Best Olive egger cross

[jarcoo0153]

I have several roosters, and I am trying to figure out what cross would get me the most attractive Olive egger. I would like a pretty big bird, that has attractive or unusual feathering, that lays a large olive egg. I would also like to get several shades of olive coloring too. The list below is the possibility crosses.

What is your suggestion?

RIR X Gold Duckwing EE
White Rock X Gold Duckwing EE
Buff Brahma X Gold Duckwing EE
Buff Orpington X Gold Duckwing EE
White Faced Black Spanish X Gold Duckwing EE
White Naked Neck X Gold Duckwing EE
Barred Rock X Gold Duckwing EE
Cuckoo Maran X Gold Duckwing EE
White Silkie X Gold Duckwing EE

Plus what would I get If I crossed:
Exchequer Leghorn X Gold Duckwing EE

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

The only real possibility is your Cuckoo Marans rooster, since you need a dark egg layer (Marans, Welsummer, Penedesenca) crossed with a blue/green layer (EE, Ameraucana, Araucana).

Even good Cuckoo Marans aren't super dark in their eggs, so unless yours came from especially dark stock, you can expect a lighter green egg.

 

[Illia]

The only actual "Olive Egger" crossing in there is the Cuckoo Marans x Easter Egger, but really, it's gotta have me ask - Are you sure your Cuckoo Marans comes from decent lines? A lot of hatchery Cuckoos lay just as brown of an egg as any other brown layer, which would make for normal green egg laying offspring. Other than that - The feather color would be simply barred, perhaps with some gold leakage.

Real Olive Eggers, like in those gorgeous photos you see now and then, come from dark egg laying Marans (usually Black Coppers) and good ol' true Ameraucanas, that way the blue of the egg allows for a much more "green" tone, and the dark reddish brown allows for the richness in the "Olive" color.

 

[jarcoo0153]

So what kind of eggs do you get with a standard brown layer?

 

[Illia]

Crossed with an Easter Egger? Green. Well, green or brown. If your EE lays green eggs already, chances are it and another brown egg layer will just give brown eggs. If she's a blue egg layer, you'll get standard green eggs.

 

[txcarl1258]

If you just wanted some olive eggers than there is someone who sells their hatching eggs on Ebay. I would think crossing a brown layer with an EE would give you more of a chance for plain old brown egg layers. Since most EEs already have brown egg layers in their background you might increase the chances of getting brown eggs. I have two EEs who lay the ugliest eggs I have ever seen. They are a puke green color! Luckily they are sweet girls so I just use their eggs for my own personal uses instead of giving them to my friends and family.

 

[coq au vin]

Quote:
An interestingly-colored pullet who lays eggs a bit more pale than her mother.

And some cockerels too small to bother with anything but making broth.

 

[jarcoo0153]

O.K.
Thanks for the help. My Chickens have to work for their keep. So my plan is to sell the majority of my eggs at the farmer's market, and I would like to get a variety of shades and colors of eggs. I think people would find this more attractive. I wish someone could come up with an egg color calculator like the one for feather color! It would helpme out alot!
Thanks for all yalls help!
Jared

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Quick egg color reference:

Green x Blue - green, blue, inbetween
Green x Brown - brown, maaybe some green
Blue x Brown - green
Green x Dark Brown - olive green
Blue x Dark Brown - olive green
Brown x White - pale brown
White x Green - pale green
White x Blue - pale blue
White x Dark Brown - light brown, sometimes speckled
Brown x Dark Brown - brown, sometimes speckled

 

[coq au vin]

Quote:
It's way too complicated for that. Most Olive Eggers don't start getting impressive until the B1 generation (the F1 pullets crossed back to the Marans...you need to keep stacking those dark egg genes, they're much more complicated than just "one copy, two copies").

Some people get lucky and get an F1 pullet that lays nice, dark olive eggs, but that's not the norm.