How can you tell an Easter Egger from an Olive Egger? What is the difference? What do their feathers and egg colors look like? Here’s an in-depth guide on each of these colored egg laying hybrids as we compare Olive Eggers vs. Easter Eggers:
Olive Egger vs Easter Egger
Olive Eggers and Easter Eggers are both hybrids (mixed breed) chickens who are bred to be colored egg layers. What color they lay is the difference between these two birds. The breeder’s intent is the deciding factor. Is she attempting to create pastel egg laying Easter Eggers or dark, mossy green laying Olive Eggers? Here’s how to tell these two hybrids apart:
Egg Color
Egg color is usually the easiest way to determine if your hen is an Olive Egger or an Easter Egger. Olive Eggers are first created by crossing a blue egg laying chicken with a dark brown egg laying chicken. The first generation, called Filial 1 or F1 for short, generally lays a light olive or sage green egg. It is more herby colored and may have more yellowish undertones than soft green or aqua bluey-green Easter Egger eggs.
Olive Egger Eggs are Darker
Olive Egger breeding has very specific labels as the generations progress and the eggs hopefully become darker and more richly toned. Some Olive Egger hens will fail to inherit a blue egg gene needed to lay an olive green egg and will instead lay a brown egg. We call these “Failed” Olive Eggers because it helps to identify the hybrid (Olive Egger), even though she lays a brown egg similar to many barnyard mixes.
Easter Egger Eggs are Lighter
Easter Egger breeding goals tend to head in the opposite direction, with bright colors, pastel tones, and heavy bloom pink eggs being very desirable! Dark brown egg genes are NOT bred into Easter Egger lines. Instead, many breeders use roosters carrying 1 or 2 dominant blue egg genes to ensure they produce lots of blue and green egg laying offspring. While it is possible to get an Easter Egger who lays a brown egg, it is generally light linted and more of a cream color, called “peach”.
Is this Green Egg Olive or Easter Egger?
Some Easter Egger hens lay a light olive egg that looks very similar to the eggs laid by F1 Olive Egger hens. Olive tones are a bit rare among Easter Eggers but I have had two Americana chicks purchased from Hoover’s hatchery lay light olive tones. If you have a hen who lays a light olive or sage egg and you’re not sure if she’s an Easter Egger or Olive Egger, here are some additional ways you can identify the hen:
Olive Egger Feathered Legs & Feather Colors
Because Marans, with their dark chocolate eggs, are often used to create Olive Eggers, their dominant Extended Black (E) feather genes are also inherited by the offspring. One copy of this gene turns the bird black. It can be diluted to blue (gray) by one copy of the Blue dilute (Bl) gene or diluted to Splash by two copies of the Blue dilute gene (Bl/Bl). Olive eggers also tend to inherit feathered legs (shanks) from their Marans ancestry, even if their legs or toes are only lightly feathered. If you have a hen who is solid black, blue, or splash with any feathering on the legs or toes who lays an olive or light olive green egg, she is almost certainly an Olive Egger. She may have a muff and beard (be fluffy faced) or clean faced. Both are common among Olive Eggers. Olive Eggers can and do come in any feather color but a majority of flocks have black, blue, or splash feathering with wild type brown or Wheaten also being fairly common.
Easter Egger Feather Colors & Appearance
Easter Eggers can come in any and every feather color. An Easter Egger is created when you attempt to breed for a colored egg layer. Crossing a blue egg laying breed with any other chicken will produce an “Easter Egger” because the chance of the offspring laying a colored (blue or green) egg is present. Easter Eggers often have ancestry that can include Ameraucana, Americana, Whiting True Blue, Crested Cream Legbar, and/or Prairie Bluebell Egger. All of these breeds and hybrids have clean shanks (no feathers on the legs) so their offspring will also be clean legged. If you have a hen who lays a light green, sage or light olive egg and has clean legs and toes (no feathers on the legs), it is likely that she is an Easter Egger. If your hen has clean legs that are willow (greenish) or slate (blueish) colored, she is also likely to be an Easter Egger.
Clean Legged Olive Eggers Do Exist
It is possible to have clean legged Olive Egger hens. I have bred them before. It is important to try to get information about the birds you are buying so you know whether they are Easter Eggers or Olive Eggers. It is not always easy to tell just from a hen’s appearance or by egg color alone. Some Olive Egger hens are back-crossed to a blue egg laying rooster to create offspring who will lay spearmint tones. These birds could be called either Back-crossed Olive Eggers, Spearmint Eggers, or Easter Eggers. (See how confusing this can get?!!) Asking questions about the bird’s ancestry is much more helpful than trying to guess later on what a hen may be. Especially if you plan to breed her or you want to breed more hens like her.
What if the Egg is Speckled?
Speckled Olive Eggers are popular. Their beautiful speckling comes from Marans and/or Welsummer ancestry. If your hen lays a green egg with speckles, chances are she’s an Olive Egger! Speckled Easter Eggers are a very rare breeding project and while they do exist, they are not widely available to the public yet.
More Olive Egger vs. Easter Egger Pictures:
What if I Can’t Figure it Out?
Since dark, mossy shades are the most preferred egg color from Olive Egger hens, if you have a hen laying a very light green egg with mystery ancestry, it is probably best to assume that she is an Easter Egger. You can breed any green egg layer to a Marans rooster from a dark egg line if you would like to darken the egg shades her offspring lays towards a more Spanish Olive color. Our Breeding for Dark Olive Eggs breeding guide can walk you through exactly how to do this!
You’ll Love a Mix of Both!
If you’re on the fence about getting Olive Eggers vs. Easter Eggers, get both! You’ll love the mix of soft pastel and rich earth tones together in your egg basket.
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