Can a chicken lay a random speckled egg?

AmieD

Chirping
Jul 19, 2016
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Hi, I have NH Reds, a RIR, Dominiques, and White Leghorns all laying. Today, we found a pretty speckled egg. It was unlike anything we've yet collected. I was wondering if one of the brown layers could have produced a random speckled egg or if it is more likely that one of my younger girls laid her first egg. It seems to be large for a first egg. I have some 19 week-old girls (Welsummer, Australorp, Cukoo Marans, Easter Eggers, and a couple of Olive Eggers that are a Marans/Ameraucana mix. I have seen a few checking out the nesting boxes, but no squatting yet. I welcome your comments. Do chickens produce random speckled eggs? Thanks!
 
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It does happen. My RIR will lay dark brown at the beginning of the season and than they become more speckled as the season goes on, you will see it in other dark egg laying breeds like welsummer and barnevelder. So my guess would be your RIR laid it.
 
It's probably not my RIR. She lays almost daily, and in a different nesting box. I imagine it is more likely a NHR. They move around a little more. Thanks for the feedback!
 
I've had this happen with my Black Australorps. My only brown egg layers are SLW and BA. It can be difficult to tell their eggs apart sometimes, and both are hatchery stock from the feedstore, so no guarantees that they are purebred.
 
I've had this happen with my Black Australorps. My only brown egg layers are SLW and BA. It can be difficult to tell their eggs apart sometimes, and both are hatchery stock from the feedstore, so no guarantees that they are purebred.
Humm... I did get my NH Reds, Dominiques, and White Leghorns from a local farm supply store. I hadn't considered that they may not be purebred. They actually sold the NH Reds as RIRs, but once I a got a RIR from a breeder, it was clear that they were not the same breed and it did not take long to identify them as NH Reds. Thanks!
 
No problem. It's not to say that they aren't purebred. I just know that some of the hatcheries producing large quantities of chicks for feed/farm & garden stores can easily get a hen in the wrong pen and cross-bred. Some are better than others. Plus, not breeding to a breed standard may have allowed a gene for the speckling to show up? Just guessing there.
Anyhow,it didn't bother me a bit. I think they are pretty. I like the variation in the egg basket, so I was like "bonus"!
 
It could be any one of the brown egg layers... the brown coating is put on last right before the bloom... think of it like a paint sprayer... just as it can get low on paint (like the lightening of the brown on Marans eggs as they reach the end of their laying cycle), so can it get clogged causing small globs of paint to spit out instead of an even coat... thus the darker spots as opposed to a lighter brown, even color... :)
 
Humm... I did get my NH Reds, Dominiques, and White Leghorns from a local farm supply store. I hadn't considered that they may not be purebred. They actually sold the NH Reds as RIRs, but once I a got a RIR from a breeder, it was clear that they were not the same breed and it did not take long to identify them as NH Reds. Thanks!
You'll find that a lot of hatchery RIR are washed out in color, and NHR is actually bred from RIR (unless I'm mistaken) so the difference between the 2 is really blurred. Some breeders are working on bringing RIR back to the old time standard when they (IMO) used to be a good bird. Nice dark mahogany color, good layers, and even tempered.

It could be any one of the brown egg layers... the brown coating is put on last right before the bloom... think of it like a paint sprayer... just as it can get low on paint (like the lightening of the brown on Marans eggs as they reach the end of their laying cycle), so can it get clogged causing small globs of paint to spit out instead of an even coat... thus the darker spots as opposed to a lighter brown, even color...
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Excellent analogy. I was thinking along the same lines for explanation. I have an EE who lays a beautiful olive egg with lots of speckles. Hers are consistently speckled. Occasionally a brown one will show up with random speckles. Love the varied egg basket.
 

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