The Olive-Egger thread!

[chrissyr]

I've heard it's about 95% linked with the blue egg gene and pea combs.

YES it is difficult to tell from pure Marans, and therefore so VERY important to hatch separately and toe punch or wing band right away for permanent ID.  There is large potential for really messing up the BCM gene pool when people breed what LOOKS like a Marans and isn't guaranteed to be so.  PLEASE be careful everyone, when selling these F2, 3, 4 Olive eggers with BCM backcrossing, to loudly proclaim their breeding.  Not that it matters down the road...what people do after they leave our hands is out of our control, but at least we can speak the truth in the moment.

I'll hatch a few days apart and toe punch. Anyone know of a good toe puncher? I got a cheap one that didn't seem to do the job very easy.
Are there ones that are quick and sharp?

 

[ochochicas]

My favorite pullet (on the right):

The chicks in the picture are not by my CCL rooster. The chicks are from a BCM hen and a 1/2 ameraucana 1/2 legbar rooster. They all got the crest but no beard. Half of the chicks had white spots on the head at hatching. However, they were not sex linked in any way, unfortunately. Half of the solids were boys, and half of the head spots ended up being pullets. When they hatched I thought I had "discovered" something new, but no, that was not the case. The ones with head spots are now barred like the chick in the left of the photo. The solid black chicks are growing up to be black with brown lacing on the neck like the chick on the right.

Unfortunately my ameruacana/legbar rooster was attacked by a coyote and we had to put him down after his came down with an infection. I'm not a huge fan of Legbars - small size, huge comb, unfriendly temperament. I may be in the market for a new rooster this fall, either full or half Ameraucana. I love them and their babies turn out gorgeous!

 

[frg34]

What are the odds of olive eggs from a brown egg laying EE (hatched from blue shell) x BCM roo?
Are my blue egg laying EE (from blue shell) pretty much a sure thing crossed with my BCM roo? thanks

 

[StarMeKritten]

What are the odds of olive eggs from a brown egg laying EE (hatched from blue shell) x BCM roo?
Are my blue egg laying EE (from blue shell) pretty much a sure thing crossed with my BCM roo? thanks

The blue egg shell gene is dominant so you can't get blue or green eggs from crossing two brown egg laying breeds.

With your blue egg layers, you'll get either 50% green layers or 100% green layers when crossed with your BCM. It depends on whether your Easter eggers carry one copy of the blue egg shell gene or two.

 

[dekel18042]

That is a breeding I am planning on doing and I'm curious what the offspring will look like. I keep looking at the eggs, and then at my incubator, but it is still a little cold out to have peeps this early. I tell myself wait another month. We'll see.

 

[Peep_Show]

They should be sexable if the hen is the CCL.

 

[dekel18042]

CL is the rooster. Hens are welsumer and marans. Any clue on what the peeps will look like?

 

[ochochicas]

CL rooster x marans hen will get you black babies with a white spot on the head. CL rooster x welsummer hen will get you brown striped chicks that may or may not have a light spot on the head. As they grow the chicks will have some level of barring and end up looking like barred rocks or black sex-link cockerels. They will NOT be sex-linked. You'll have to wait until the combs develop to determine gender. I will post pics of my 4 week olds as soon as I get them off my camera.

 

[dekel18042]

CL rooster x marans hen will get you black babies with a white spot on the head. CL rooster x welsummer hen will get you brown striped chicks that may or may not have a light spot on the head. As they grow the chicks will have some level of barring and end up looking like barred rocks or black sex-link cockerels. They will NOT be sex-linked. You'll have to wait until the combs develop to determine gender. I will post pics of my 4 week olds as soon as I get them off my camera.

Thanks. Then I should be able to tell which babies are from which hen, but what about my blue splash marans? What color/ pattern should they be? Would they be all barred or just barred patches? This could get interesting.
It would be nice if I could give a broody hen some eggs, but they never seem to go broody at the right time. It's a little early for peeps so don't want to put any eggs in the incubator, although I'm getting nice sized eggs now.
By the time I want to hatch, everyone will probably be taking a break. I figure maybe set eggs next month to hatch beginning to mid March. I don't want to brooder them in the house like I did last year.

 

[ochochicas]

Below are my CCL crosses. The black chicks were hatched from BCM eggs. Rooster was a CCL. All chicks hatched with a head spot. All three are cockerels. They are just now starting to show barring at 4 weeks old. The brown chicks hatched out of speckled sussex eggs. SS chicks look nearly identical to Welsummer chicks when they hatch (which is how we accidentally ended up with a speckled sussex). The rooster is also a CCL. (the chicks are not olive eggers, but I posted pics for a color comparison). Three of the four chicks hatched with a faint head spot. The one without the head spot is a cockerel. Of the three with head spots, one is a cockerel, one is a pullet, and one I can't tell for sure but I'm hoping it is a pullet. They are not sex-linked.

1 day


29 days


3 days

29 days, pullet

29 days cockerel


These seven chicks are being raised by a broody. She is an awesome mom. She incubated the eggs with temps in the teens and has keep the chicks safe and happy despite temps going down to 22 at night. I do have another hatch that is 9 weeks and they are still living in the house! I'm transitioning them outside, but they still spend the night in their brooder in the living room. You're right, winter is not the best time to be brooding chicks in the house. I'm glad I did though since we got chicks from the two chickens we lost right before Christmas. Seems to make it a little easier losing them knowing we have some of their chicks.