Are speckled eggs genetic?

[Coopscraft]

The egg with the dark speckles is a mystery mix from a yearling hen. The one with the white speckles is from a hen that just started this year, although I don’t know which hen it is but I have several hens of several varieties each, but only one laying white speckles. Can I hatch a white speckles egg and get a white speckles egg layer? I think they are cool.

 

[FortCluck]

I'd like to know too. I like the white speckles on that egg. I have a brown layer that lays a brown egg with dark speckles. I just hatched some chicks from her eggs so hopefully I will find out if it's a genetic eventually.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Can be genetic, can also be a defective spray painter in your hen.

[Following excerpt from https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/why_are_chicken_eggs_different_colors ]

All eggs start out white in color; those that are laid in shades other than white have pigments deposited on them as the eggs travel through the hen’s oviduct. The journey through the chicken’s oviduct takes approximately 26 hours. The shell takes roughly 20 hour to be complete. Ameraucana birds have the pigment oocyanin deposited on the egg as it travels through the oviduct. This pigment permeates the egg shell resulting in the interior and exterior of the egg being the same blue color. Chickens that lay brown tinted eggs deposit the pigment protoporphyrin on the eggs late in the process of forming the shell. The pigment therefore does not penetrate the interior of the egg, but tints only the surface of the egg, which is why brown eggs are white on the interior. In the case of an Olive Egger, a brown pigment overlays a blue egg shell resulting in a green egg. The darker the brown pigment the more olive color of the resulting egg.