The Olive-Egger thread!

[aart]

Is it common for a single Olive Egger hen to lay a range of colors like this at first?

Yeaah...maybe....but...you only have 1 OE?

 

[Dwuuds]

Yeaah...maybe....but...you only have 1 OE?

Yep. Our only other laying age hens at the moment are silkies (small pinkish egg) and our spitzhauben, who lays white eggs.

 

[aart]

Yep. Our only other laying age hens at the moment are silkies (small pinkish egg) and our spitzhauben, who lays white eggs.

Hmmm....only time will tell.
It's just the one that looks really different.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Yep. Our only other laying age hens at the moment are silkies (small pinkish egg) and our spitzhauben, who lays white eggs.

Off topic but how do you like your spitzhauben?

 

[Dwuuds]

Off topic but how do you like your spitzhauben?

So here is a terrible story with a great ending: at about 5 months of age, she was accidently mauled by one of our dogs.

Now, when I say “mauled” I don’t mean the dog got ahold of her and she had some bite marks. I found her in the coop, walking around in shock, with her ENTIRE breast opened up, from bottom to neck.

I figured we should probably put her down immediately, but at this point my partner was VERY attached to this hen, and she did not agree.

We essentially googled what to do, and by complete chance found that we live 10 minutes away from one of the few avian veterinarians (I didn’t even know such a thing existed) in the country, and he took emergency appointments!

We rushed her there and after a little prep, we got to see the entire procedure. The vet literally hand stitched our hen back together over the course of 3 HOURS.

When we took her in a week later to get the stitches out, the vet was blown away by how fast she had recovered. He told us that it was honestly the worst dog attack he had ever seen, and that initially he had been unsure of her outcome.

For about 3 weeks, we kept her separated in a “hospital coop” and hand fed her antibiotics (giving a chicken a pill, is not an easy task) we also had to clean her wounds daily, and apply topical antibiotics twice a day.

Now, a month and a half later, she is reintegrated with the flock, running around with the other chickens, laying eggs like nothing ever happened.

The only “side effect” is that due to the the daily handling and wound care, she is extremely friendly. Like jump into your hands and fall asleep friendly.

The only thing I can really think of as a con (depending on your space) is that they are VERY active, and they do not bear confinement well, even for short periods.


So if you can imagine after all of this, I have developed a pretty heavy bias towards the breed.

If I could have a separate all appenzeller flock, I would do it in a heartbeat.



GRAPHIC PICTURE WARNING!!!

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

So here is a terrible story with a great ending: at about 5 months of age, she was accidently mauled by one of our dogs.

Now, when I say “mauled” I don’t mean the dog got ahold of her and she had some bite marks. I found her in the coop, walking around in shock, with her ENTIRE breast opened up, from bottom to neck.

I figured we should probably put her down immediately, but at this point my partner was VERY attached to this hen, and she did not agree.

We essentially googled what to do, and by complete chance found that we live 10 minutes away from one of the few avian veterinarians (I didn’t even know such a thing existed) in the country, and he took emergency appointments!

We rushed her there and after a little prep, we got to see the entire procedure. The vet literally hand stitched our hen back together over the course of 3 HOURS.

When we took her in a week later to get the stitches out, the vet was blown away by how fast she had recovered. He told us that it was honestly the worst dog attack he had ever seen, and that initially he had been unsure of her outcome.

For about 3 weeks, we kept her separated in a “hospital coop” and hand fed her antibiotics (giving a chicken a pill, is not an easy task) we also had to clean her wounds daily, and apply topical antibiotics twice a day.

Now, a month and a half later, she is reintegrated her the flock, running around with the other chickens, laying eggs like nothing ever happened.

The only “side effect” is that due to the the daily handling and wound care, she is extremely friendly. Like jump into your hands and fall asleep friendly.

The only thing I can really think of as a con (depending on your space) is that they are VERY active, and they do not bear confinement well, even for short periods.


So if you can imagine after all of this, I have developed a pretty heavy bias towards the breed.

If I could have a separate all appenzeller flock, I would do it in a heartbeat.



GRAPHIC PICTURE WARNING!!!



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Amazing! So glad she is thriving.

 

[belindaschicks]

View attachment 1092757 These are my Olive Eggers I got from Meyer hatchery. In the catalog it says they have two different lines so I'm sure I got two of the legbar/welsummer mix & one Marans/Americana mix. The black one has sparse feathering on her legs & is HUGE (almost Roo size) compared to the other two girls. They haven't reached POL yet but will in August hopefully. They are very friendly too. So excited to see how their eggs turn out!

I just got a female olive egger chick from meyer. She is bigger compared to my other chicks. I included a picture. Which did she look like?

 

[jeanetteiacovon]

I have cream leg bars from a breederthat bred only them..... can I breed them to get a green egg and to whom do I breed them to???

 

[The Moonshiner]

You can breed them to any brown egg laying breed and get green egg layers.
The darker brown the brown egg layer lays the darker green the offspring will lay.

 

[Ladybirdnnex]

actually, after checking out this thread and all the great documentation over time, i could buy that my little one is a legbar x welsummer. i wish she had a crest though!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/cream-legbars-from-chick-to-adult