Marans are the most popular dark brown laying breed used when it comes to making olive eggs. But what about using not-quite-as-dark but beautifully speckled Welsummers? In 2021 I began a breeding project using Welsummers to see if I could breed speckled olive eggers in the first generation. It worked and my egg basket exploded with gorgeous, freckled eggs! I’ll share pictures and my “recipes” for using Welsummers to breed stunning olive eggs.
Using Welsummers to Breed Olive Eggs
I am a sucker for a unique egg basket. I adore wildly freckled eggs that look like exotic bird eggs, where people barely believe they could have been laid by a chicken. Opening a carton of carefully curated colored eggs is a rich visual experience that reminds me of an artist’s fresh new paint palette. They seem to invite culinary creativity in the kitchen and I swear they make baking more fun. So let’s get to work with our Welly’s!
The Path to Fast Speckling?
It is known that heavily speckled Marans lines will give you the longest lasting speckling, generation after generation, but sometimes you want visible speckling on your eggs and you want it now! And not just a little. You want those big, bold polka dots that Welsummers seem to do so well.
Heaviest Speckled Welsummer Lines
In my first ever order of chicks were two Welsummer pullets from Hoover’s Hatchery. One of them, named Cinnamon, laid the craziest red splattered eggs I had ever seen. She became the star of our Weird Egg page as people just loved her wacky shells. I soon discovered that Hoover’s Hatchery seemed to have remarkable speckling in their Welsummer line. Every pullet I received laid a heavily speckled egg and one laid a dark terra cotta egg with a heavy bloom that was also polka dotted!
Welsummer Breeding Begins
The year my Welsummer hen “Cinnamon” turned two, I decided to see if her erratic patterning would show up in her offspring. My Welsummer Olive Egger project began when I crossed her and her hatchmate sister to a Whiting True Blue rooster. The resulting offspring laid BEAUTIFUL speckled olive eggs and even better, each hen was laying a slightly different shade of green. Most were olivey, one was herb toned and one was light sage with brown speckles. It was hard to believe two hens and the same roo had produced such varied laying offspring but they had. The inter-workings of their genetics was fascinating.
The Whiting x Welsummer Cross
I’ve got an entire page dedicated to this cross alone because it produces speckled laying offspring in the first generation. The eggs are incredibly attractive and you can begin selling expensive speckled hatching eggs as soon as the F1 pullets are laying eggs large enough to hatch. (I suggest breeding the F1 speckled olive eggers to a Welsummer roo or Speckled Olive Egger roo to increase the speckling in the second generation.)
Welsummer Olive Eggers
Speckling is caused by the egg turning more slowly in the hen’s shell gland, which deposits an uneven, “freckled” color. This slow turning seems to be best inherited from the father and is believed to be strongest if inherited from both the mother and the father. Using a Welsummer rooster to create olive eggers may produce richer speckling than only using Welsummer hens. If using a Welly roo, breed him to homozygous blue laying hens so you get guaranteed olive laying offspring. This gives you F1 Speckled Olive Egger roosters who will be carrying a blue egg gene that you can use in your breeding project going forward. The most incredible colors usually come from crossing Olive Egger hens to Olive Egger roos so do not be too quick to get rid of your males!
Marans vs. Welsummer: What is the Difference?
When using Marans in your speckled olive egger breeding, the speckling tends to be evenly sized and the shells are more thickly covered in freckles. Welsummers generally provide larger polka dot spots. You can use this image as a guide to help you determine what birds are going to help you achieve your breeding goals.
Project Pictures
My Welsummer Olive Egger breeding project is currently ongoing with only the first generation laying. I know visitors just want to see egg pictures so I’ll update this page periodically with examples of what is coming from the nest box and images of Welsummer cross chicks! If you’d like to try this breeding project for yourself, my Welsummers all came directly from Hoover’s Hatchery and my original flock of Whiting True Blues came from Murray McMurray Hatchery.
The white egg display shown in several of my images is made by Henlay (affiliate link) and the white dough bowl came from a local antique store but ones just like it can be found on Etsy!
Meagan Goodman says
I am absolutely LOVING your articles on breeding chickens for different colored eggs. They are so we’ll written, easy to understand and the pictures are beautiful!!! Your eggs are absolute eye candy. 😍 I read that you are doing this breeding project for 4-H??? Amazing! Is it a self determined project or are you doing it through a chicken project book? My daughter would love to do something similar. If you have any info on how to pursue such a project through 4-H I’d appreciate the info. Keep up the good work!
Tay Silver says
Hi Meagan!
Yes, we are breeding colored egg layers as a self-determined project! Your 4-H’er will need a registered adult volunteer to mentor/sponsor her (you can register online for $10) and you’ll need to follow your state’s Self-Determined project outline. In our county 4-H kids can pay for a display table at the fair where they can show off special projects that may not fall into any of the other competitive categories. I hope this helps launch your breeding adventure!
kaitlyn Hagenbuch says
I looove your Welsummer eggs! It seems that Hoover doesn’t sell them anymore and I can’t accommodate their minimums anyway… do you know anywhere else that sells Welsummer chicks that have such large spots? I’d love to buy some!
Tay Silver says
Hi Kaitlyn!
Tractor Supply receives a large number of their chicks from Hoover’s and sells sexed Welsummer pullets in the spring. You will probably have to do some calling and driving to find them at a TSC in your area but it would be the best way to add a few of Hoover’s Welsummers to your flock!
Donna Weekes says
Hi Kaitlyn,
I have welsummers that I just started breeding.
I’m trying to get started with speckled olive egger breeding.
I have 3 hens, is it normal that they don’t lay a speckled egg all the time?
I’m finding it hit and miss. They lay a darker brown generally but once in a while a speckled egg gets laid in there somewhere.
I’m trying to hatch out and keep the chicks that hatch from the few specked I get.
Is that the best thing to do to try and get speckles?
Thanks in advance,
Donna
Andrew says
Would crossing Marans and Welsummer for a heavily speckled darker egg and then using the offspring to start an OE project work?
It’s something I have been turning over in my mind for some time.
Thanks
Tay Silver says
Hi Andrew!
Welsummers tend to lay an egg that is lighter in background shade than Marans, with speckling that is splotchy or polka-dotted. I would fear the Welsummer genetics would actually dilute the Maran’s tint and speckling, producing a barnyard mix that may not be very good for breeding dark or speckled olive eggers. I would use a Marans roo who came from a heavily speckled egg line to start an OE breeding project.
Cassie Green says
What type of Maran was used to breed the speckled eggs shown? Dark Copper Maran? Cuckoo Maran?
Tay Silver says
I first used a Blue Copper Marans rooster to breed speckled olive eggers. I have also used a Black Copper Marans roo for back-crossing. The dark Marans egg in the image of all 4 eggs together was laid by a Black Copper Marans hen purchased from Clucks and Waddles Homestead. The speckled olive egg was fathered by a Blue Copper Marans rooster. Welsummer hens were used to breed the other speckled eggs.
bob price says
sir, with your welsumer line what would you expect from a cross with a pure delaware hen that is from a strain that produces a light tan to flesh colored eggs in regards to speckling. 80 % speckling ?
Tay Silver says
Hi Bob!
When crossing Welsummers to a Delaware or other tinted egg breed with no speckling, you are going to significantly diminish speckling. Around 50% of the offspring might inherit speckling if the Welsummer had heavy speckling. I have not done a cross like this but would be interested to hear what your results were!