Olive Eggers are quickly becoming as popular as Easter Eggers. We adore their earthy colored eggs! There is a definite trend among backyard keepers who now want to add more feather color variety. Buyers are on the hunt for splash feathered chicks who will lay a unique, dark olive egg. Here is how to breed beautiful splash feathered olive egger chickens yourself:
Breed Splash Feathered Olive Egger Chicks & Chickens
Many Olive Egger breeding flocks are black feathered. Offspring usually inherits the dominant black pigment genes from the Black Copper Marans roosters who father them. But backyard keepers seem to be getting tired of all-black birds. Breeders who have noticed this are already pivoting and trying to offer different feather colors, including the always-popular Splash!
Feather Dilution Genes in Chickens
Chickens can carry a “blue” gene, abbreviated Bl, that is a feather color diluting gene. When a single copy of the blue dilute gene is present, black pigments in chicken feathers are diluted to a shade of gray. The gray tone can range from dark charcoal to a lighter ash gray. It is not limited to specific chicken breed – the blue dilute (Bl) gene is found across many purebreds and hybrids.
What Makes Some Birds Charcoal and Some Birds Lighter Gray?
The blue dilute gene is autosomal incompletely dominant. Autosomal means it is a “regular” chromosome, not a sex chromosome, so the blue dilute gene (Bl) can occur in males and females. Incompletely dominant means if a single copy is inherited, it is expressed but it can also appear in conjunction with other feather colors or patterns because it is incompletely dominant. It is the incompletely dominant blue dilute gene that causes the slight variations in how blue (gray) a chicken’s feathers appear. It is also the gene behind breeds like Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and Splash Laced Red Wyandottes where red feather genes are not diluted by the incompletely dominant blue dilute gene. Only black feather pigmentation is diluted by the blue dilute gene (Bl).
The Genetics of Splash Feathering
What happens if a chicken inherits TWO copies of the blue dilution gene? The chicken is splash feathered! This means she is mostly white with “splashes” of black feathers here and there.
Heterozygous Blue vs Homozygous Splash Feather Genetics
Here is how the blue dilute genes work:
Heterozygous (Blue Feathered): The bird carries one blue dilute gene (Bl) and one non-dilute black feather pigment gene (bl+) and is Blue (gray) feathered (Bl/bl+)
Homozygous (Splash Feathered): The bird carries two copies of the blue dilute gene (Bl) and is white feathered with “splashes” of black feathers (Bl/Bl)
Black Feathered: The bird does not carry any dilution genes (bl+/bl+) and has black feather pigment
Note: The presence of blue dilute (Bl) and absence of it (bl+) is what these genes indicate. This is separate from other black feather color genes, such as Extended black (E), but blue dilute (Bl) will dilute Extended black (E).
The BBS Abbreviation
You may have seen BBS or B/B/S chicks offered for sale. This abbreviation stands for Blue, Black, Splash. It usually means that blue, black and maybe splash feathered individuals are all in a breeding pen together. Because of this, offspring are able to hatch in one of those three colors: blue, black or splash.
Where Can I Buy Splash Chicks?
If you’re wanting to buy splash chicks, there are a few hatcheries who offer Splash Ameraucanas, Blue Splash Ameraucanas (blue egg layers), Splash Marans and Blue Splash Marans. Hatchery Marans are not expected to be dark brown egg layers. As of this writing no hatcheries are offering Splash Olive Eggers but Ideal Poultry does offer Blue feathered Olive Egger chicks (the egg color they lay is not shown by the hatchery).
How Can I Breed Splash Chickens?
Splash chicks, which are homozygous Bl/Bl, can be bred by crossing blue (Bl) hens and blue (Bl) roosters together. This crossing is expected to produce 50% blue offspring and 25% splash offspring but there is also a chance of 25% black offspring.
Breeding Splash Roosters to Splash Hens
If you breed splash roosters to splash hens, you get 100% splash offspring. This sounds like fantastic news! But there is a catch: Breeding splash to splash repeatedly for more than one generation begins to produce predominantly white chickens with very few “splashes” of black feathers. The splashing tends to fade if you breed splash to splash for too long. This may not be a big deal in olive egger breeding, since highly varied feather color is often wanted, but you should be aware of the tendency.
Getting the Best Splash Coloring
It is believed that breeding splash x blue, which produces an expected 50% splash offspring, is the best way to keep the “splashes” of feathers dark and attractive in appearance.
What Happens if You Breed Splash to Black or Barred Birds?
Splash x Black produces 100% blue feathered offspring. Crossing a Barred feathered rooster to a Splash hen produces 100% blue barred birds and all chicks will hatch with head spots. A Splash rooster crossed to a barred hen produces blue barred males and solid blue females (a type of sex-link; only the males will hatch with a head spot).
How Do I Breed Splash Olive Eggers?
Splash chicks can hatch any time you cross a Blue feathered rooster to Blue feathered hens. To make olive eggers you simply need to cross blue feathered individuals who also lay the correct egg color to make olive eggers. For example, a Blue Copper Marans rooster crossed to a blue Whiting True Blue hen will produce blue, black and splash offspring. A Blue Olive Egger Rooster crossed to a Blue Olive Egger Hen will produce blue, black and splash offspring.
Blue Copper Marans, Blue purebred Ameraucanas, Blue Whiting True Blues, Blue Olive Eggers and Blue Speckled Olive Eggers are some of the birds most often used to create splash feathered olive eggers.
Can I Breed Splash to Splash with Olive Eggers?
Yes, you can! You need to be aware that breeding splash to splash will eventually dilute the splashes of feathers seen in offspring and birds will feather out almost solid white. But buyers may find nearly white birds appealing in their olive egger flocks – it just depends on personal preference!
Should I Keep a Blue or a Splash Roo?
If you love splash birds with a vivid smattering of black, polka dot-like feathers against bright white feathers, you should consider keeping a blue rooster and breeding him to mostly blue hens. The 25% splash offspring they produce are expected to be attractively feathered. The same blue rooster crossed to splash hens will produce 50% blue and 50% splash offspring that are also expected to be nicely splashed.
Do Splash Feathered Olive Eggers Lay Lighter Colored Eggs?
The blue dilute (Bl) gene is not tied to egg color. When Splash Olive Eggers lay light olive eggs the reason could be impatience. The breeder may have wanted to breed for splash feathered chicks as fast as possible, because they sell for more, and selected for feather color instead of working on dark tint overlays. Another reason could be that the rooster used passed on lighter tint genes than anticipated and it was not known until his offspring were laying.
How Do I Breed *DARK Speckled* Olive Laying Splash Olive Eggers?
If you want to breed dark and/or speckled dark olive eggers who are splash feathered, that is a more advanced breeding project. You will need to select for dark tint overlays, blue egg genes, and feather color. If you want Splash feathered, Dark Speckled Olive Eggers, you’ll also need to select for a fourth variable: speckling. If you want bearded hens, that is a fifth trait you must also select for. Heavy blooms would be a sixth trait. This is no easy feat! It takes a couple years of breeding but it can be done! I’ve got an in-depth PDF breeding guide that outlines every step, from beginning to end, of how to breed dark speckled olive eggers in a splash feather color in my shop:
Hatching Egg & Chick Buyers:
It is difficult to find splash chicks who hatch from DARK olive eggs. Splash feathered speckled dark olive egger chicks are even more rare. Anticipate paying $18+ per straight run chick. You can breed your own splash feathered olive eggers in one year if you cross blue (gray) chicks who hatch from dark speckled eggs together. It is always your responsibility to track which chick hatches from what shell if you want that information. It is not possible for breeders to do this for you in huge cabinet incubators if you are buying chicks. You will have the best breeding results if you hatch and track your own chicks!
Splash Olive Egger Chickens Are Possible!
I hope this article has given you some exciting ideas when it comes to breeding your own splash feathered olive eggers. Hatcheries are not yet offering dark olive layers in splash feathering, nor are they offering speckled olive eggers in splash feathering. Both of those must be purchased from independent breeders or bred yourself. It is a fun and rewarding breeding project if you decide to undertake it!
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