The Olive Egger - Could This Be The Breed For You

About 4 years ago we decided to do an experiment here on the farm, I had heard of crossing chicken breeds to get different egg colors and found it fascinating.  So we decided to cross the Ameraucana with the Black Copper Marans.   One breed being a blue egg layer and the other a dark chocolate egg layer.   Finding out what your end product will be is a very long process since it takes a chicken any where from 6 to 8 months or longer to produce that first egg.  So the waiting began....
I had seen green eggs before and thought them to be beautiful but wasn't sure what to expect of the cross we had produced.  You can obtain different shades of green depending on the breed you are crossing.  A lighter brown egg layer will give you a lighter shade of green, a darker brown egg layer gives you a darker green.
I must say when we finally got our first egg from our cross breed it was magnificent!  It was one of the most impressive eggs I've ever seen.  It wasn't a pale washed out green, it was a deep Olive green.

I shared with you  a couple of weeks ago about the Ameraucana and how the blue egg layer colors the egg all the way through, the inside of the shell is the same as the outside.  Well the Olive Egger colors the egg blue and a puts a brown over lay on the outside, and brown over blue makes a beautiful green. When you crack the egg open the inside is blue.  It's really pretty amazing.  It's difficult to see in this photo with the lighting.


The Olive Egger  can take on the characteristics of the Ameraucana or the Black Copper Marans or both.  Some will have feathered legs like the Marans some do not.  Some will have coppering on the heads.  Others have the puffy cheeks like the Ameraucana.   We have blue or black Olive Eggers. This black hen has slight coppering on her head.
The Olive Egger is a very good layer of a large egg. I think they are better egg producers than the Black Copper Marans.  This most likely is simply because it is a cross breed.   They can be slow to mature like the Ameraucanas.

 I think the Blue Olive Eggers are just beautiful, she has some very nice puffy cheeks.  The Olives here on the farm are a skittish more stand offish bird than a lot of the other breeds.  I said this a couple weeks ago about the Ameraucanas also.  Although once again I don't hear this from my customers.  They always tell me they are the sweetest bird they have and absolutely love them.

If your looking for amazing egg color, look no farther than the Olive Egger. 

Now you can have green eggs and ham.

Have a Great Day!

Angie