The Olive-Egger thread!

[seventreesfarm]

So my incubator is on its way & should arrive 8/30. I assume I'll need some time to set it up and let it adjust. I have a pretty BCM roo and 5 EE hens, one of which lays a lovely big blue egg. Not sure which one, since I don't have trap nests set up yet. Also, my roo is with 25 hens total, so I don't know if everything is fertile. He likes the EE's best though.

If I put Chewie and his 5 gals in a pen for a week, then start saving the pretty eggs for the 2nd week, would that be a good bet for fertility? Also, how should I time that with buying some OE hatching eggs from BYC peeps? I'd like to hatch just a few homegrowns and a dz or 2 'imported'. How should I work the timing for that?

Can't wait to have an EE/OE roo to cross with my cuckoo marans and wellie pullets. They're only 3 months old though so I'm getting way ahead of myself

-Joanna

 

[unkadan]

Joanna,

I'm new at this myself, did my 1st 3 hatches last spring. I suggest you run the incubator (after setting it up and making sure it's set up, both temp and humidity) and do a batch of your own eggs,,,,see how they do and how you do

not sure of your goals or why you want to get outside stock right away, but if you have the birds for breeding you will find a much higher success rate with your own, not shipped eggs

good luck

Dan

 

[seventreesfarm]

Joanna,

I'm new at this myself, did my 1st 3 hatches last spring. I suggest you run the incubator (after setting it up and making sure it's set up, both temp and humidity) and do a batch of your own eggs,,,,see how they do and how you do

not sure of your goals or why you want to get outside stock right away, but if you have the birds for breeding you will find a much higher success rate with your own, not shipped eggs

good luck

Dan

My EE's aren't colors/conformation I don't like a lot. I want to get more towards blue/black, so outside stock will help with that. I only have 5 EE's laying now, the rest of my layers are barred rocks (commercial flock).

I'm hoping to use my BCM roo over EE/OE hens, and a EE/OE roo (from my first hatch) over my marans and wellie pullets. I'd like to have 2 lines of OE's to work with in 2013 and go for the whole monty - egg color/size, hen conformation/production, and if I can end up with a decent stewing hen that is good too.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: You may need to join the Incubators Anonymous thread!! LOL We'll be happy to support your habit-- at least it will be once that incubator arrives and gets filled the first time!!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

That sounds very interesting. Please keep use in the loop on that one. Do you have any pictures for use now? Soon? or are we gona have to wait til next spring?

yes still in the planning stage lol

my last wheaten Penedesenca did not hatch so once I hatch my oe x icelandics and icelandics from mine and make sure my incubator is running goodthen I will start.
I have Crele Penedesenca now and black penedesenca and white empordanesa coming next week so once the dust settles I will try this one.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Joanna,

I'm new at this myself, did my 1st 3 hatches last spring. I suggest you run the incubator (after setting it up and making sure it's set up, both temp and humidity) and do a batch of your own eggs,,,,see how they do and how you do

not sure of your goals or why you want to get outside stock right away, but if you have the birds for breeding you will find a much higher success rate with your own, not shipped eggs

good luck

Dan

agreed I have ordered hatching eggs the last 2 months. nothing has hatched. probably from the heat the time before with mine most hatched.
all of the ones I have in my incubator now are developing. you can always sell them. cheaper way to try and see if it works right.

 

[dfdesigns]

So today was the first day that all three of my Olive Eggers laid for the first time... I was excited to see the difference in egg color, as they are from different breed mixes.

(For reference, two are a mix of Black Ameraucana x Cuckoo Marans, and the other is Black Ameraucana x French Black Marans. The FBM lays a very dark egg, so I was thinking this one might give me a deeper, darker olive green.)

Here's what I got,along with some speckled Welsummer eggs for comparison :




I can't tell them apart. I think the one on the bottom right is suffering from flash glare; it looks identical to the other two in person.

The green is pretty, but I want DARKER! Can't decide if I want to breed them back to an OE or my French Blue Copper Marans....

 

[DMRippy]

So today was the first day that all three of my Olive Eggers laid for the first time... I was excited to see the difference in egg color, as they are from different breed mixes.

(For reference, two are a mix of Black Ameraucana x Cuckoo Marans, and the other is Black Ameraucana x French Black Marans. The FBM lays a very dark egg, so I was thinking this one might give me a deeper, darker olive green.)

Here's what I got,along with some speckled Welsummer eggs for comparison :




I can't tell them apart. I think the one on the bottom right is suffering from flash glare; it looks identical to the other two in person.

The green is pretty, but I want DARKER! Can't decide if I want to breed them back to an OE or my French Blue Copper Marans....

I find the egg color varies the most on my Olive Eggers. I am like you I would want darker I want mine darker. I would use the Marans to do that. I don't think an Olive Egger will help much with getting them darker, especially if they are from the same crosses.

 

[naturespace]

If these are your first eggs, I would wait and see what they give you going forward. I think they are pretty.

 

[Arielle]

So today was the first day that all three of my Olive Eggers laid for the first time... I was excited to see the difference in egg color, as they are from different breed mixes.

(For reference, two are a mix of Black Ameraucana x Cuckoo Marans, and the other is Black Ameraucana x French Black Marans. The FBM lays a very dark egg, so I was thinking this one might give me a deeper, darker olive green.)

Here's what I got,along with some speckled Welsummer eggs for comparison :




I can't tell them apart. I think the one on the bottom right is suffering from flash glare; it looks identical to the other two in person.

The green is pretty, but I want DARKER! Can't decide if I want to breed them back to an OE or my French Blue Copper Marans....

Breed back to the Black Copper Marans, you can breed offspring back to a parent. Breeding to a marans will add another layer of dark pigment. OE x OE will give a variety of egg colors.

Eggs are fun!