The Olive-Egger thread!

[flgardengirl]

I ended up with 2 little leprechaun OE babies last night. 3 more OE pips this morning.

My first Olive egger egg was a lighter green than the following ones which were deeper olive.

 

[Wynette]

NEATO on the leprechaun babies! WOOT! Pics?

 

[flgardengirl]

I will try and get some up later. I have the incubator in our bedroom and dh is sleeping in there because he works nights LOL! Hope he can sleep with CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP going on in the bator hehe.

 

[livin-green]

Quote:
Ha! Too funny! We were recently in the same boat! Luckily the cheaping was on Saturday, so it wasn't crucial he got really good sleep.

 

[Wynette]

sleep while hatching is overrated.

 

[livin-green]

Quote:
CONGRATS on that first eggie! With mine, they seem to start a bit darker and then lighten up a bit. They also lighten as the hen ages. I had one that laid eggs that looked like what it sounds you are describing; I ended up breeding her to a blue egg line of Ameraucana just to see what the offspring laid (they haven't begun laying yet). It's so much fun experimenting in this way!

Thanks! I'm going out to take some egg pics shortly and I'll post so you can tell me what you guys think. I don't know if the color will change much or if breeding her back to the Ameraucana roo will do any good. Unfortunately, I don't have a Marans roo--only Ameraucana and an OE roo. I do have plans to pick up some Marans hatching eggs the end of April...such a long wait....

 

[2txmedics]

Hello?....still learning chickens after 2yrs....

Can someone tell me what kind of hen or roo I need to get to get grn army eggs? does it have to be both of the same kind or just one like the hen or the roo?

 

[livin-green]

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You need a blue egg layer, which to be guaranteed should be either an Ameraucana or Araucana, and a dark brown egg layer. When I say dark brown, I mean the ones that people call "chocolate" eggs--Marans, Welsummer, or Penedesenca, to name the most common. You could possibly use a mix chicken like an EE (Easter-egger) or an OE (Olive-egger), but the genes getting passed to offspring from these chickens are not as guaranteed because they are already a mix. Hope that makes sense.

Do keep in mind that nothing is 100% guaranteed because you're trying to manipulate genes to get what you want--there's lots of factors involved! My first OE egg isn't anything like what I expected.

Now, I will have to either change up my original combination or breed my OE hen back to one or the other to improve the egg color.

 

[2txmedics]

I have a blue splash Marans roo and I do have EE's that lay green and blue eggs. Would that work? I know its always a chance but Im wondering if this combination would work....

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

 

[livin-green]

Quote:
Since the EEs are hens and you know they are laying blue & green, it is my understanding that you would be "good to go". If it were the roo that was the EE, then it would be just a shot in the dark since there's now way to tell what egg color genes he has, except for DNA testing or actual test breeding.

However, I'm still learning, too, so if some of the more experienced members with better understanding of the genetics wants to chime in here, that would be great!