Nature's Easter Eggs

Though it may seem like brown and white are the only shades of eggshells, there are actually quite a few different colors that chicken eggs come in. Eggs may be all sorts shades of blue from sky to baby; green shades from pale, pale mint to olive; pink to pinkish brown; pinkish purple to dark purplish brown, lavender, and some eggs even have speckles.

This is a frequent question, and while I think it would be cool if the answer was yes, the truth is there's no difference in taste between different colored eggs. All eggs are essentially the same inside, irregardless of what color their shells are. The same things go into the egg , no matter what color eggs the hen lays. The only difference in taste you might discover is that store-bought eggs, which are usually white, taste much different than farm-bought eggs, which are often various colors. This difference in taste is not due to the color of the egg's shell, it's from the difference in diets between caged, factory raised chickens versus free ranging farm chickens. Color-coded, differently-flavored eggs would be tons of fun though :)

Many people have thought that to be healthy, they had to buy the brown eggs at the supermarket. This is nowhere close to true, and is a waste of money if that's the only reason you buy brown eggs. All eggs are essentially the same inside, no matter what color the shell of the egg is. It's often fun to get eggs of a different color, just for something different to look at, but it in no way affects the healthiness of the eggs. The only thing that affects how healthy the eggs are is the hen and her diet. A wide variety of foods, including grass and insects, will result in delicious and healthy eggs, no matter whether they are white, blue, green, brown, or purple.

Some common and not so common chicken breeds that lay brown eggs:

*Australorps
*Barnevelders-some, really dark brown eggs
*Brahmas
*Buckeyes
*Chanteclers
*Cochins
*Cornish-light brown
*Delawares
*Dominiques
*Javas
*Jersey Giants
*Langshans-historically laid very dark, plum-colored eggs
*Marans-some lay dark, chocolately brown eggs
*Naked Necks or Turkens-very light brown eggs
*New Hampshires
*Orpingtons
*Penedesencas-very dark, red-brown eggs
*Plymouth Rocks
*Rhode Island Reds and RI Whites
*Silkies-slightly tinted with tan
*Sussex
*Welsummers-can be dark brown
*Wyandottes

Certain breeds lay certain color eggs. This is not related to feather color, so there can be chickens that are one color and lay a different color egg, such as the Delaware. The Delaware breed of chickens has a White Columbian feather pattern. Since it's white, most people would think it would lay a white egg. That is not the case. Delawares actually lay brown eggs, no matter what color their feathers are. The Minorca breed comes in a couple of colors, but one of the most common is black. Minorcas lay pretty white eggs.

Feather colors do not show what color eggs the chickens will lay, if that was the case there would be blue and green chickens. The best way to know what color eggs will come out of each chicken is to know what breed it is since certain breeds lay certain colors. It is also often possible to see egg will get laid by looking at the pullet's ear lobe, white ear lobes mean the chicken may be a breed that lays white eggs, red ear lobes mean the chicken may be a breed that lays brown eggs. This is not always true, and still leaves the blue and green egg layers out, so it's best to use it as sort of a basis for a guess.

There are several types of chickens that lay white eggs. Not all of them are pure, snow white though, some of them are slightly tinted with brown. Chalky, creamy, pearly, and off-white are all good ways to describe some of those plain white eggs.

*Anconas
*Andalusians
*Appenzellers
*Asils
*Belgian D'Anvers
*Belgian D'Uccles
*Buttercups
*Campines
*Catalanas
*Cubalayas
*Dorkings
*Dutchs
*Faverolles
*Egyptian Fayoumis
*Hamburg
*Holland
*Houdans
*Japanese
*La Fleches
*Lakenvelders
*Leghorns
*Malays
*Minorcas
*Modern Games
*Old English Games
*Orloffs
*Phoenixes
*Polish or Polands
*Rosecombs
*Sebrights
*Spanish White-Faced Blacks
*Sultans
*Sumatrans
*Yokohamas

If you only eat eggs from the supermarket you have most likely only eaten eggs from one chicken breed. That's because most commercial factory farms raise only one breed of chicken, the one breed that out performs all the others in a factory farm, the white leghorn. Almost every single egg eaten in this country comes from white leghorn hens. White leghorns lay hundreds of eggs a year, one almost every single day from the time they start laying, though they do taper off on laying after their first year, which is the reason poultry farms get rid of their chickens then.

So far, I've never seen gold egg laying chickens, but there is a big call for chicken eggs that are different from the factory-farm, bleached-looking white eggs we all see at the supermarket. Family farms are becoming popular once again, as more people realize fresh and healthy food tastes good and is healthier too. Many people, unable to raise their own chickens for eggs, try to find yummy eggs they can buy for their own families, but in some areas this is difficult to do. This, and the sudden, resurgence of popularity in the keeping of chickens, have combined to make some people, who never thought they'd do such a thing, into chicken-farmers. People raising honest and quality chicken eggs can make a bit of extra money off of a fulfilling hobby, and supply their family with fresh henfruit in the bargain. The eggs may not be golden, but blue and green will do.

Green eggs are very interesting. They are actually created by breeding a brown egg laying chicken to a blue egg laying chicken. The colors mix and become green. Some of the prettiest green eggs come from a mixture of the breeds of Ameraucana and Maran.

There are several chicken breeds that lay slightly tinted, colored eggs, but if you see blue or green eggs, there's only three types of chickens that could have come from:

Araucanas
Ameraucanas
Mixed Breed or Easter Eggers

"My chickens lay blue/green eggs, does that mean I have an Araucana or Ameraucana?"

There's always a lot of confusion over the different blue or green egg-laying breeds. Some people think they've got Araucanas, when they really have Ameraucanas. Others think their Easter Eggers are Ameraucanas. It's even more confusing since many feed stores don't even know what they have, so tell people they're buying another breed. Plus, the background of each breed is confused and no one really knows their histories. Luckily for us, the poultry fanciers have come up with criteria for each of the breeds to have before they can be considered Ameraucanas or Araucanas, so we can identify the different breeds.

Araucanas are often called rumpless Araucanas since they have no tails. All they have is a sort of bump for a butt. They also have things called ear tuffs, clumps of feathers by their ears, and the chickens often have a sort of looking-down-their-beaks look. They lay only blue eggs. Araucanas are also fairly rare since they have odd genetics that make a quarter of them die in the shell. You are extremely unlikely to find true Araucanas at a feed store or chick hatchery. If you want this chicken breed, you'll need to find a real Araucana breeder. A good place to do this is a chicken show or an Araucana group.

Ameraucanas are a bit more common than Araucanas. They are becoming popular for breeders to raise since they don't have the lethal gene that Araucanas have, are recognized by the American Poultry Association (so can get shown at chicken shows), and still have pretty colored eggs. Ameraucanas have tails, lay colored-eggs, and have muffs and beards, little clumps of feathers under their chins. They lay blue eggs. They are also rarely sold at feed stores and chick hatcheries, so the best way to get quality Ameraucanas is to get them from Ameraucana breeders.

Easter Eggers are the colored-egg laying chicken that most people have. Easter Egger is basically a nice name for a mutt, or a chicken that has a mix of genetics in it. Since the genes are so dominant, they usually look a lot like Ameraucanas, but will frequently lay non-blue eggs and have slight feature differences such as the wrong comb shape or different colored legs. If your chicken lays green eggs, bluish eggs, pink eggs, or other colors, they are most likely Easter Eggers. Easter Eggers can be just as wonderful as purebred Araucanas and Ameraucanas, but they do not qualify for being show chickens, nor do they always breed true. If you purchased your chickens from a feed store or chick hatchery you most likely have Easter Eggers, mixed breeds with the blue egg gene.

Every chicken lays a slightly different color egg and experienced chicken raisers can often tell which of their chickens laid which egg by the shade, different bumps, and size of the eggs. There is some variation over time as well. New hens, when they just start laying will often have uneven patterns and odd sized eggs, then the color and shape and size will usually even out as she starts laying regularly. When the chicken starts reaching the end of her egg production time or gets stressed, she may lay odd eggs again.

Eggs are colored by the different pigments applied to the shell as they pass through the hen's system. Each type of chicken has evolved through natural or artificial breeding to lay certain color eggs. Each hen of each breed has a different color scheme inside of her which depends on her genetics, and so she will lay certain color eggs according to her breeding. The genetics of egg coloring are very complex and we still don't understand everything about them, so unless the hen is purebred we do not always know what color egg she will lay and even if she is purebred we may not always know the exact shade of color she will lay.