The Olive-Egger thread!

[LaSombra]

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Trust me, SO WOULD I!

Wynette, those eggs are due to hatch this weekend! (assuming you're the same Wynette from Adamson Acres

We're down to 6 eggs going to lockdown after taking out the ones that didn't grow or stopped. 3 marans, 2 olive-eggers and 1 ameraucana. I'm getting very excited! Can't wait

 

[kathyinmo]

Wynette,
Thanks for those pictures! I'm with you ... I would prefer the blues; especially like the beautiful blue Olive Egger I hatched from your eggs!

 

[Happy Chooks]

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Yeah, I want one like her. Mary (the Warden) is sharing her hatch of Olive eggers from Wynette with me.

 

[peachychick]

We set our 1st olive egger eggs last night ! I think there were 12 of them. The cross is BCM roos over buff, wheaten, chocolate and partridge. Hopefully some of the pretty hen colors will dominate (although I really expect them to be all black). The chicks we hatched from these same hens with our wheat Ameracuana roo all came out wheaties. A dozen like Wynette's buff cutie a few posts back would be awesome! But they are subject to change colors about 4 times before they're grown, right? Can hardly wait until October when they'll all be old enough to lay. You know what they say about counting chickens before they hatch

 

[Happy Chooks]

Okay Wynette, here's the pics you asked for to compare your black olive egger to my pure ameraucana's. I had to lure them out of "sleepy time" with carrot greens.

They are 11 weeks old. (there's a couple BCM's and an olive egger rooster in this pen too, so ignore the glimpses of them in the background)

I *think* they are all pullets. There is 1 that tries to bite my finger (when I pick the others up and they squeal), but it has literally no comb to speak of, so I think it's just a feisty girl.

ETA: Here's the olive egger cockeral. I was really hoping this one would be a pullet, but nope! He was hatched from Ruth's olive eggers. Mary (the Warden) gave him to me. I don't think he would be a good choice for breeding olive eggers, he has a funny comb. Not a true pea comb. What do you think?

 

[Wynette]

Oh, gosh they're very pretty, and they sure do remind me of my black olive egger girl!

All EEs have funny combs if you ask me! LOL! The cockerel combs are REALLY weird because they get bigger and sometimes fall to one side...they are just a blob of pinkness...gross!

That boy is VERY pretty, though - he's not only got a handsome face, but his feather coloring is to die for! NICE & dark blue with nice lacing!

 

[Happy Chooks]

So do you think I should breed him and see what I get? (I know Ruth's eggs are really olive in color, so he has the possibility of throwing pullets with nice eggs) I have 2 BCM's and (hopefully) 4 ameraucana pullets. If I do breed him, who should I breed him to?

ETA: It's hard to see in the picture, but he could pass on a great beard too. This shows his puffy cheeks when I got him at 2 weeks old:

 

[Illia]

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About the EE combs, that's what I was thinking. Often the cockerels will have odd combs that fall over, or are humongous cushions. Now, not all EEs are like that though - Especially with single comb parents . . . So look out for a more normal one, and you should just have a more "raised" type pea comb like my EE. It is better than a floppy or cushion comb.

 

[Wynette]

All I've ever used are EEs or pure Ameraucanas to Marans, and all my cockerels have had ugly, dangly combs. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that...

So your boy is actually an F1 olive egger, right? If you bred him to a Marans hen (assuming he did receive the blue egg gene), I'd think that offspring would be your VERY dark olive. I'm unsure what you'd get if you bred him to a blue egger; I would think a lighter green?

 

[Illia]

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That there looks like a good comb. As Wynette said, another Marans x him will be a VERY dark Olive egg. Another Ameraucana or EE x him will be a vibrant green I would theorize. . . And I cannot wait until someone does that!! I really hope it turns to be a vibrant green. (well, if crossed with a true blue layer. . . green layers x him will just make a weird olive green color )