The Olive-Egger thread!

[FridayYet]

I know (well at least I know what I've read) so I have my fingers crossed.

Supposed to be cuckoo marans x white ameraucana, so they can't be any color besides black and white. (All the chicks in the pen were similarly colored - and they couldn't be ALL boys could they?) LOL

 

[Hangtown Farms]

I know (well at least I know what I've read) so I have my fingers crossed.

Supposed to be cuckoo marans x white ameraucana, so they can't be any color besides black and white. (All the chicks in the pen were similarly colored - and they couldn't be ALL boys could they?) LOL

well its not impossible. I hatched 8 out of 9 Cream legbar x crele penedesenca that where boys

 

[FridayYet]

Well that's true - but there were about 25 of them stuffed in a little pen all about 5 weeks old. All black/gray/white. (And with my luck, all boys!) The lady I bought them from would pick one up, check the comb, and toss back all the triple-row comb chicks. She was "pretty sure" these were pullets, and since I didn't have a clue, just bought them.

At least she'll take them back for exchange if they start crowing........

 

[wescottwomen]

if i post pics how old do my chicks have to be before you can tell me if they are olive,EE,or just reg also if they are a roo or pullet and what arias do I need to show for you to tell?

 

[buckabucka]

if i post pics how old do my chicks have to be before you can tell me if they are olive,EE,or just reg also if they are a roo or pullet and what arias do I need to show for you to tell?

I don't know if anyone can tell the difference between an Olive egger and an EE chick, since they are both mutts/crosses. "Just regular" could be a pure breed, or you could have other crosses of two breeds that lay brown. Where did you get your chicks? Or did you hatch them and have multiple breeds that could have crossed? I hatched some olive eggers using a variety of hens, and I quickly lost track of which chick came from which egg after hatch. You can put bands on their legs if keeping track is important.

As far as sexing the chicks, sometimes you can tell be the feather color (depending on the breed), but otherwise, it starts to become clear at 4 - 6 weeks. You want to look at their combs (are they growing fast and turning pink or red = rooster), their legs (cockerels generally have bigger legs), and even their stance can be a clue. Later, you can look for pointy feathers coming in around a cockerels neck, and pointy sickle feathers coming out of the saddle area.

A good sets of photos should show the overall bird, and some close ups of the comb and back area. Good luck figuring it out! With some birds it is tricky. I just pulled a 10 week old pullet out of my bachelor pen because I had made a mistake!

 

[wescottwomen]

I don't know if anyone can tell the difference between an Olive egger and an EE chick, since they are both mutts/crosses. "Just regular" could be a pure breed, or you could have other crosses of two breeds that lay brown. Where did you get your chicks? Or did you hatch them and have multiple breeds that could have crossed? I hatched some olive eggers using a variety of hens, and I quickly lost track of which chick came from which egg after hatch. You can put bands on their legs if keeping track is important.

As far as sexing the chicks, sometimes you can tell be the feather color (depending on the breed), but otherwise, it starts to become clear at 4 - 6 weeks. You want to look at their combs (are they growing fast and turning pink or red = rooster), their legs (cockerels generally have bigger legs), and even their stance can be a clue. Later, you can look for pointy feathers coming in around a cockerels neck, and pointy sickle feathers coming out of the saddle area.

A good sets of photos should show the overall bird, and some close ups of the comb and back area. Good luck figuring it out! With some birds it is tricky. I just pulled a 10 week old pullet out of my bachelor pen because I had made a mistake!

these are chicks i hatched from my incubator from eggs i got from my mixed bunch of birds and thanks for the rely

 

[sol2go]

They've only been laying about 3 weeks now. I hatched this batch mid January, and they started laying mid June. So far, the eggs have all been identical in color, and have been slowly getting bigger. I expect they'll end up being a large or XL when they're not pullet eggs anymore.

I really like them a lot. I call them my "goth girls" with their black feathers, sticking together and looking like angsty teens with their punk hairstyles.

thanks for the data, the eggs have a nice consistent color and texture. I also like speckled olive eggs, but not so fond of the dip-dyed look or the rough textures some of mine are laying. I am breeding towards larger OE egg sizes, I would be interested to know egg size as the goth girls mature =)

 

[Sphinx]

yes the hen is wonderful looking. The eggs have a nice color too for a first gen cross

Thank you! I've been very pleased with this cross thus far. I LOVE that they're sex linked. It's so convenient. It'll be a tough call when my current batch of legbars are completely mature- do I put them with the FBCM for sex linked OE? Or do I put them with the legbar rooster for autosexing purebreds? Decisions, decisions.

Sol2Go, I'll definitely keep you posted on how the size goes as they grow. They've been laying less than a month, and two have only started in the last couple weeks. Today I got three eggs. They were 36 g, 44 g and 45 g. This is only the second time I've gotten three olives in a single day, so I suspect the 36 g egg is from a hen just barely starting out.

 

[Shawneegyrl]

OMGosh, I want a hen who can lay these color eggs!!

Thank you! I've been very pleased with this cross thus far. I LOVE that they're sex linked. It's so convenient. It'll be a tough call when my current batch of legbars are completely mature- do I put them with the FBCM for sex linked OE? Or do I put them with the legbar rooster for autosexing purebreds? Decisions, decisions.

Sol2Go, I'll definitely keep you posted on how the size goes as they grow. They've been laying less than a month, and two have only started in the last couple weeks. Today I got three eggs. They were 36 g, 44 g and 45 g. This is only the second time I've gotten three olives in a single day, so I suspect the 36 g egg is from a hen just barely starting out.

 

[Peach2u]

Thanks for the positive comments on my speckled green eggs. Sorry for the delay. I was in the Smokies unplugged for a week. I am going to try to repeat that hen. I have put a first gen OE roo over 1st,2nd,3rd OE and blue eggers. My broody's are doing an ok job this year.. I have 18 hens and 1 roo. I'm going to add about 10 more hens and 1 more roo. Keeping a double blue roo this time. Any over that amount will be sold. I found if I get over 30 chickens, I have a hard time keeping up with names LOL I have staggered the hatch days so I can keep up with who belongs to whom. That and I only have 2 broody boxes and 1 chicken tractor for the 3 day -14 day old's with mom. After 2 weeks they go into the main coop with mom. The first night or 2 after the change is the hardest. Some chicks are smarter than others about using the ramp to the coop. That's where the kids come it to catch the rebels.
My first batch I have 12 of 13 running around now 4 months old. I traded hatching eggs for 1 day old chicks. I lost 1 to a hawk.
2nd I have 5 of 12. Not sure what happened there. 2nd year broody
3rd I have 8 of 14. 3rd year broody
4th 0 of 13 After about 2 weeks of sitting she changed her mind. We had major rain for 7 days so maybe too humid and they drown. She was a new broody
5th 7 of 12. new broody
6th the last one was this weekend 8 of 11 a new broody. She seems to be a good mom.
I have a new girl wanting to sit on eggs so I'll toss her in the broody pen and see what happens.
90% of the babies are OE over OE/EE 10% are OE over BCM.
So my new pullets have a good chance of speckled eggs. But I wont know till fall.