What makes Flower Feather Farm Olive Eggers Special?
I am particularly proud of my Olive Egger pen. What makes my Olivers special? The birds I chose to start the flock with. Often, Olivers are a cross between Black Copper Marans and Ameraucanas. The black in the Black Copper Marans is dominant, so the flock is usually black and — to my eyes — boring.
My roosters were crosses between Cream Legbars for interesting feathering and the blue egg gene, and Gold Creole Marans for more interesting feathering and the brown egg gene. Getting these birds in and hatching the eggs and raising them up and choosing whom to keep was 2020’s project. Those chicks are now the roosters in my current pen.
The ladies were easier, as they are either Splash BBS Ameraucanas or Whiting True Blues, all of which lay a blue egg. I chose the Whiting True Blues as they have pretty feathers and because their eggs have a nice gloss which I like. The Splash Ameraucanas contribute the floofy cheeks and the snuggly disposition.
The off-spring of these original pairings are just now coming in to lay and I get such a nice range of green eggs and the flock itself is gorgeous.
Upcoming Olive Egger Hatch Dates
“Hey, I purchased Olive Egger hatching eggs from you and the eggs you gave me are blue?! What’s up with that?” or “Hey, I purchased Olive Egger chicks from you and they grew up and are laying brown or blue eggs. What’s up with that?”
”Thank you for asking. It’s complicated.”
A Wheaten Olive Egger is a hybrid of Wheaten/Blue Wheaten/Splash Ameraucanas and Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Marans who will lay lovely medium to large olive eggs, often with speckles. The birds are lovely and sweet, and can have with muffs, or beards, or feathery legs, or all three!
This is the fun part of curating an Olive Egger Flock: selecting the prettiest eggs to hatch and then selecting the prettiest grow-outs to keep for next year’s flock refresh. Right now I have an Olive Egger Rooster and a Welsummer Rooster (dark brown eggs with spots) covering Bright Blue Egger Hens and Olive Egger Hens.
What makes my Olivers special? The birds I chose to start the flock with.
Olive-colored eggs that is. Today I found this in the nesting box . . .
Olivers eggs lay in all the shades of green, from minty to khaki. And the birds are just as pretty as the eggs!
My friend Kristy sent me this pic of an Olive Egger egg with a blue inside — isn’t it gorgeous? Even better, I was able to order some hatching eggs.