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Author Topic: Olive Eggers  (Read 21325 times)

Offline Natalie

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Olive Eggers
« on: January 21, 2009, 01:43:39 pm »
Has anyone else here raised any olive eggers. I have some easter eggers and mine lay a green egg, I also have some black copper marans that lay what is referred to as the chocolate egg because they are so dark.
If you haven't seen a marans egg you should look them up, they are the darkest coppery brown or at least a good one should be.
Anyway, I have been told that when you breed the two of them you get a dark green, or olive colored egg.
I have seen a couple of pictures of them online before and its a pretty cool color.
The reason I ask this is that I saw one of my 4 month old black copper roos doing the deed with my easter egger hen so even though I have absolutely sworn off incubating for a long time I am thinking I will toss her eggs in the bator, if she ever gets out of the darn nestbox and see if I can get myself some olive eggers.
Just wondering if anyone else has done this and if it all worked out. There is no telling for sure how successful you will be or what you will get.
Keeping my fingers crossed though.
I found a picture of some eggs to show you what I am talking about.
The real dark one is the copper marans egg and it also shows the olive egg among some others.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=49598

She has been in there for at least an hour already and I keep going out to check so it doesn't freeze on me.

Offline poka-bee

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2009, 03:00:36 pm »
OOOh Natalie, those will be beautiful!  What a great experiment!  You will have to keep us posted!  I'm looking to get some marans or welsummers for the dark egg color. People love getting different colored eggs. Hopefully can find someone around here who has some pullets or hens cause I don't really need 25 for the minimum order from the hatchery.  May have to bite the bullet & order anyways hoping someone else around here wants some!  J
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Offline reinbeau

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2009, 04:06:06 pm »
Hey, Natalie, you know I want a colorful egg basket - I may have to rescind my vow to not learn how to incubate chicks, there's a guy on BYC who is going to offer Blue Copper Marans and true Araucuna eggs this spring.....colorful is getting closer and closer!  Some Welsummers, too?  Poor Greg is going to need to put an addition on the coop!  :lau:

Offline Natalie

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2009, 07:25:05 pm »
Oh Ann you know I will hook you up. I tell ya, I usually don't get so excited to see my hens getting some action but I was this morning when I saw it was the marans and the easteregger.
That guy with the blue coppers, is he the one importing them from england?
I have been keeping my eye on that thread. He took a little heat from the marans club a while back for his endeavor so he stopped posting about it on that forum and now bev is helping him out.
I will get some blue coppers but I am weighing my options. I have a guy who is going to sell me some wheaton marans, they are very pretty too, kind of look like welsummers.
I almost bought some welsummers a few months ago but at the same time I was offered the marans so I jumped on those.
Now here I said I was all done raising babies for the winter, me and my big mouth spouting off that there will be no more chicks living in brooders in my house and here I go.
BUT, I think it will be worth it to get the olive eggers.
Ann will get her colorful egg basket yet!!

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2009, 08:30:20 pm »
I used to have quite a assortment of colors of eggs.  From white, to pink, to yellow to green to blue.  But I had an assortment of chickens too. 
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Offline Natalie

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2009, 08:50:33 pm »
I think it is so interesting that there are so many colors of eggs. I guess before you have chickens you just assume its the basic brown and white because thats all the stores sell.
And the size range, mine are all different sizes and colors, they look really cool in those clear plastic cartons.
The thing is you do need a wide variety of chickens to get that wide variety of eggs. Right now I have over a dozen different breeds and some of those breeds I have in a couple of different colors and they all have something really cool about them. I am pretty partial to the blue chickens, blue orpingtons, blue cochins, bluelaced red wyandottes etc. So pretty.I even have some of those lawn ornaments that are just good for a laugh, the silkies, sizzles and frizzles. It takes about 3 of their eggs to make one normal size one, but they are very sweet little things, I actually got them for the kids but I fell in love with them.
So Michael, do you still have any chickens?

Offline Irwin

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2009, 09:00:53 pm »
Hey is that red egg for real :?
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Offline Natalie

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2009, 09:10:51 pm »
Yeah, isn't that cool?!  They are from a Black Copper Maran, the chicken itself is mostly black with copper coloring on their heads, neck and back.
I have ten of them right now and they lay very dark brownish coppery tone eggs. Some have more red than others, so you can get an egg that looks almost black and then you can get one that is real copper.
They also have a wide range where they will be heavily speckled with brown over copper and vice versa.
The coloring on the eggshells can actually be scraped off with your fingernail.
They were imported a few years ago from France and they are still relatively hard to get here unless you want to spend $100.00 for 12 eggs to incubate.
I saw a dozen chicks go on e-bay for $465.00 a couple of months ago.
While I do love the marans breed anyways because they are very sweet tempered, and I love those dark eggs, I certainly would not spend that kind of money on them.
However, lucky for me I worked out a real nice deal with this guy and I got them for an extremely low amount.
He is the one that sells them on e-bay. He had a list of people he was selling to on the byc forum for the cheap price and then he made his money by selling the on e-bay and eggbid.
The chicken breed I am talking about is the same one that I had mate with my easter egger hen today so I am hoping for the olive colored eggs next.
Its just fun to try and see how many colors you can get. I am hoping to offer my customers a variety at the market this summer. People love it when they see all the different colors in one egg carton.

Offline Natalie

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2009, 09:23:40 pm »
Here is a couple of more links that will show some more of the marans eggs, they have a wide variety of colors and serious breeders have to compare their eggs to the egg chart in order to qualify for as a true marans.
I am not a serious breeder so I hope to get any of those eggs.

http://www.bevsmarans.com/TRUE%20Marans.htm

http://marans-club.club.fr/echllang.htm#echelle

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2009, 10:57:24 pm »
Talking about all this chickens, particularly the Marans, and it makes me wonder what ever happened to Angi.
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Offline reinbeau

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #10 on: January 22, 2009, 08:58:27 am »
That's true, Brian, I've often wondered what happened to her, too.  I saw her a few times on that other bee site, but she's also missing from BYC, too, and she was posting there quite a bit. 

Offline Cindi

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #11 on: January 22, 2009, 12:45:11 pm »
Brian, Ann, I am going to try to solve a mystery here, as I have often wondered what happened to Angi too.  I have her e-mail address, so I am going to e-mail her and tell her we miss her.  If I don't hear back, I do so hope that her life is OK.

Oh, all this speaking of the different chicks that everyone wants, it makes my heart long.  I can't do anything but downsize my chicken stock a bit until we move to our new place, whereever that may be.  I can't get more.  Sad, but that is life.  Have a wonderful and awesome day, attract and keep great health.  Cindi
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #12 on: January 22, 2009, 07:41:17 pm »
>So Michael, do you still have any chickens?

The chickens went wild and I couldn't keep them in the chicken yard anymore.  Something, I used to think coyotes, but now I'm begining to suspect the Great Horned Owl pair that lives here, has been thinning them until I'm finally down to one ten year old Aracana Hen.  I'm waiting for her to die of old age so I can fix up the chicken yard and see if I can't keep them where whatever is eating them can't get to.  :)

But yes, I've had chickens about the same stretch of time I've had bees except I had to give up the chickens for a few short stints in the city while the bees I could always keep somewhere.  Now I'm out in the country and would like to have them free range, but I'm afraid to keep them alive I'll have to keep them in the chicken yard and the coop.


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Offline Jerrymac

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2009, 09:18:16 pm »
Way back when it was still legal to fight chickens.... yes I did some of that. Didn't feel bad either as all our (my buddy and mine) rooster won every fight.  :-D

Anyway..... You have to keep these guys tied to a stake in the ground. Give them their own little coop and all because they would fight all the time. This other chicken fighter had an owl swoop in, grab a rooster, and took off with it pulling the leg off that was tied to the ground. The leg was all that was left. You have to wonder at the power in those owl's wings.
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Offline Natalie

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2009, 12:12:54 am »
Yeah, its tough with the predators. Our biggest thread in my area is the hawks.
I lost one of my favorites this summer and I was working right in the yard.
They are very brazen, they swoop right down over your. I had one that swooped over my head, within a few feet and went up to the tree, then did it again and again. He was after my chickens who were free ranging out in the yard, I tried to scare him off but they don't have any fear.

Offline Irwin

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #15 on: January 23, 2009, 11:25:20 am »
Yeah, its tough with the predators. Our biggest thread in my area is the hawks.
I lost one of my favorites this summer and I was working right in the yard.
They are very brazen, they swoop right down over your. I had one that swooped over my head, within a few feet and went up to the tree, then did it again and again. He was after my chickens who were free ranging out in the yard, I tried to scare him off but they don't have any fear.

Then just shoot the hawk :evil:
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Offline Jerrymac

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #16 on: January 23, 2009, 01:42:32 pm »
There are hawks out here soaring around everyday. Don't pay any attention to the chickens but you always see them diving for mice.
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Offline Shawn

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #17 on: January 23, 2009, 02:15:24 pm »
Not sure what to say about the hawks. Here at the gamebird farm the hawks and owls are bad. 4 red strobe light, kind of like the one you would put on the back of the bicycle, was put up on a telephone pole. It seems that night killing of the birds from the owls as droped dramatically. The hawks are a different story. The only Hawks that really cause a problem are the Coopers Hawk. They love bombing the nets, breaking through, and taking their fill of the quail. They are stuck in the pins but I perfer to let them go, try to help keep donw on the mice. Red tail hawks and Kestrel Hawks are no problem. I do know Hawks and Owls are mortal enemies so if you like one over the other than protect the one so they can keep the others away.

Offline Jerrymac

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #18 on: January 23, 2009, 03:48:07 pm »
I do know Hawks and Owls are mortal enemies so if you like one over the other than protect the one so they can keep the others away.

Since hawks are daytime predators and Owls are nighttime predators, I guess they don't run unto each other much.
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Offline reinbeau

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Re: Olive Eggers
« Reply #19 on: January 23, 2009, 06:51:13 pm »
Yeah, its tough with the predators. Our biggest thread in my area is the hawks.
I lost one of my favorites this summer and I was working right in the yard.
They are very brazen, they swoop right down over your. I had one that swooped over my head, within a few feet and went up to the tree, then did it again and again. He was after my chickens who were free ranging out in the yard, I tried to scare him off but they don't have any fear.

Then just shoot the hawk :evil:
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