EGGS!!!!

[Ridgerunner]

That's the perfect answer, genetics.

 

[canesisters]

...suspect there was a visitor to the mama hen's coop...?

 

[ducks4you]

I was reading that it has to do with blood that creates a brown color and the inside of the brown egg is white, but the inside of the blue/green/olive egg is blue, which I can attest to. There was even an old post on BYC about finding a black chicken egg that turned out to be a hoax. Don't keep ducks, but some ducks I guess DO lay a black egg. Those black chickens that I posted the link on earlier lay cream colored eggs. Go figure.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The hen recycles dead red blood cells to make the coloring, either brown or blue. Red blood cells are wearing out and dying all the time and constantly being replaced so there is no shortage of raw material for the coloring. I think there are catalysts she needs to do the brown so the brown can get lighter the longer she lays, she stores up that catalyst when she is molting and stops laying. But the blue never changes. I've had hens that start out laying a fairly dark egg right after a molt consistently lay a pretty light egg just before they molt. It gradually gets lighter all year.

Green is just brown laid on top of the blue. The shade of the brown or green they lay when they start that laying cycle is determined by genetics. Some start out pretty light, some start out darker.

 

[ninnymary]

Ridge, this is true about the eggs getting lighter. I had a Welsummer that would lay nice dark eggs early spring. By fall, the eggs to my disappointment were much lighter.

Mary

 

[catjac1975]

Hijack Alert !
We have 4 Iowa Blue chickens. All the same age. They have been laying 2 - 4 eggs a day. I just collected four. Here they are: View attachment 18216
My question is why are they all different shades of brown? They are all on the same feed.

I can only guess that they are mongrel chickens.

 

[Carol Dee]

I can only guess that they are mongrel chickens.

Mongrel chickens??

 

[Nyboy]

Mix breed chickens

 

[Carol Dee]

@catjac1975 and @Nyboy
They are not mix breeds or mongrels, they are Iowa Blue
https://milligansganderhillfarm.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/iowa-blue-chickens/

 

[catjac1975]

@catjac1975 and @Nyboy
They are not mix breeds or mongrels, they are Iowa Blue
https://milligansganderhillfarm.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/iowa-blue-chickens/

I did not know this could happen. Dark chocolate brown eggs lighten over time because the color comes from a coating that disappears with age.