The Olive-Egger thread!

[Wynette]

If it were me, I'd keep the Wheaten Marans since you also have a Wheaten Marans hen; thus, you could breed them & have purebred chicks. However, there's a whole lot to say about keeping the one you like the best based on his personality! Frankly, I don't think you will go wrong regardless of who you pick!

 

[CantSkipThis1]

Quote:
Does your olive egger have a pea comb? If so, then keep him since he's your favorite. Then you can cross him with your Marans hen and even your Araucana and see what you get. The hen contributes to the dark egg color too, not just the rooster. People here have done crosses both ways.

Im sorry I dont know anything about combs. Heres a pictures of him when he was younger. What kind of comb does he have?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
I was going to say that too, but then I read that the olive egger is her favorite. Of course, if they keep the Wheaton Marans rooster they can still make olive eggers by breeding him to the Araucana. And still have pure Marans.

Can'tskip......It looks to be a pea comb.

 

[alicefelldown]

Quote:
There are two things you could be asking here - I'm not sure which, so here are answers to both. (*note - Marans is always pluralized even when you are referring to a single bird)

A - Your hens will lay eggs without a rooster present. They will be infertile of course, but you will still get dark eggs from them.

B - If you wanted dark laying offspring from your dark laying Marans then you will need to keep the Marans rooster.

----------------------------------

It comes down to your goals:

What do you want to breed?
- are you looking to breed Marans? Keep the Wheaten Marans roo.

- are you looking to breed olive eggers?
- you have a white feathered olive layer. Do you like the color of the eggs she lays? Keep the roo/hen who gave you her.
- if her eggs are too brown, you could improve the olive by breeding her with a blue carrying male. Whether your olive roo has enough blue is not clear from your posts or pictures thus far. A peacomb usually means that the bird is carrying at least one copy of the dominant blue laying gene.
- if her eggs are too blue/green, you could improve the olive by breeding her with the Marans roo. The eggs her descendants lay should be darker and more olive, due to thicker/darker layer of 'brown paint'.

 

[CantSkipThis1]

Quote:
I was going to say that too, but then I read that the olive egger is her favorite. Of course, if they keep the Wheaton Marans rooster they can still make olive eggers by breeding him to the Araucana. And still have pure Marans.

Can'tskip......It looks to be a pea comb.

"I was going to say that too, but then I read that the olive egger is her favorite. Of course, if they keep the Wheaton Marans rooster they can still make olive eggers by breeding him to the Araucana. And still have pure Marans."

LOL Thats my problem. Keep the Roo I like. Or Keep the Wheaten Roo and breed pure... I guess I could keep both for now, and maybe build a smaller pen for my Wheaten pair. Hmmm... But than again my Lav Silkie cross thing is sooo cool looking and I think hes a Roo too. Maybe I should just start collecting Roo's. LOL I will try and get a new picture of my fav Olive Egger Roo tonight. By the way, I have three Black Olive Egger Roo's that I bought as chicks and was told they were BCM's.

 

[CantSkipThis1]

Quote:
There are two things you could be asking here - I'm not sure which, so here are answers to both. (*note - Marans is always pluralized even when you are referring to a single bird)

A - Your hens will lay eggs without a rooster present. They will be infertile of course, but you will still get dark eggs from them.

B - If you wanted dark laying offspring from your dark laying Marans then you will need to keep the Marans rooster.

----------------------------------

It comes down to your goals:

What do you want to breed?
for FUN LOL

- are you looking to breed Marans? Keep the Wheaten Marans roo.

- are you looking to breed olive eggers?
- you have a white feathered olive layer. Do you like the color of the eggs she lays? Keep the roo/hen who gave you her.
- if her eggs are too brown, you could improve the olive by breeding her with a blue carrying male. Whether your olive roo has enough blue is not clear from your posts or pictures thus far. A peacomb usually means that the bird is carrying at least one copy of the dominant blue laying gene.
- if her eggs are too blue/green, you could improve the olive by breeding her with the Marans roo. The eggs her descendants lay should be darker and more olive, due to thicker/darker layer of 'brown paint'.

Ok I think I understand what your saying. I don't need the Marans Roo to produce dark eggs out of my Marans Hens that I have now but I do need him if I want her offspring to lay dark brown eggs...

So let me ask you this... What would I get if I crossed a Wheaten Roo on a Black Copper Hen?

Can I cross the Wheaten Marans Roo on SLW, GLW and BLRW... or will that just be a crazy mess?

Thanks!!

Thanks!!

 

[alicefelldown]

Quote:
Marans chickens that would be great for the backyard but terrible if you were planning on selling hatching eggs. If you are strict and keep them all the crosses to yourself, always looking at them as crosses, no matter how they turn out, then all is well and enjoy the heck out of them and breed away! Breeders have been working for years and years to breed out all the recessive wheaten in BCM flocks. There is no good reason to add it back in. Keep in mind that even if never sell your eggs/chicks away you cannot control what someone else does with your flock if you have to move, or if you give some to a neighbor/friend.

Quote:
You can cross these, but again, they will be 'mutts'.

Egg shells come in Blue or White only. Brown eggs are typically a white shell that has been coated in a brown 'paint'. Brown 'dye' comes from their blood and coats the shell after it has formed in the chicken. Blue 'dye' comes from the bird's bile and permeates the normally white shell, causing fully blue shells. Crack open a blue or olive egg. It should be blue on the inside. Crack open a brown egg and it should be white.

If you take your dark brown Marans paint, and add it to eggs that are already brown/tan, they will be a darker brown. If you are only looking to have fun and add different colors to your egg basket then go ahead and mix everything up. No reason not to.

 

[CantSkipThis1]

Quote:
Marans chickens that would be great for the backyard but terrible if you were planning on selling hatching eggs. If you are strict and keep them all the crosses to yourself, always looking at them as crosses, no matter how they turn out, then all is well and enjoy the heck out of them and breed away! Breeders have been working for years and years to breed out all the recessive wheaten in BCM flocks. There is no good reason to add it back in. Keep in mind that even if never sell your eggs/chicks away you cannot control what someone else does with your flock if you have to move, or if you give some to a neighbor/friend.

Quote:
You can cross these, but again, they will be 'mutts'.

Egg shells come in Blue or White only. Brown eggs are typically a white shell that has been coated in a brown 'paint'. Brown 'dye' comes from their blood and coats the shell after it has formed in the chicken. Blue 'dye' comes from the bird's bile and permeates the normally white shell, causing fully blue shells. Crack open a blue or olive egg. It should be blue on the inside. Crack open a brown egg and it should be white.

If you take your dark brown Marans paint, and add it to eggs that are already brown/tan, they will be a darker brown. If you are only looking to have fun and add different colors to your egg basket then go ahead and mix everything up. No reason not to.

At the end of the day, Im only looking to have cool different colored eggs. I wanted something other than white and tan/brown.

Thanks for all the info!

 

[CantSkipThis1]

Here are some new pictures of my Fav. Roo "Big". He was sold to me as a BCM but Im calling him a Olive Egger because there were some Olive Eggers in her hatch. I really dont know what he is. He is 7 1/2 weeks old. Ideas? Thanks!!

 

[Wynette]

He's sure not a black copper marans, but could have been crossed by one since he's got feathered shanks and is black.

He's got muffs, so must have been an EE or Ameraucana. He's cute!!