The Olive-Egger thread!

[Wynette]

Gosh, I'd breed her to a cockerel from the same hatch! If you breed her to a blue-egg layer, it'll lighten it up too much, IMO. If you breed her to a Marans, it will make it so dark, so as not to quite tell it's even olive! That's a pretty eggie!!!

 

[flgardengirl]

Thank you. I appreciate your advice. I have a nice blue ameraucana rooster I can put her with. Apparently it was just dumb luck. I didn't know they were supposed to lay lighter at first. I have seen so many beautiful Olive eggs pics on this thread. I heard you were supposed to breed them back to something besides an Olive Egger though. I am gonna pen her up for sure so I can see if this is going to be her normal color.

Actually, that particular roo (not from my avatar but the father of the olive egger) came from eggs from pasofinofarms in TX. A few of the hens I got from her lay really dark as well. I have BCMs from 4 different breeders. The bayhorsebonnie hens also lay real dark and very large eggs. My darkest laying BCM is from eggs from a Craigslist find from a lady near Tampa. I believe she said they were Wade Jean x Presley. I wish I could find her again. She must have some amazing layers. I am going to try and get NPIP this spring or early summer.

 

[flgardengirl]

Wynette. Thank you. I do have her brother. I only got the two because I let the mother hatch them out herself and she lost a lot of her babies. They were her first. Maybe I should try all 3 (BCM, Ameraucana, and the OE) roos and see what happens LOL. Sounds like a cool experiment. I'm kinda glad I didn't get rid of the OE male now. He is so pretty I wanted to keep him but wasn't sure what to do with him. He looks like a big black ameraucana but with feathered shanks and gold hackles. He is prettier than his OE sister.

 

[remington3006]

Ok i am ordering 25 five chicks that come the 21 of feb i am geting some ee's golden laced wyadatts , butercups, , and soeckled sussex reeding this thred made me get more ee's then any thing else. but anyway i want to know if any one has breed a buttercup roo and a ee hen and if you liked what you got out of it and what color ee hen you used plz this thred has me cereus

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
That is NOT a light olive. Gorgeous!

 

[livin-green]

Okay, ladies. I haven't been on the thread in a long while...been working on my first Olive-eggers. So, forgive me if I'm beating a dead horse here, but the thread is up to 218 pages! WOW!

I hatched 4 chicks last August from my splash Ameraucana roo and FBC Marans hens--2 roos & 2 hens. They are black with gold in the hackles and have pea combs, beards, and lightly feathered legs.

My question is this: What to do with the roos?? I have pure Ameraucana hens, the FBCM hens, other regular brown & white egg layers. What egg colors do you get when you breed a OE roo to any of these?

I'm still learning chicken genetics. Can anyone recommend a site, book, etc., to get the whole rundown of genetics?? I've googled before & never had any luck.

Thanks!

 

[CDennis]

Quote:
Maybe I missed it, how did you get the grey eggs?!?!?! I have heard of a matte purple color before but never something like that simply amazing. My oilve eggers are 2 weeks old....HURRY UP AND GROW!!!!!

 

[halo]

Quote:
I may be wrong here, but if you got black chicks from that cross, than I dont believe your roo is genetically splash. He's probably blue. If he were splash, I would think all those babies would be blue.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
I may be wrong here, but if you got black chicks from that cross, than I dont believe your roo is genetically splash. He's probably blue. If he were splash, I would think all those babies would be blue.

I was thinking the same thing.

As for the olive egger roosters, it's really an unknown what gene's they carry. And since they don't lay eggs, it's harder to tell. I'm working with an olive egger roo, as an experiment, but my offspring aren't laying yet. (they are close though)

 

[Wynette]

I think historical genetic rules are sort of thrown out the window when you cross breed. I could be wrong, but JUST when I think I am sure what will hatch...I get something diffrent (although I am NOT that schooled in genetics, but the basic stuff I have a good handle on).