The Olive-Egger thread!

[nicalandia]

the Olive egger

 

[DMRippy]

what breed lays the olive eggs??

They are not a breed they are a cross of a Dark Egg layer and a Blue Egg layer. The combo of the genes make Olive. Since they don't breed true they are not a breed... probably never will be either.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

what breed lays the olive eggs??

Olive eggers are a cross of dark layer and and a green or blue egg layer. They are not a true breed. you can probably find chicks on your local Craigslist. Look for chicks with pea combs for your best chance at a olive egg or dark green egg when looking at chicks listed as Olive eggers

 

[SeattleLeah]

Break it to me softly, is this 10 week OE still looking very much like a cockerel? Comb is RED but hasn't grown all that much. Legs still thick, stands upright. But no rooish behavior. I'm still going to wait a few weeks for cockerel confirmation. I just think s/he is too pretty to give up without knowing for sure, although I do think its looking boyish.

 

[jeremy]

He is without a doubt a cockerel. I'm not basing my response on comb size/color, leg thickness, general stance, etc. but rather his plumage color.

He is barred/cuckoo, males who are barred/cuckoo have 2 copies of the barring gene, making them appear lighter in color overall. Female chickens that are barred/cuckoo genetically can only have 1 copy of the gene making them appear darker in color.

Females-

ETA: Sorry if that wasn't quite a soft explanation!

Also, where did you get him? I really like him myself, did you hatch him from purchased eggs?

 

[SeattleLeah]

thanks for the response. S/he is blue barred so is there any possibility that is why he looks lighter? I got him from http://www.ebay.com/itm/300886339349?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Ive bought a few sets from her trying to get a frizzle OE hen. She has a cuckoo OE over her EEs some of which are blue, so thats is probably where the blue barred genes came from. Very nice lady with great packaging and I've had excellent hatch rates with her eggs.

Edit: its kind of hard to tell in the photos he is blue. Was very blue as a chick and you can tell in person the barring isnt black

 

[jeremy]

In some cases yes, the Blue gene can effect the look of barring, making it appear generally lighter in color. However I still firmly believe it's a cockerel based on the overall pattern of barring and my knowledge of genetics, a female single barred bird would be much darker in color. I'm sorry.

Thank you for the link to the seller! Her birds are neat!

 

[SeattleLeah]

In some cases yes, the Blue gene can effect the look of barring, making it appear generally lighter in color. However I still firmly believe it's a cockerel based on the overall pattern of barring and my knowledge of genetics, a female single barred bird would be much darker in color. I'm sorry.

Thank you for the link to the seller! Her birds are neat!

Thats Ok, its what I thought anyway. I appreciate your input! Maybe I will keep him until my neighbors complain, he is just too cute!

 

[nicalandia]

In some cases yes, the Blue gene can effect the look of barring, making it appear generally lighter in color. However I still firmly believe it's a cockerel based on the overall pattern of barring and my knowledge of genetics, a female single barred bird would be much darker in color. I'm sorry.

Thank you for the link to the seller! Her birds are neat!

you are correct he does not seem to be blue to me, but a double barred male. correct double barred males will have that faded look, thats due to the powerful diluting effect of double barring..

here are a comparison onf females and males of a homzygous breed(breeds true, no heterozygous barring)







you can see how diluted the boys look against the females..



now how does a double Barred(B/B) Blue(Bl/bl) rooster looks? it looks very very diluted, so I truly doubt the rooster posted by seattleleah is actually a blue barred male, specially a double barred male

here is how the blue barred males look and on a favorite breed of this thread(maran)

Here are a few pictures of our Blue Cuckoo Marans- he is 4 months old.

now he(the rooster posted by seattleleah) does not look like a single barred male also, Single Barred males are not as well barred and will show this on their bodies, they wont have well defined barring...

here is a single barred single male of a favorite breed in this thread(EE)

My Blue Barred EE Rooster

as you can see the odds are against the rooster posted by seattleleah beeing blue barred

 

[jeremy]

Thats Ok, its what I thought anyway. I appreciate your input! Maybe I will keep him until my neighbors complain, he is just too cute!

Keep him, let him fertilize your pullets and then hatch your own eggs! Odds are that you'll get a pullet eventually and you'll have the satisfaction of hatching eggs bred from your own birds. So then you'll have offspring from your cockerel.

You can probably hold on to him long enough to get some chicks sired by him. You can crate him at night and bring him indoors when he starts crowing to not disturb your neighbors. That's what we do here with our roos.