The Olive-Egger thread!

[colby318]

Quote:
I just hatched a cross of these two breeds along with some pure welsummer eggs. Stupid, stupid me. Now I can't tell any of them apart breedwise except some of the chipmunks have fluffier cheeks. They're at the fugly stage now at 3/4 weeks when they're growing in their camo brown wings.
Colby in KY

 

[onthespot]

Should be able to tell by combs. The Ameraucanas should have a pea comb, and the wellsummers should have a single comb. It is tiny, but you can see the teethy spikes on their combs even the day they hatch. Might need a magnifying glass and bright light to see, but you can tell from day one. Also, leg color. The wellsummers should be yellow, and Ameraucanas slate legged I would think. Congrats on the hatch!

 

[thechickonthehill]

Quote:
Here are a few pics of the olive egger chicks I hatched from colby318's eggs just last week:

They are the chocolate chipmunks in these pics:

 

[Chickhick]

Hmmm... I like to be able to tell my chickens apart and that is one of the neat things about the EEs. But it looks like all you get out of crossing them with Welsummers will be generic chipmunks. Does anyone know if they growup to have individual looks, or will they all look the same? I guess I may have to have a long term plan to add in something else to give them variety. Maybe that is another reason some people use Marans to get the Olive Eggers, for variety of color in the chickens, too.

 

[Wynette]

chickchick, I use a Marans cockerel for olive eggers because my line lays very dark eggs; much darker than any of the Welsummer eggs I've seen. I had a few Wellies from BYC member Mothergoose - VERY good quality birds, laid a nice dark brown egg, but not near as dark as my Marans. This has been good & bad - my first generation olive eggers lay a pretty medium colored olive egg, like the one in my avatar. But, then, those layers, bred back to my Marans roo, produce an egg that is almost TOO dark olive for my taste. So I guess I need a mediocre Marans roo to darken them a bit, but not too much. ARGH!

I'll be anxious to see what color my new babies lay (took a pullet that lays the very dark olive/golden olive egg and bred her to a blue ameraucana). I am hoping that this cross will lighten the eggs a bit, but not too much. SO much fun experimenting like this!

 

[minifarm8]

I have hatched two Ameruacana/Welsummer hens. One looked very much like a Welsummer and laid a light speckled egg. The other look more Ameruacana and lays an olive egg. I have 6 of her eggs with BCM rooster eggs incubating now.

 

[Wynette]

OH, mini - I bet they will lay GORGEOUS eggs!

 

[colby318]

Quote:
Not a single chick of the 28 I hatched has willow legs. Really surprised me too. These are third generation birds from my backyard flock, too. Their maternal grand-dad roo was a true blue wheaton ameraucana. I was expecting to use the leg color to differentiate (sp?) the two breeds. Also, none of the pretty blue color has come through on the chicks yet even though the EE hens had it during their hatch.
Second thought since I just came from the basement after staring at the chicks for 10 minutes. Is pea comb dominant over single? I'm mostly a bluelaced red wyandotte girl and this is very new to me. I chose welsummers for my olive cross since the egg customers here in KY (at Toyota) would balk at dark olive eggs. I"m trying to strike a happy balance of color with sellable eggs or the hens won't be able to pay for their feed.

Colby

 

[Happy Chooks]

Colby, the pea comb is dominant and closely liked to the blue egg gene as I understand it. So if you hatch a straight comb, it's not going to lay olive eggs. I haven't tested this theory personally though. I do have an olive egger pullet with a straight comb, and I'm going to put her in my laying flock and see what she lays. I love the weird/unusual eggs, so it will be great to see what pops out.

 

[Wynette]

That's how I understand it too, Kelly, regarding pea combs corolating (sp?) to blue egg genetics. However, I know someone that has a single comb mutt layer that lays almost a turqoise egg; very pretty egg. So, it apparently DOES happy on occasion, but it must be rare. I, too, am anxious to see what my single comb EE X Marans OEs will lay!