Australorp laying super dark eggs - pics!

[TinyBirds]

I have an Australorp laying super dark eggs (I know they're dark since we've had Australorps before and these eggs are much darker). I have a picture included of the Australorp eggs (bottom row in incubator) compared to the very best of the Welsummer Eggs we bought for hatching (from 2 breeders, minus 6 lighter-colored speckled eggs). The picture looks much lighter than the eggs do in person, since I used the flash up close (like 1 ft away) when taking the photo.
Is this normal? Does anyone else have an Australorp that lays really dark eggs? Maybe it's just because she is young, and they'll be lighter later. I just thought it was cool.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

I only have 1 australorp, and she lays darker eggs than my wyandottes, and they are speckled on the end!

 

[5 spoiled hens]

I also have one Austrolorp, her eggs are a little lighter than these, but speckled with some days red splotches and some day white splotches. We think she is lacking lubrication because she runs and "yells" and jumps up on everything and then will finally plop her egg out wherever she is at the moment. She hardly ever uses the nest box. Sometimes I think about putting her out of her misery, but I know I'm not sure that I could. I try giving her Olive oil hoping that will help.

 

[charmedbychickens]

My australorps lay beautiful smooth eggs the color of dark terracotta. I actually hatched out some of their eggs with my black copper maran roo. I bet they are going to lay as dark eggs as my maran. I have eleven breeds and they by far lay the darkest eggs, not counting the marans.

 

[fasbendera]

I only have one but she lays a very dark egg. I love to put one in each dozen that we sell or give to our friends.

 

[TinyBirds]

Wow! I'm so glad I posted this question. Thanks so much to everyone that responded! I'm so happy to know there are lots of Australorps laying a dark egg. I almost like them MORE than the welsummer eggs since they don't have any speckles (though my daughter does prefer the speckled ones). They look really pretty in the egg carton when we sell them. I hope some babies hatch out of the eggs I put in the incubator, so I can have more of the Australorps. I have 6 Australorp hens right now, and some of them haven't started laying yet, so hopefully some of those will also be dark eggs too. The only other one I know is laying, has a slightly lighter egg than the ones in the photo, but still much darker than our buff-orpington eggs.
Thanks again for the responses!
Jenny

 

[ghulst]

With feather sexing bred into most hatchery stoch the egg color has suffered. Sex-linked bred comercial lay the darkest eggs. Many time matching the dark egg bred birds.

 

[TinyBirds]

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I'm sorry to hear about your hen that is in pain. Sometimes I wonder if egg-laying is painful even for the hens that don't have much trouble laying. If you decide to put her out of her misery, I would recommend a small hand gun. We got one just for that purpose and used it once already. Compared to our experiences with other methods (cutting head off or the cone-method), I think the gun was the least painful for the bird. It didn't even flap. It took two shots (one just behind the eye) and just died instantly. If you wait until it's dark out, the bird will stand still usually and you can get it from close up (like 10 ft away). We have a big property though so I know that's not an available option for many people, due to neighbors, etc.
Also, I read in an old chicken book that people used to give their birds some alcohol first also, so they can get drunk before being killed. That probably makes it easier for them too. Some books also recommend hitting the head with a board to knock them unconsious also, but that isn't easy to do without them running away (tried that once too).
Sorry for being so graphic, but I really care a lot about minimizing animal-suffering, so I've read a lot about it and tried various methods.

 

[nmantime]

I have found that adding Black Oil sunflower seeds to my birds feed mix really helped with the egglaying. I had a EE that had this problem and the Black Oil sunflower seeds helped out after a while. I now just keep it in the mix for all my layers. You don't need to add a lot just so they all can peck and eat some.
Norm in N.CA

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[TinyBirds]

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That is so great to learn. Thanks so much for sharing it.