The Olive-Egger thread!

[ronott1]

There is only one breeder I know of that has OEs that breed true; they lay olive eggs and when bred those birds lay olive eggs. I think it took him a long time to get there, but if you want OEs that will consistently reproduce more OEs, you might want to get some eggs/chicks from him. It's Brian Parks. His site links aren't working but contact information IS available. http://www.frasiercreekfarm.com/

I used the way back machine to get information from the site--from 2014:

Quote:

Description/History

Olive Eggers are not a standard breed - but rather hens that have been produced from several breeds. My Olive Eggers have been bred from Black Copper Marans, Americauana, Brown leghorn, and White Leghorn with the intended goal of producing olive green colored eggs of good size and frequency. I've been selectively breeding for 'olive eggers' over several generations and now have lines that produce seductively dark green eggs. Each hen lays a slightly different hue, and the hue will change over the life of the bird.
Each egg is a complex combination of color layers. The first layer is the shell itself. It can vary from grey-brown to avocado green. The second layer is caused by pigment that is deposited over the egg during the time it travels throught the last segment of the hen's oviduct. In pure Marans, this pigment is very dark mahogany brown. In the Olive Egger, it is of varying shades of green and changes in depth, intensity and pattern over the hens life. My birds produce eggs that range from turquoise to deep mossy green with the majority being a beautiful slate green. Many also produce speckled eggs -a trait that also comes from their partial Marans heritage.
Being crosses between several breeds, these birds are exceptionally hearty, intelligent, active foragers and all around great birds. Most have black feathering, copper hackles and light feathering on the shanks, although some are white with black splash. Occasional birds have large beards and muffs from their Ameraucana parentage.

Temperament

I can go on and on about the benefits that can be found in the "mutt" chicken. For the general backyard hobbiest, a consistantly laying, healthy bird with individuality is the most important desire when they are purchasing a bird. This will be my sixth year of breeding Olive Eggers. For some of the hens, it will be their fifth overbreeding with a Maran's rooster. In other words, they will be 6th generations away from the Ameraucana parentage. So far, this repeated crossing has resorted in ever darker eggs, while still maintaining a large degree of green pigmentation. I can't guarantee egg color, since every cross I make is a new combination. I can however maintain that each color will be unique to each individual hen.
Although there is a great deal of variability between birds, the general Frasier Creek Farm Olive Egger is black with some copper hackles, lightly feathered feet, and firey orange eyes. I do, however, maintain an oddity that appeared a few years ago that sports a black splash. Each bird is very white, with light random black feathering, that can give them a blue grey appearance depending on the size of the speckles. I love these birds, and I always find that they are the hardest for me to part with.

Availability/Pricing:


Eggs for hatching $30/dozen (available Feb 2013 - preorders welcome)
Chicks $5.00/each - unsexed - (available late February)
Six week + pullets are $20.00 each - (available late March)
Six week + Black splash pullets are $25.00 each. (available late March)

 

[ochochicas]

I'm sure this has been beaten like a dead horse, but what are the two blue Genes?

Every chicken has either white or blue egg genes. If a chicken has two white shell genes, it will lay a white egg. It will also pass a white egg shell gene onto all of its babies.

A chicken can have blue egg gene instead of white. These chickens will lay blue eggs. Blue egg layers will have two blue egg genes, or one white and one blue.

A rooster or hen with two blue egg genes can only pass blue egg genes on to its offspring. All of the resulting pullets will lay a blue or green egg.

To get a green egg, you basically have a blue egg shell that is covered with a brown coating. Blue + brown = green
The more brown coating that is applied, the darker the green. Olive eggs have blue eggs shells with a lot of brown on top of it.

 

[magdelaine]

Most genetics can be understood as heterozygous or homozygous. Offspring get one half of their genes from each parent. If a trait is dominant, it can be heterozygous (from one parent) and still express (be visible). If a trait is recessive, it needs to be homozygous (from both parents) to express (be visible).

A human example: Brown eyes are dominant over blue eyes. I have brown eyes and my husband has blue eyes. Our two boys have brown eyes, but our two girls are blue eyed. What happened? Well, I got a copy of the blue eye gene from my mom, and a copy of the brown eye gene from my dad. My girls got my mom's blue eye gene passed to them, and they both are homozygous for blue eyes. My boys are hetero for blue eyes because of their dad, but since brown is dominant, that is what they express. If they marry a girl with blue eyes (or blue eyes in their family history), I might end up with a few blue eyed grand kids. Otherwise, they will all have brown eyes.

Ha, ha, hope that wasn't too confusing! Mendelian genetics is fascinating.

 

[aart]

Most genetics can be understood as heterozygous or homozygous. Offspring get one half of their genes from each parent. If a trait is dominant, it can be heterozygous (from one parent) and still express (be visible). If a trait is recessive, it needs to be homozygous (from both parents) to express (be visible).

A human example: Brown eyes are dominant over blue eyes. I have brown eyes and my husband has blue eyes. Our two boys have brown eyes, but our two girls are blue eyed. What happened? Well, I got a copy of the blue eye gene from my mom, and a copy of the brown eye gene from my dad. My girls got my mom's blue eye gene passed to them, and they both are homozygous for blue eyes. My boys are hetero for blue eyes because of their dad, but since brown is dominant, that is what they express. If they marry a girl with blue eyes (or blue eyes in their family history), I might end up with a few blue eyed grand kids. Otherwise, they will all have brown eyes.

Ha, ha, hope that wasn't too confusing! Mendelian genetics is fascinating.

Pretty clear........good example of the het and hom........and this stuff usually just confuses the heck out of me

 

[cochinsarecute]

What are olive eggers rooster's temperament? Also if he breeds with my EE cochin and cuckoo marans SF BO and wyandotte hens will there offspring have olive or green eggs?

 

[fatcatx]

Hi OE folks. I was hoping you could confirm my egg-assumptions are true based on the charts I've seen on the thread.

I've got a chick that is from a OE and a cuckoo Maran roo. If it turns out to be a pullet, it will probably lay extra dark olive eggs correct? I'm not 100% sure of the OE parentage since the egg was a gift for my broody, but pretty sure it was a maran over a legbar, if that make any difference.

 

[ronott1]

Hi OE folks. I was hoping you could confirm my egg-assumptions are true based on the charts I've seen on the thread.

I've got a chick that is from a OE and a cuckoo Maran roo. If it turns out to be a pullet, it will probably lay extra dark olive eggs correct? I'm not 100% sure of the OE parentage since the egg was a gift for my broody, but pretty sure it was a maran over a legbar, if that make any difference.

Yes, you should be good with that cross. The Legbar should have two blue egg shell genes and the brown will come from the marans. They are both straight combed so you will not have pea combs. If the rooster is marans, they may be black sexlinks--pullets will be solid and cockerels will be barred.

 

[StarMeKritten]

Hi OE folks.  I was hoping you could confirm my egg-assumptions are true based on the charts I've seen on the thread.

I've got a chick that is from a OE and a cuckoo Maran roo.  If it turns out to be a pullet, it will probably lay extra dark olive eggs correct?  I'm not 100% sure of the OE parentage since the egg was a gift for my broody, but pretty sure it was a maran over a legbar, if that make any difference.

If it is a cross between an olive egger (legbar marans cross) hen and a marans rooster, then there's about a 50% chance of olive eggs and a 50% chance of darker brown eggs.

 

[fatcatx]

Yes, you should be good with that cross. The Legbar should have two blue egg shell genes and the brown will come from the marans. They are both straight combed so you will not have pea combs. If the rooster is marans, they may be black sexlinks--pullets will be solid and cockerels will be barred.

Thanks for the info! Glad I'm getting a handle on some of the egg genes. The F3 are more confusing. If it is a cockerel, what influence will it have over egg color in its offspring? Does it need to be crossed to a blue to get an olive egger or will a brown cross still show green in the offspring's eggs? I was guessing that a brown cross would produce a very mossy green egg but maybe that is only if the brown come from a Maran?

 

[ronott1]

Thanks for the info! Glad I'm getting a handle on some of the egg genes. The F3 are more confusing. If it is a cockerel, what influence will it have over egg color in its offspring? Does it need to be crossed to a blue to get an olive egger or will a brown cross still show green in the offspring's eggs? I was guessing that a brown cross would produce a very mossy green egg but maybe that is only if the brown come from a Maran?

The F3 will be losing the blue gene so then it would be time to work on only breeding hens that are laying blue eggs. The cockerels are harder because you cannot tell if there is a blue gene until the chicks grow up and start laying eggs.

You will need to use trap nesting and keep a lot of records to find males with the blue egg shell gene. This is why most breeders and hatcheries only use the first cross.

Have fun!