The Olive-Egger thread!

[ronott1]

About 26 weeks and the pure BCM started laying two weeks ago, so thought it was weird the oliver hasn't started yet since she is half EE and most of those girls have started laying around that time also

Is she starting to look ready?

It can be frustrating. Someone with Wellsummers had to wait nearly 9 months because of the time of hatch.

 

[seventreesfarm]

Got a nice hatch going today!
Looks like all 7 of my BCM x Ameraucanas hatched, lots of my pure BCMs, some BCM x BCM/Oliver, and BCM x 3 different F2 Oliver hens.

Only a few with pips or no action, one we'll probably assist. When my partner gets home from work tonight we'll do Operation Chick Move and grab all the fluffies, put on zip tie leg bands, and get them out to the brooder coop. So far we're fast enough, and the incubator is forgiving enough, that we don't shrink wrap anyone. We also wait long enough that the ones with no action are probably quitters anyway.

The one we plan to assist looks mainly hatched, just in a tough membrane that is a bit dried. We've made the mistake of assisting too soon, and it doesn't end well. Now we wait until it seems the problem is just mechanical not a birth defect.

 

[maryhysong]

Is she starting to look ready?

It can be frustrating. Someone with Wellsummers had to wait nearly 9 months because of the time of hatch.

she is pretty red in the face, but maybe a shade lighter than the BCM. Will be my first oliver so reallly hoping she lays a nice dark olive and sooner rather than later ;-)

 

[seventreesfarm]

29 chicks out of 33. Not too bad. Still 2 left in the incubator, but no pips or activity. I'll leave them til tomorrow morning though. The rest are so dang cute! The roo is a huge FBCM, so most of the babies have feather feet. Looks like a lot of blue and splash in this bunch too.


The heat lamp in the brooder coop makes the colors funny, but lots of silver, grey & black. They are so funny trying to run around with their leg band on. They get used to it fast though.

 

[aart]

The heat lamp in the brooder coop makes the colors funny, but lots of silver, grey & black. They are so funny trying to run around with their leg band on. They get used to it fast though.

I love it when they get ahold of it with their beak and give a great tug and pull their own leg right out from under them...lol

 

[seventreesfarm]

So if I'm going to keep back a roo to experiment with oliver breeding, which is better - BCM x Ameraucana cross or Ameraucana x BCM cross?

I had a roo that was BCM x Am or EE and many pullets he fathered with a couple other BCMx hens turned out to be great olive-eggers. The roo got to be a real jerk as he got older, so I sold him. Now looking over my flock records, I wish I had kept him for a few more breedings.

So now I'm crossing his daughters with my other roos, and wondering which has the best potential to carry the right egg color genes. I'm guessing pea comb is a must, but does it matter if the blue egg gene comes from the roo or the hen?

 

[carriebain]

I found a surprise olive egg in my nesting box the other day and have been trying to figure out who is laying it, considering I don't have a olive egger old enough to lay yet. So, today I was checking on my broody and in the box was my splash wyandotte, she was laying a egg.... Well.... She is the olive egger!!!! Has anyone seen this before? My mind is seriously blown! The green eggs are from a Easter egger, the darker egg is from the wyandotte

 

[Manningjw]

I found a surprise olive egg in my nesting box the other day and have been trying to figure out who is laying it, considering I don't have a olive egger old enough to lay yet. So, today I was checking on my broody and in the box was my splash wyandotte, she was laying a egg.... Well.... She is the olive egger!!!! Has anyone seen this before? My mind is seriously blown! The green eggs are from a Easter egger, the darker egg is from the wyandotte

Well if you started with a green egg carrying Rooster and cross into the Wyandotte, I am not terribly surprised you would get an OE. Very cool looking olive egger too!

Think of a Maran Rooster crossed with a White Leghorn, I imagine the shade of brown would be similar to or lighter in color than say a Red Star or similar medium/dark brown egg layer. Crossing back twice should give some nice Olive Eggs.

 

[southerngirl29]

Soooo, how would one go about attempting to produce a hen that would lay "emu turquoise" colored eggs. I just looked up the emu eggs and they are gorgeous. Can a chicken really lay an egg like that?? I'm sure it would be hard to get one, but I'm willing to try!! I have an olive egger hen and roo f2, I have two pure blue wheaten ameracauna hens, one easter egger, and right now I just have a splash Maran roo, but I have some cuckoo Maran Roos about two months old. I'd love to find an ameracauna roo as well. But...I'd have to find a place to keep all these Roos separate and I don't like keeping chickens in small spaces like a hutch, seems so unpleasent. Anyways, considering I could get any breed of roo needed, what would I need to breed to possibly maybe get a dark turquoise egg???

 

[Hangtown Farms]

here is a pic of my crele olive egger project