The Olive-Egger thread!

[Happy Chooks]

I was certain I had a couple roosters in my olive egger hatching. One had a wide comb base and my favorite little blue one sported a pink comb really quickly, so I just assumed they were boys. But they are now 7 1/2 weeks old and the combs haven't grown AT ALL. I have 5 olive egger pullets!!!!! 2 will be going to a friend, but I'll be keeping the other 3. I'm so excited, that means out of 8 babies that hatched (3 weren't olive eggers and are all roos) I have 5 pullets!

 

[Runalong]

Humor the newbie: Maybe my answer is already here somewhere but I can't find it.

What breeds are you all using for your olive eggers? Besides ameracaunas? I know a lot use marans and welsummers, has a poll been taken (page #?) or could we take one now. What are the results like for different brown egg breeds? Does anyone prefer araucanas to ameracaunas for olive eggers? Or is there a definitive answer already as to the best olive egger combo? Does it matter if the brown egger is the rooster vs the hen?

 

[phasianidae]

ok so he's not a olive egger, his mother is a white ameraucana and his father is a buff orpington, but i am using him to develop some strain of EE with feathered legs and a crest, (i will be using silkies to ad the crest)

 

[Illia]

Quote:
No poll has been taken, but that's an interesting idea. Welsummers and Marans are the most commonly used dark egger because they're the most commonly available. Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers are more common to use than Araucanas for the same reason. As for roo vs hen, no, there's no "better" pairing.

In my experience from other people's breedings, a Welsummer creates a lighter olive, often with slight speckling. A Marans, depending on the quality of the bird, will create anything from a pale olive to a very dark, rich olive. Black Copper Marans are the best to use for a good rich color. Cuckoo Marans just make a pale greenish gray color.

I'm probably one out of, ooh, two or three people total who use Araucanas for Olive Eggers. My reasons are that I want a different Olive Egger - One with different plumage coloring, no tail, and tufts. Also, Araucanas lay rounder eggs than Marans, and most of mine carry a thick blume over their egg, which will result in a very different type of Olive Egg in the offspring. It will be darker because of its roundness and probably carry on the heavy blume trait, which means the single combed flukes will lay a purple tinted egg, and the true olive layers will lay a royal blue tinted egg.

There's no good or bad Olive color, really, it is all in the eye of the beholder. And the best fun of it is that there are so many combinations you can do. . . Then, in the second generation, it gets even crazier - Especially if you cross back to a dark brown egger, you'll make your olive a darker shade. If you cross to another Olive Egger of completely different breeding, you could possibly get what Wynette has, and what I call "Golden Eggers"

 

[phasianidae]

hi i would like to get some BCM next year from someone to use as breeding stock for olive eggers, anyone selling eggs?

 

[yazzymon]

How would you get the olive eggs to us intact and staying warm?

 

[Runalong]

thank you Illia!

 

[Darth Egger]

For those who have F1 Olive Eggers, does anybody know if those birds have the two wattles or the single gular lappet? I'm trying to figure out which is dominant and the answer to that question will tell.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
I sell olive eggs from third and fourth generation "olive eggers".

 

[phasianidae]

great! could i buy some next year? its getting to cold here to have chicks. what breed are all in your olive eggers? what percentage are they?