The Olive-Egger thread!

[qball53]

Either way will produce OEs, as long as you are crossing pure breed birds. If you are breeding with a pure Ameraucana & pure Marans, then the parent birds will have two blue egg genes and white egg genes w\ dark brown egg modifiers, respectively. The offspring from this mating will get one blue egg gene from the Amer. parent and one white egg gene w\ dark brown egg modifiers from the Marans parent. This will produce an egg in a shade of olive green.

Breeding OE to OE is the crap-shoot. Because each OE would be carring one of each gene and the offspring could end up with two blue egg genes or two white egg w\ dark brown modifier genes.

Hope that isn't too confusing!

Thanks for this information it makes sense to me. I had asked a while ago if olive eggers bred together would produce olive eggers and was told yes they would. However this makes more sense to me. Thanks, Mike

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
There are people that have breed these to each other and are breeding true. You can breed Olive Eggers to Olive Eggers, but as with the first mating you will have to wait and see what you get. Olive Eggers are a crap shoot to begin with. You may get some brown layers, some green and some blue and if you are lucky you will get a nice Olive Egg. You can use EE to make Olive Eggers too. You just have to pick the ones with the pea combs for the best results.

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

if u use the pendent(sp?) square then 50% of the chicks should be an olive color egg 25% should be blue egg and 25% should be brown eggs... but in practice the olive color tends to be all over the place and it tends to be more washed out or lighter olive than the nice dark olive from an F1...

Thanks for this information it makes sense to me. I had asked a while ago if olive eggers bred together would produce olive eggers and was told yes they would. However this makes more sense to me. Thanks, Mike

 

[livin-green]

Yes, the Punnett square will show you exactly what you can get.

Pure Ameraucana carry two blue egg genes: O/O (this blue egg gene is dominant)
Pure Marans carry two white egg genes: o+/o+ , as well as dominant brown egg shell alleles & dominant modifiers to make the brown very dark.

The OE offspring (O/o+ ) means a blue egg since that gene is dominant, but the dominant brown egg shell allele creates a brown coating over the blue which makes it appear green. The dominant modifier also makes that same brown coating very dark which creates a darker green, or olive, shade of color.

Now, when you breed an OE to an OE you get:

This gives you a 50 % chance of another OE, a 25% chance of a blue layer, & a 25% chance of a white layer. But don’t forget to add the dominant brown egg allele & dominant modifier. This means all the offspring get the allele & modifier from both parents, and your 2nd gen. OEs should have a very dark olive. The blue layers should also be a shade of olive, and the white layers will actually be a darker brown.

Personal breeding results: I crossed a first gen. OE to a brown egg layer and got a layer of a nice coppery brown egg. The same OE to a Leghorn produced a very light olive layer (the white genes from the Leghorn essentially lighten the egg color).

Edited to correct spelling error

 

[livin-green]

Forgot to include this link: http://marans.org/eggreview.pdf

It's awesome at explaining how all the egg color genes work!

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

now that's how its done thanks

Yes, the Punnett square will show you exactly what you can get.

Pure Ameraucana carry two blue egg genes: O/O (this blue egg gene is dominant)
Pure Marans carry two white egg genes: o+/o+ , as well as dominant brown egg shell alleles & dominant modifiers to make the brown very dark.

The OE offspring (O/o+ ) means a blue egg since that gene is dominant, but the dominant brown egg shell allele creates a brown coating over the blue which makes it appear green. The dominant modifier also makes that same brown coating very dark which creates a darker green, or olive, shade of color.

Now, when you breed an OE to an OE you get:

This gives you a 50 % chance of another OE, a 25% chance of a blue layer, & a 25% chance of a white layer. But don’t forget to add the dominant brown egg allele & dominant modifier. This means all the offspring get the allele & modifier from both parents, and your 2nd gen. OEs should have a very dark olive. The blue layers should also be a shade of olive, and the white layers will actually be a darker brown.

Personal breeding results: I crossed a first gen. OE to a brown egg layer and got a layer of a nice coppery brown egg. The same OE to a Leghorn produced a very light olive layer (the white genes from the Leghorn essentially lighten the egg color).

Edited to correct spelling error

 

[carrotsbme]

I want olive eggs! I need to get them soon for open house. My children attend Lakewood school, and I created a unit to teach about chickens, the hatching process, and eggs, color/size. I need an olive egg for our May 17th open house display.I wouldn't mind hatching a couple either! How soon could I meet you to pick up 6-10 fresh eggs?

 

[Illia]

I've got Olive Egger hatching eggs if you're interested, but they'd be shipped most likely. Few people leave nearby me

Did someone earlier mention OE x OE gives chances of white egg carriers? Where's this information coming from? Far as I've always known no blue nor dark brown layer, true to type, carries the genes for white eggs. In fact I've even crossed white layers to dark brown layers and it royally messes up egg color. First gen is typical brown if not light brown, second gen back to dark layers are varying from light brown to modest dark brown. Not great but not terrible, probably Welsummer color. Not saying one is wrong, just saying, I haven't seen such happen. Haven't heard of white laying OE's either.

 

[carrotsbme]

Thank you but there is someone less than 30 miles I thought I was PMing when I was just posting. Figured it out hopefully they will contact. If not you'll hear from me.

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

i don't know that much about it but here is what i have read... there is only 2 colors of egg shell white and blue... if u look on the inside of the shell u can see this... then there is modifier gene's that coat the out side of the shell with brown... 2 kinds the 1st is the normal brown egg color that does not wash off and then the dark brown (like some of the Marans) that will wash off...

i think that was what they where trying to say...

I've got Olive Egger hatching eggs if you're interested, but they'd be shipped most likely. Few people leave nearby me

Did someone earlier mention OE x OE gives chances of white egg carriers? Where's this information coming from? Far as I've always known no blue nor dark brown layer, true to type, carries the genes for white eggs. In fact I've even crossed white layers to dark brown layers and it royally messes up egg color. First gen is typical brown if not light brown, second gen back to dark layers are varying from light brown to modest dark brown. Not great but not terrible, probably Welsummer color. Not saying one is wrong, just saying, I haven't seen such happen. Haven't heard of white laying OE's either.