Are egg colors/speckles supposed to vary?

[The Rinaest Rina]

These are the eggs I've gotten for the past week or few days.

I have two started pullets of unknown breeds (one might be a mix with sapphire gem,) and several pullets that should start laying in just a few days. I wouldn't put it past them to start a little early- and that darkest, speckled one is a bit on the small side. But I digress.

I thought that one hen layed a tan egg and the other layed a darker brown, speckled egg. This is evidently not a solid fact! Sometimes they're speckled, sometimes not.
Is this normal for a hen's egg colors or speckling to vary? Or do I have some sneaky early pullets? Is it parasites/some exotic disease?

 

[Ridgerunner]

It is not parasites. It is not a disease, whether mundane or exotic. It is just something that happens.

You probably have at least three different ones laying.

 

[OLDRanch]

what a beautiful basket of eggs. I would say three hens too.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I had a golden Cuckoo Maran who laid speckled eggs and while they were always speckled it was sometimes more or less. I agree you have three laying

 

[rosemarythyme]

Slight color variation, size variation, speckling/not speckling is all possible from one bird. Egg shape and overall color are the usual indicators of whether or not an egg was laid by one bird or another, but obviously if you have a bunch of brown egglayers it may be tough to distinguish eggs from one another.

As far as speckles themselves they're just pigment (dark) or calcium (light). Harmless and some folks really like the look so some breeds/hybrids are bred for it.

 

[The Rinaest Rina]

Four hens now!

I'll be able to tell them apart now, haha!

Thanks all for your information. Egg colors are so fascinating I'm not disappointed.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I have a BCM (Blue Copper Marans) and she lays a fairly dark egg... most of the time, lol! Sometimes only the lower (pointy) half of her egg is really dark. Sometimes it's speckled, but usually not. I can always tell it's hers bc hers is the only "chocolate" egg I get. But I am often surprised at the variation in it, especially now that she is over 3 years old.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Always had variation in color and specks over the yrs, even from the same bird, never something I gave much thought to, just a natural occurrence.

 

[Finchbreeder]

Our kids look like each other but not identical - so it would seem logical that the same will happen with chicken eggs.

 

[NatJ]

Our kids look like each other but not identical - so it would seem logical that the same will happen with chicken eggs.

It's not quite the same.

Each human child has different genes than their brother or sister (obvious exception for identical twins.) The closest comparison for chickens would be the chicks that hatch from the eggs, and yes those definitely can look different from each other.

But the genes of the chick inside have no effect on the outside of the egg when it is laid. The hen's body makes the size, shape, and color of the shell. So no, it really is not logical to compare eggshells to human children.