The Olive-Egger thread!

[Bleenie]

Hopefully someone here can answer my question.. I have a few OE hens, the oldest are about 2yrs old and the other just started laying. The oldest have beautiful eggs when they first start laying(after molting or brooding) but their eggs slowly start to lose color, right now they're a very pale green. The youngest(a baby of theirs) lays pale green eggs as well, right from the get go though.

I am wondering what kind of rooster I should cross them with to get some better-looking Olive Eggs?
Here's a picture of some of their eggs:

 

[ronott1]

Hopefully someone here can answer my question.. I have a few OE hens, the oldest are about 2yrs old and the other just started laying. The oldest have beautiful eggs when they first start laying(after molting or brooding) but their eggs slowly start to lose color, right now they're a very pale green. The youngest(a baby of theirs) lays pale green eggs as well, right from the get go though.

I am wondering what kind of rooster I should cross them with to get some better-looking Olive Eggs?
Here's a picture of some of their eggs:

penedesencas are said to hold their color longer through the laying season. They are hard to find though.

 

[FridayYet]

I love Adobo's bright orange and black colors!

 

[Penny Hen]

Hopefully someone here can answer my question.. I have a few OE hens, the oldest are about 2yrs old and the other just started laying. The oldest have beautiful eggs when they first start laying(after molting or brooding) but their eggs slowly start to lose color, right now they're a very pale green. The youngest(a baby of theirs) lays pale green eggs as well, right from the get go though.

I am wondering what kind of rooster I should cross them with to get some better-looking Olive Eggs?
Here's a picture of some of their eggs:

Black Copper Marans are really dark too. A Welsummer would get you spotted dark green on green.

 

[AZBootsie]

AZBootsie, like this?



Her egg.

Beautiful!! I hope mine turns out that nice!!

 

[Peach2u]

Hopefully someone here can answer my question.. I have a few OE hens, the oldest are about 2yrs old and the other just started laying. The oldest have beautiful eggs when they first start laying(after molting or brooding) but their eggs slowly start to lose color, right now they're a very pale green. The youngest(a baby of theirs) lays pale green eggs as well, right from the get go though.

I am wondering what kind of rooster I should cross them with to get some better-looking Olive Eggs?
Here's a picture of some of their eggs:

Not a lot you can do to keep the egg color bright as the hen's laying season fades. Take solace after they stop laying to molt, they will be bright again.

These are from my F1 and F2 OE. I have a couple of F2's that are laying brown eggs.

This is from all the girls. Very pale blue are from my EE. The dark ones are from my Marans. The 2 light tan are from my BO and the 1 shade darker smaller one is from a giant cochin. The BO and GC are the kids pets.

This year I picked up 2 welsummer hens and 1RL wyandotte hen. They will be covered my my OE roo and my new boy a double blue egg gene roo to help lighten up some of the khaki colored hen eggs. It seems to be a constant battle to get the eggs to be all olive in the offspring. My 5 year project is still being tweaked every year. But that is the fun part, never knowing what the egg color will be till they lay the first. And not caring if they are mutts. As long as they are big, no defects, and lay large eggs or better, I'm good.


As stated above Marans and Welsummers will darken them. You could even find a OE roo from someone who crosses them. That would darken the next gen eggs.

 

[Peach2u]

Beautiful!! I hope mine turns out that nice!!

nice color

 

[CookFarms]

I am currently using fine hay as bedding in my coop, I read somewhere that this will give my chickens respritory problems. Is that true? And what does everyone else use for bedding. I have a big coop so it needs to be cheap. Please help

 

[sgtmom52]

I am currently using fine hay as bedding in my coop, I read somewhere that this will give my chickens respritory problems. Is that true? And what does everyone else use for bedding. I have a big coop so it needs to be cheap. Please help

I use pine wood shavings with the deep litter method. I only change the shavings twice a year. I use 4 bales in my big coop at $4.99 a bale (cheaper when on sale at TSC). Sometimes I will add a little extra on top as it breaks down. I do change the shavings in the nest boxes as they look dirty by tossing the old chips on the floor and replacing with new. I compost the litter I remove from the coop.

 

[Peach2u]

I use straw or hay. What ever is in season. Most of the time I just buy the square bales from local farmers. They are $4 per bale from a farm up the road. However I did get a bale from him in the fall that had blackberry stems in it. That was fun and made me want to wear gloves the next time. But since I'm not feeding it too any one, I don't mind picking out the stray stick here or there. I do like the hay over straw. The hay is softer and soaks up wetness better. It is a little dusty, But by the time I pick it up and carry it over to the coop then fluff it up. The dust settles down.