Blue eggs

[halo]

Im not sure where this post belongs. Do hens lay the color egg that they were when they were eggs? If I were looking for some chicks that would grow up into layers of blue eggs, which direction would I go? Is there any line of araucana or americana that lays blue, or is the color pretty random?

 

[speckledhen]

All true Ameraucanas are supposed to lay eggs in the blue color family, however some lines lay bluer eggs than others. Easter Eggers can lay any color and Araucanas are supposed to lay blue, period ( I think, right, Jody?).
My Ameraucanas lay noticably bluer eggs than the eggs they came from.

 

[hinkjc]

Yes, the US standard of perfection states araucana should lay blue eggs. Although for many reasons, that is not realistic depending on where your stock comes from. Breeders strive to bring only the bluest eggs forward in their breeding, but there are many where green is the best accomplishment so far. I know in the history of araucana, the quetro (tufted/tailed) laid a brown egg and the colonca (clean faced/rumpless) laid a blue egg. Breeding these two birds is what created our standard, the tufted rumpless chicken. Seems to me that the US standard set breeders up to fail from the start, which is one of the things that makes this breed so difficult. In my current pens, my blacks lay the best blue eggs and my whites are primarily green. My other colored hens (blue, splash, duckwing and bbr) all range in various shades of blue to green. It is very difficult to improve the eggs when a lot of focus is on improving the look of this breed; plumage, body type and so many other features like the tuft shapes and rumplessness and back length.

As for the young ones laying a better color..that is possible, altho it's a tough call because the pullet egg color will change over time and always tend to look more vibrant and darker initially. I have ameraucana pullets laying and their eggs are a beautiful deep shade of blue,where the hens lay a light sky blue. The pullets eggs will lighten up, but I am hoping for continued improvement on the blue shade.

For your question halo: a pullet that hatches out of a blue egg is guaranteed one blue egg gene (from mom) but what color egg she lays is also dependent on what gene daddy contributed to the mix. If he has a blue gene, she will lay blue.

Jody

 

[halo]

Thanks, Jody, you are a wealth of information.

I love this site.

 

[pips&peeps]

For your question halo: a pullet that hatches out of a blue egg is guaranteed one blue egg gene (from mom) but what color egg she lays is also dependent on what gene daddy contributed to the mix. If he has a blue gene, she will lay blue.

What she said.....

Jean