The Olive-Egger thread!

[Ihilani Coffee]

So here is the Olive Egger in question (in back). Nice looking bird really. Really there is no question. DEFINITELY a cockerel. So from what I am reading, if he mates with an EE then their offspring will be 50% olive and 50 brown. HMMMMMMMM, so i have to decide if it is worth keeping him around all winter to get him to mate with my EE in the spring then wait till Oct to get to see if their babies, IF they have pullets, will lay olive or not. Maybe im better off just getting an olive egger or two somewhere else. I have not seen any on craigslist but I can try the indiana message board and see if anyone there has some. I really want to cross some olive eggers with my BC Maran roo for dark green eggs.

On a side note, any ideas about the bird in front? Roo or Pullet? The lady said pullet but im not thinking so. Supposed to be a blue copper maran but not sure. seems like something else might be going on there.
thanks for the input.

From what I understand, it depends on what makes up the EE mix.

Depending on the age of these birds, that looks like a blue copper Marans pullet nearing POL with *nice* coppering on the neck! With the foot in motion I can't really say about the feathering on shanks/toes, but I'd breed her even if she has none if she is wide throughout and carries that width between the pelvic bones.

Also from what I understand, if these two were mated that should give you a darker olive color egg. I only do F1 crosses myself.

 

[Manningjw]

So here is the Olive Egger in question (in back). Nice looking bird really. Really there is no question. DEFINITELY a cockerel. So from what I am reading, if he mates with an EE then their offspring will be 50% olive and 50 brown. HMMMMMMMM, so i have to decide if it is worth keeping him around all winter to get him to mate with my EE in the spring then wait till Oct to get to see if their babies, IF they have pullets, will lay olive or not. Maybe im better off just getting an olive egger or two somewhere else. I have not seen any on craigslist but I can try the indiana message board and see if anyone there has some. I really want to cross some olive eggers with my BC Maran roo for dark green eggs.

On a side note, any ideas about the bird in front? Roo or Pullet? The lady said pullet but im not thinking so. Supposed to be a blue copper maran but not sure. seems like something else might be going on there.
thanks for the input.

The 50% comment i meant strictly for crossing back to a BROWN egg laying hen, not an EE. He has at best a single blue egg laying gene which he will pass on 50% of the time and should be inherited with his pea comb. If you were to mate him with an EE who lays blue eggs, you would either get 75% blue/green egg laying chickens OR 100% blue or green depending on if the EE hen is homozygous for blue egg laying gene.

 

[Infinity]

So. I purchased several olive-egger peeps 5 months ago. The girls have "spread" out recently but their combs are not bright red. I have been seeing several larger eggs in the last week or so that are a very, very pale green. I am HOPING that the color of my CCLBs and/or my EEs have faded, which they have been doing over the course of the summer.

My question is....is the pale, pale green a possible OE? Please tell me "no!" I will be terribly disappointed if this is the case. Time to rehome!

Thanks. m

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

So. I purchased several olive-egger peeps 5 months ago. The girls have "spread" out recently but their combs are not bright red. I have been seeing several larger eggs in the last week or so that are a very, very pale green. I am HOPING that the color of my CCLBs and/or my EEs have faded, which they have been doing over the course of the summer.

My question is....is the pale, pale green a possible OE? Please tell me "no!" I will be terribly disappointed if this is the case. Time to rehome!

Thanks. m

Photos next to white egg would be helpful.

 

[Olive Oil]

So. I purchased several olive-egger peeps 5 months ago. The girls have "spread" out recently but their combs are not bright red. I have been seeing several larger eggs in the last week or so that are a very, very pale green. I am HOPING that the color of my CCLBs and/or my EEs have faded, which they have been doing over the course of the summer.

My question is....is the pale, pale green a possible OE? Please tell me "no!" I will be terribly disappointed if this is the case. Time to rehome!

Thanks. m

I'm not sure how pale your eggs are, but if it helps, here is a pic from my OE which I purchased. I was also a bit disappointed with the shade. From what I understand, 2nd and 3rd generation OE's can lay more interesting shades of green, but you have a lesser chance of the parent genes matching up (blue gene and dark gene) correctly to create an olive egg. Might get brown or blue layers instead. The egg on
top is my OE. One day she did lay a much nicer olive colored egg however. Not sure why! They're usually this color.

 

[Infinity]

Olive Oil
The color is similar, although mine might be a tad paler. I am vastly disappointed. May as well have just bought more EEs. This is NOT olive. It is pale green. They should be called what they are.

 

[ronott1]

Olive Oil
The color is similar, although mine might be a tad paler. I am vastly disappointed. May as well have just bought more EEs. This is NOT olive. It is pale green. They should be called what they are.

The color of green will get lighter through the egg laying cycle.

I can't wait to try OEs as an Arkansas Blue X Partridge Penedesenca. The Crele Penedesenca eggs are not as dark brown as the Partridge Penes. I did see some from this year and they were a nice green egg. The pullets were barred with gold spots, sadly I did not get a picture.

 

[Infinity]

The color of green will get lighter through the egg laying cycle.

I can't wait to try OEs as an Arkansas Blue X Partridge Penedesenca. The Crele Penedesenca eggs are not as dark brown as the Partridge Penes. I did see some from this year and they were a nice green egg. The pullets were barred with gold spots, sadly I did not get a picture.

Right. That means my eggs should be almost white as cycle continues. Looks like they'be only been laying for a week.

 

[ronott1]

Right. That means my eggs should be almost white as cycle continues. Looks like they'be only been laying for a week.

They will be blue. The blue is separate from the brown and is a function of a shell pigment produced in the liver. The eggs can become a lighter blue, but that is a sign that the hen is not healthy--worming and mite\lice should be checked if so.

 

[ochochicas]

Beautiful eggs, but I agree it is green and not olive. I think there is some confusion among some "breeders" about what makes an olive egger. My olive eggers will all be out of Marans hens that lay dark brown eggs...everything else would be considered an Easter Egger. At this point, however, I'd be happy with either since all I'm getting are brown and more brown. LOL