The Olive-Egger thread!

[hipeatall]

Quote:
Hi Patty! I'm soooo glad you chimed it... you know alot more about this than I.

Our Olive Eggers and Java's from you are doing wonderfully and have turned out to be some of our favorite breeds.

 

[jeremy]

Quote:
Why not Wynette?

I have a Wheaten Pene pullet that came from a pretty decent egg color (probably a 6) and I plan on putting her with my BW Ameraucana boy this fall in hopes of some OE babies.

Is there any negative outcomes known when using Penes verses Marans?

 

[Illia]

Not that I know of. I always support the idea of using them

It's like using Araucanas over Ameraucanas. . . . They're just as good in terms of egg color, and SO few people use 'em.

 

[Wynette]

Jeremy, I used the wheaten Penedesenca hen that I had to begin my olive egger program because she was an awesome layer. But, it did seem that with her, I got more than 25% single combs in the 2nd generation. That's not to say that you'd have a similar result, it's just what I saw. Also, though she laid dark eggs, they were probably only a 4-5 in darkness, and I wasn't getting the super dark olive that I was lookign for. My hope is to lessen the chances of single combs coming out, while using what I have, rather than attaining specific birds just for my olive egger program, and getting more of the color like the egg in my avatar (the very first of the generation I'm now using). Also, the Penedesenca I had was a bit flighty...I often get comments from folks who've hatched my olive eggers that their birds are docile & laid back, and I honestly don't think my Penedesenca would have helped much it that dept., either. Again, all this is just my own, personal experience - yours may differ!

 

[jeremy]

Great points, thank you Wynette!

I guess I should mention that growing out alongside the Pene is a Wheaten Marans pullet, I'm gonna use both birds eventually.

 

[Wynette]

Jeremy, it would be uber interesting if you kept close track & could see which hens resulted in which babies, percentages of single combs, and outcome on egg color!

 

[jeremy]

I planned on trying to keep good records, I feel like it should be pretty easy with only the two hens. That coupled with the differences in offspring I feel should make this a fun little project and not too hard to keep track of. I can only do a certain number of hatches anyway due to limited space, so I will have to be on top of my numbers!

 

[Wynette]

I'm in the same boat. While I have a good amount of land, I don't have a large facility for the birds, so my breeding flocks are not that large. It does make it easier to keep track, but it's a bit more frustrating when I'm working on improving something, as I just cannot hatch like 100 chicks for each pen at a time. Sigh...

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

Quote:
well duuuu build more pens

im sry i could not resist

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
well duuuu build more pens

im sry i could not resist

Problem is I have NO construction skills whatsoever...I am forbidden from using power tools as it causes me great bodily injury.

DH is my builder, and I think if I ask for another pen, he'll probably ask for a divorce. While I enjoy my chookies, I like him more!