather-footed and all. What color will it grow up to be? It looks like my lavender orp chicks when they hatched.



Here are the parents.