Best breeds for colorful egg basket?

[dofnup]

Ok, so I have finally come to the conclusion that having a colorful egg basket is my #1 priority when choosing chickens. (Temperament and hot weather hardiness come second.)

So far my wish list looks like this:

Easter Eggers
Marans
RIR (or any other standard brown egg layer)
Leghorn

Now ... Are there any other breeds I should be considering? I've read that some breeds lay "cream" or "tinted" eggs ... are these eggs noticeably different than just white? And if so, is there any particular breed anyone would recommend?

I am very much in the research phase of my chicken flock and I have plenty of time to think about this (as you can tell haha)

Thank you so much in advance for any help!!

 

[BeccaOH]

I'm newly into Welsummers. They lay a lovely dark reddish brown egg. The two hens I have are also talkative, which makes them fun.

I sell eggs and like the color variety too. I recently got a red sex link or production breed so I can have a really large brown egg to appeal to the eye and the customer.

Unfortunately I think the EE I bought is dropping a creamy tan egg instead of green or blue. Some day I want a blue layer.

 

[BellLisamo]

hello from tombstone!

 

[dofnup]

Quote:
Hello mrsbell!! ^_^ Someday I hope to visit your fine town, I've been in AZ for 4 years now and still haven't had the chance, geez!!

Becca, I knew about Welsummers but didn't know if their eggs were that different than Marans ... do you know??

 

[Kev]

Yes cream/tinted eggs are plainly distinct from white or brown eggs. If you get a lot of EE, you probably will get a cream/tinted egg layer. If you want to be sure.. just get any 'tinted egg layer'.. turkens(good for hot weather), orps, wyandottes etc

 

[BeccaOH]

I really don't know if Maran and Welsummer eggs are very different. I'm sure someone here knows, though. My 2 Cuckoo Marans are still in the brooder.

 

[rebecca10782]

Well, we have 7 EE's, 3 Marans, a Barred Rock, a Wellsummer, a Turken, and a Buckeye. We get an amazing variety of colors. I had the same goal in mind when choosing breeds and I had no idea that we would get so many varieties of colors. All the EE's lay a different shade of green and a few lay a blue egg. Some of the Marans lay pretty dark eggs and a few lay tan eggs a cream colored eggs

The Barred Rock lays cream colored very oblong shaped eggs

The Wellsummer lays a very very speckeled red brown egg, the Turken lay a beautiful huge creamy brown speckeled egg, and the Buckeye lays a pinkish brown egg. And they are all different sizes too. We have found anything from a quail sized egg to a goose sized egg. It's like Easter morning everytime we go out to the coop

I think all we are really missing is a white egg layer and a true Maran that lays chocolate eggs. I would still love to get a few more EE's that lay a more olive green or purplish eggs. Here a some pictures.

 

[vickie2133]

Those eggs are so pretty. I just got some blueish-green eggs to put in my bator. A friend of mine said a guy at work sells them for 1.00 a dozen at his job, so he got me a doz., I get 2.00 for mine but wanted to add some color. Wish me luck. But those eggs are nice.

 

[dofnup]

OMG rebecca10782, those are GORGEOUS!!

This is exactly what I am shooting for!

I especially love the pink one ... don't think I've ever seen a natural pink egg before ... guess I need to poke around the chickenverse a little more

This gives me hope!! Thanks so much!!

 

[rebecca10782]

I know! We randomly get truely pink eggs. Our Buckeye lays pinkish brown eggs but you can only see the pink when you put it next to a brown egg, but recently we found two very pink eggs. I hope we get them often. When I went to the coop and found the bunch of eggs above, I just had to take some pictures. I was sooo excited when I found them

We always get a rainbow of colors but that day we got a cream colored and a pink. The younger girls had just started to lay, so that was the first cream egg. I have no idea why we get so excited about eggs

It's just amazing once you learn what goes into making eggs! The months and months of waiting for our first. It was so hard to break it open

It is truly a miracle.