Olive Eggers!

Who wouldn't want to open their carton of eggs and see a rainbow of colors? Blue, brown, dark brown, green, white and more! One of our goals here at our little homestead is to have beautifully colored eggs. I'm currently down to only one Easter Egger hen and she lays a pretty blue-green egg, when she actually lays. The rest of my girls lay nice, light brown eggs. The chicks I have in the brooder will lay light brown and white eggs. I'm super excited to have more eggs being laid come Summer but, I need more color! Enter, my project chickies. :-)

I have just ordered 4 Blue (true) Ameraucanas and 4 Blue Copper Marans! Ameraucanas lay blue eggs and Marans lay dark brown. They will be so lovely! My hope is that I will get a nice, Blue Ameraucana rooster so that he can pass the blue egg gene onto my Marans, thus creating Olive Eggers. The Olive Egger hens should lay lovely, olive green eggs. I could also breed the same rooster to a lighter brown egg-laying hen and get Easter Egger hens, which can lay blue, green and sometimes even pink eggs. I'm so excited about this little breeding experiment. (And I have no idea what I'm doing so, lots of research happening!)

On top of the beautiful eggs these new hens will lay, by buying the "blue" breed of both the Ameraucanas and Marans, they will also produce blue, black and splash colored chickens. Should be beautiful! Here are some examples of these colors:

Black Copper Maran

Splash Maran. (From http://www.maranschickenclubusa.com/)

Blue Copper Maran (What I've ordered)

Blue Ameraucana (Hopefully I'll get a roo like this)

Black Ameraucana Hen

Splash Ameraucana (Whitmore Farm)

I just love the splash color. There's a bit of science that goes into all of this and I know I have a lot to learn. For a basic breakdown of what breeds what, I found this chart on northwoodspoultry.com:

Blue x Blue = 50% Blue / 25% Black / 25% Splash 

Blue x Splash = 50% Blue / 50% Splash 

Blue x Black = 50% Blue / 50% Black 

Splash x Black = 100% Blue 

Black x Black = 100% Black 

Splash x Splash = 100% Splash

As you can see, the reason I ordered the blue variety is because you get the most color change possibilities. After the first few hatches, you can do more color selection for what you want and begin to shape your flock for bird color, egg color and, most importantly, health, egg quality and temperament. It's a lot to think about but, I'm excited for the challenge. Anyone else have any breeding projects going or any tips to pass on to me?

Goals.

Do you believe in setting goals? Writing them down?

I'm kind of a list person. If I don't write it down, I don't remember it. That's why I'm a terrible gift-giver. I never remember what people want! Oh well. Looks like everyone's getting a dozen eggs for their birthdays from now on anyway. Haha. Kidding!

Since being here on our little "homestead", I've felt mildly out of control. Like I have no clear direction. There are SO many projects that need doing and things that need buying and our time and money are tight right now so, things are kinda just getting done as we can afford them or as needed, which isn't really the most organized way to do things. For instance, we currently have 24 quail that we decided to buy on impulse (remember, no. clear. direction.) in a brooder and they will need to be outside in about 2 weeks or less. Do we have a quail pen? No. So, we have to make one. We're using an old goat pen and lining the goat fence with 3/4in hex fencing so the quail can't escape. They're so small! This project is costing a good bit more than we thought it would... this shouldn't surprise us. We have to get it done, though, because soon the quail will have to leave the brooder for a new home. This is an example of a project that now gets bumped to the top of the list that wasn't even on the list when we moved here in December. Other things, perhaps more important things, have to get moved down the list (as if there really was a list) as a result. We need to organize and strategize. I'm happy to have our quail but, no more unplanned animals! I believe that if we are to be successful in our endeavors here, we need to plan, plan, plan.

     The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, 

but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. 

Proverbs 21:5

I don't know about you but, I don't want to be that second guy.

So, what should our list really look like? I'm not sure but, here are what I think might be the top 5:

1. Fix the faulty pipes in the basement. *Potentially* catastrophic if we don't.

2. Install the new windows. They are sitting in the living room.

3. Start the seeds as soon as they get here! Which means, we need to get/make some seed starting flats ASAP.

4. Mend the pasture fence and ready the stall for a spring calf (or two). We already bought the fence.

5. Get on the delivery list for Countryside Organics. (Organic, soy-free layer feed + quail feed)

If I wanted to continue...

6. Have the chimney swept and caulk the top where it's cracked.

7. Set-up a temporary run by the coop for the pullets until they're big enough to put in with our other hens.

8. Build a chicken tractor/pen for my project birds. (Olive Eggers!! More on that later.)

9. Finish and SELL the Airstream! (This should really be in the top 5.)

10. Paint more rooms in the house.

Well, there's 10. I'm sure I could keep on going and going but, we've gotta start somewhere! I also have to be a wife to my hard working husband and a mother to my very active 3 year old. That's enough to keep me busy all by itself! Thankfully, he loves to "help" with everything and is just as excited about farming as we are.   :-)

What are some of your goals for this year?