The Olive-Egger thread!

[ChickChuck22]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, I think I will look into Black copper marans Roo and my cream legbar girls - the sex linked idea draws me in. But I am tempted to do multiple crosses, as I really want to hatch some chickies! breeding bug!!! I recently talked to two breeders who I was planning on getting cream legs from but had got rid of their breeding groups because the Roos were ferocious, is this often the case or were they just unlucky? Welsummer cross for OE or EE sounds nice

 

[ChickChuck22]

If you use an araucana(a real one) you might wind up with some spirited birds.

How much bigger are the CCLs there? They are not that big here in the USA.

I think they are about the same size as ones in the USA, possibly a bit bigger. There are lots of fake CCLs here, so it makes it harder to judge their size.
Please excuse my dimness, but when you say spirited, you do mean slightly fiesty, individual, free spirited? I didn't want to be getting the wrong end of the stick!

 

[chickengr]

I think they are about the same size as ones in the USA, possibly a bit bigger. There are lots of fake CCLs here, so it makes it harder to judge their size.
Please excuse my dimness, but when you say spirited, you do mean slightly fiesty, individual, free spirited? I didn't want to be getting the wrong end of the stick!

as I plan to breed araucanas for OE I would like to know what to expeect. my 3 araucans are individual and 1 is a real pet.

 

[chickengr]

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here, just what someone prefers. I used a cream legbar rooster to create my OE's.
After extensive reading I would probably stay away from the marans rooster unless I was after purebred marans.
My own experience tells me my marans are my poorest layers. I love the color of their eggs but I got them specifically to make OE's. In talking to other flocksters they say the same thing about marans' egg laying abilities.
Over the years I've noticed that a rooster does seem to have an influence on his daughters both in how many eggs they lay and the age they start laying.
I've also read that marans and other birds with rose combs seem to have lesser fertility. While the rule of thumb is a rooster can service 10 hens (At one point I had only one breeding age rooster, my CL, with 20 hens and I never opened an infertile egg.) if you want good fertility in black or blue copper marans a better ratio is one rooster to 4 hens during breeding season and you may want to put only three hens with each rooster. That would require keeping many more roosters.
Welsumer chicks can be sexed at hatch and the OE with welsumer mothers (CL father) could be sexed the same as welsumers.
In making OE's there are so many possibilities you may want to go with what you have or what is easiest for you.

my marans pullet is about 7 months old and still not laying. but she has fowl pox and I have been told that this is the reason. the breeder I got my marans from at this time of the year get only brahma and marans eggs (he has many different breeds).

 

[chickengr]

I think they are about the same size as ones in the USA, possibly a bit bigger. There are lots of fake CCLs here, so it makes it harder to judge their size.
Please excuse my dimness, but when you say spirited, you do mean slightly fiesty, individual, free spirited? I didn't want to be getting the wrong end of the stick!

are your araucanas rumpless?

 

[ChickChuck22]

as I plan to breed araucanas for OE I would like to know what to expeect. my 3 araucans are individual and 1 is a real pet.

I have three, they aren't the most confident of my mixed flock, but come up for hand feeding happily. One of them is really sweet, the other two are more individual, but I think it's really just luck of the draw as to wether you get a nice or a nasty, but they are generally a sweet bird in my view. Good luck with your OE breeding, keep us posted!

 

[ChickChuck22]

are your araucanas rumpless?

Not usually in Britain, what we call 'Araucanas' here have tails, and we call rumpless one rumpless araucanas. Our araucanas look quite like ameraucanas, but slightly smaller and with a slightly smaller beard.

 

[chickengr]

this is 1 of mine when she was 6 weeks old. she is clear faced as well as the other one with the same colouring. the boy is also clear faced and I will not breed them (the chicks would be clear faced). I will use them for OEs.

here is my boy:

 

[aart]

So I got this funky dark olive...khaki colored pullet sized egg(funky as in never seen it in the nests before) a week or so ago and couldn't figure out who was laying it.
Thought all my OE pullets had started laying weeks ago...so thought it might be my green egger just coming out of molt making a major coating change.

Did some segregation over the last couple days and figured it out this morning....
......it is one of the youngest pullets, all with huge straight combs, that I thought were all laying, and laying brown but....aha... 2 with beards.
So kept just the 2 bearded ladies in the partition coop last night, then spent a hour or so in the coop dinking around, watching and waiting after finding the khaki egg already laid.

Cross is Welsummer cock over amberlink/EE cross that lays a decent olive egg.
Didn't think any blue shell gene passed with all those monster straight combs....but I guess beards are another indicator.

Khaki layer in front....not a great pic, flash used on an overcast day.
But look at those huge combs, beards ...and wattles.


Color hard to capture as usual, green hues not coming thru well.
Brown from bird behind khaki layer, upper right from Wellie over blue laying EE.


Color more accurate in sunlight.

 

[chickengr]

So I got this funky dark olive...khaki colored pullet sized egg(funky as in never seen it in the nests before) a week or so ago and couldn't figure out who was laying it.
Thought all my OE pullets had started laying weeks ago...so thought it might be my green egger just coming out of molt making a major coating change.

Did some segregation over the last couple days and figured it out this morning....
......it is one of the youngest pullets, all with huge straight combs, that I thought were all laying, and laying brown but....aha... 2 with beards.
So kept just the 2 bearded ladies in the partition coop last night, then spent a hour or so in the coop dinking around, watching and waiting after finding the khaki egg already laid.

Cross is Welsummer cock over amberlink/EE cross that lays a decent olive egg.
Didn't think any blue shell gene passed with all those monster straight combs....but I guess beards are another indicator.

Khaki layer in front....not a great pic, flash used on an overcast day.
But look at those huge combs, beards ...and wattles.


Color hard to capture as usual, green hues not coming thru well.
Brown from bird behind khaki layer, upper right from Wellie over blue laying EE.


Color more accurate in sunlight.

nice ladies and eggs.

there are green egg layers with straight combs.

I guess the big egg is a double yolker?