Egg color

[Somshine]

Okay so I've done a lot of reading on egg color. It does get confusing lol. So I plan on hatching some chicks next spring for the first time. I've always just had hens and I finally got a rooster. My hens are of a variety of very Americana looking blue Easter eggers and a mix of olive eggers. I know they are all mixed breeds but most of them I don't know what breeds are mixed in. Due to the way they look I guess you could guess. But I do know my rooster is a mix between a French black copper marin and a "pure" blue Amerucana. I know nobody can really tell me what I'm going to get because of all the breeds mixed in. But assuming he is an Olive egger the mix of all these different chickens give me possibilities of all colors right? Having brown in my boy will not 100% of the time make my possibly blue chicks green will it? Only plan on hatching small batches for people who want them in their backyard so I will not be mass-producing. I just fell in love with him but no matter what I read I'm having a hard time assuring that blue egg layers are still a possibility. Being the mix he is means he could be a brown or blue producer too and not just an olive egger? Again, I know nobody can tell me what colored layers I'm going to get mixing him with my mutts. But with this mix all colors are still possible right?

 

[My Bagurks]

Yes. You have a possibility of many different colors. If you hatched 4 chicks, each one can end up laying a different color. Hopefully with green/blue in both of the parents, you’ll have a higher chance of getting green/blue eggs.

Good luck.

 

[Somshine]

Abraham 11 weeks

 

[My Bagurks]

He’s gorgeous. I’m jealous. I was hoping for some broodies this year, but it didn’t happen. I desperately want more Easter eggers.

 

[My Bagurks]

Each chick will play the genetic lottery for egg color. With all of the mixes, you have a possibility of brown to green and everything in between. I wouldn’t guarantee anyone a specific egg color. But you can definitely tell them that they CAN lay most egg colors. I have 3 Easter eggers that are sisters. Two lay green/blue. But I can tell them apart. One is much bluer and lighter, one is more toward olive green. And the third lays light brown.

Keep in mind each chicken will only lay one color. Color will vary slightly from egg to egg but a hen that lays blue will always lay blue.

 

[My Bagurks]

Well there you have it. Each chicken couple gives each chick a possibility of all of their egg colors. You’ll have a very pretty egg carton regardless.

 

[My Bagurks]

My flock split into mini flocks when free ranging. I use to have a rooster that brought his girls up to the house every day. They would dust bathe under the porch and we even had one lady that laid eggs on my wife’s favorite chair. I loved it except for the chicken poop on the porch.

 

[Somshine]

Oh thank you so much! From what I read I felt like all colors were a possibility. But then a few things made me question that. But that's really all I was going for is that the chicks have a possibility of producing all colors!

 

[Somshine]

Also, so what you're saying is if I narrowed it down to just my rooster and one hen her offspring will not always lay the same color? As in every single chick from every single hen can be different?

 

[Somshine]

I have a couple of friends that wanted me to make them some chicks. But I didn't want to tell them anything is a possibility color-wise if that wasn't true.