Mocha Egger (Straight Run)

Talking Points Of The Breed:

• Origin: Opry Hill Farms, LLC
• Broodiness: Moderate
• Meat production: Moderate
• Cold tolerance: Excellent. About 75% will have pea combs.
• Heat tolerance: Excellent
• Predator evasion: Exceptional ~ Roosters will gallantly protect their flock but are docile with their human counterparts
• Foraging ability: Exceptional ~ If given the opportunity to forge in the spring though fall, they will seek out most of their food sources
• Noise level: Low-Moderate
• Hen Size: 4-6 Pounds
• Rooster Size: 7-9 Pounds
• Egg color: A dark olive egg that appears more brown than green.  We have been breeding for speckles and camouflage variations. About 1/3 of eggs laid have this propensity.
• Egg size: Medium
• Age of lay: 5-6 months
• Egg laying ability: Excellent
• Eggs/year: 200+
• Temperment: These birds will naturally be friendly and docile with the roosters being alert and protective but respecting their humans. Additionally we breed only birds that are the friendliest of the flock, hen and rooster combined. They do well in confinement or in a free range situation.

These birds started from our foundation flock of Moss Eggers. We have slowly tested our flock to find out which birds are homozygous for the blue egg gene. This has opened up endless possibilities for us in how we are able to breed our color layers. We have taken our homozygous roosters and have paired them with Black Copper and Black Silver Marans. These combos have given up beautiful dark colored eggs that appear more chocolate in appearance than olive. Since we know our boys carry two copies of the blue egg gene, we can also know that the offspring will lay dark olive and they will have one copy of the blue egg gene.  I have landed on the name Mocha Egger for this reason even though genetically speaking they are a Back Cross first generation Olive Egger. The Moss Eggers themselves are a multi generational olive egger we have been working on since 2020 so the whole breeding pen has been a beautiful work in the making. To learn more about our Moss Eggers, please view their listing in our storefront.