Olive Eggers
Olive Eggers are a fun and EGGciting hybrid breed to have in your flock! Olive Egger Hens lay several shades of green/olive tones, hence, their name. They are bred specifically by crossing a dark brown egg laying breed with a blue egg laying breed. In our case, we are cross-breeding our very own Black Copper Marans over our BBS Ameraucanas.
Our particular cross yields either solid blue or black hens, and they can inherit the feathered legs of the Marans breed, and/or those famous fluffy cheeks of the Ameraucana breed.
Now, a very popular question we get is, “What is the difference between an Olive Egger and an Easter Egger?”
The short answer is they are two different crosses (hybrids) that will lay different shades of green.
Both crosses are bred using blue-egg-laying breed hens. But, Easter Eggers are bred using a Rooster of a light-medium brown egg laying breed, while the Olive Eggers are bred using a Rooster from a dark brown egg laying breed. In turn, an Easter Egger cross will yield lighter green eggs and an Olive Egger cross will yield darker green eggs.
So, if you’re looking to add color to your egg basket, then look no further!
In rare cases when crossing breeding, specifically Olive Eggers, some of the offspring may lay a brown egg instead of a green or olive tone. There is no way to tell what color the bird will lay until it does. The specific cross is a proven Olive Egger cross (Black Copper Marans x Ameracaunas), but as with any cross, you will always have a small percentage of the offspring that doesn’t “take,” and this is to be expected.
