Breeds with Shiny Eggs?

[Chickhick]

Please share with me which breeds typically lay shiny eggs. I'm thinking Euskal Oiloa (Basque) and Marans, but are there others? Also, some Marans eggs are matte, so are there particular lines that tend to be shiny?

I've decided that I really like shiny eggs better, so I'm looking into my options if that is my main criterion.

Thanks!

 

[3riverschick]

Please share with me which breeds typically lay shiny eggs. I'm thinking Euskal Oiloa (Basque) and Marans, but are there others? Also, some Marans eggs are matte, so are there particular lines that tend to be shiny?

I've decided that I really like shiny eggs better, so I'm looking into my options if that is my main criterion.

Thanks!

Shiny? Well there is a "bloom" that is on freshly paid eggs which could be called "shiny". It dissappears as the egg ages and egg takes on a matte appearance. Perhaps someonelse can also speak to this.
Karen in western PA, USA.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

If you want really shiny eggs...you want tinamou!

 

[CluckyCharms]

If you want really shiny eggs...you want tinamou!

A tinamou isn't a chicken - thought they wanted chickens? But then again, they didn't *say* chickens only. lol I wonder what Tinamou eggs taste like. ?

 

[Chickhick]

I've found some bloom to be matte, almost powdery, and some to leave the egg shiny even when dry. I know some breeds have already been selected (either purposefully or not,) for the shiny eggs. That is what I am wondering: if there are other breeds that tend to lay the shiny ones.

I looked up tinamou and WOW!!!

Those are some gorgeous eggs! Does anyone raise them, or are they just wild birds? Maybe tinamou can be raised like quail or guineas.

 

[chickenbusiness]

Our Copper Maran chicks lay the shiny dark egg. They have been laying for 3 mths. We really tripled up on protein including putting eggs into their diet since our older chicks are moulting. We read where this would help them in the moult since it is hard on them. I have noticed that the Buff Brahama chicks are beginning to be shiny also.

 

[Chickhick]

I have BC Marans hatching eggs coming this week -- I hope they are shiny!
I'll also have to try the extra protein to see if it effects the shininess. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Preciouslooks]

My golden sex link started laying very beautiful tiny eggs at 4 months. I wash her eggs with warm water vigorously and they are still extremely shiny after drying. They are shiny brown. Another one of my Barre Rocks lays the same kind. Another one of my hens just laid her first egg and its brown and looks like a dried powdered coating.

 

[CluckyCharms]

The shine is the bloom. It's the shiny coating that the hen leaves on the egg prior to laying it. It clogs all the pores in the shell and protects the egg from the entry of bacteria. It also holds moisture in the egg.

It's not the breed of chicken. Some chickens in every breed will deposit more generous layer of bloom on the egg than other hens do, making the egg 'shinier' in appearance than others. The bloom is protein-based so I would venture to *guess* (just guessing) it has something to do with the amount of protein the hen is receiving in her diet. Not enough protein=bloom won't be as plentiful. If you want nothing but shiny eggs you'd have to weed out your hens that aren't depositing generous amounts of bloom on the egg. If you were to wash the shiny egg, and wash a matte finish egg in the same temperature of water, scrubbing each generously and place them on a paper towel to dry, you'd find they are identical in "shine" (at least that's what I found this morning when I tested it).

Grocery store eggs can take on a shiny appearance because some of the plants the eggs come from give them a spray-down of mineral oil. They do this because those eggs are washed to be "aesthetically pleasing" to the customer. It doesn't replace the bloom, but it has a similar effect.

 

[Coop de Grass]

Please share with me which breeds typically lay shiny eggs. I'm thinking Euskal Oiloa (Basque) and Marans, but are there others? Also, some Marans eggs are matte, so are there particular lines that tend to be shiny?

I've decided that I really like shiny eggs better, so I'm looking into my options if that is my main criterion.

Thanks!

I have a mixed flock including Wheaten Marans, Quail Brabanconne, Sulmtaler, Cream Crested Legbars, Easter Eggers, Buff Orpington, Australopr-Marans mix. They all get the same fermented organic feed. Only 1 lays a shiny egg. It is 1 of the 2 Sulmtalers that I hatched in the spring. Not sure about the protein being the cause since she is the only one with a slightly glossy egg, but I saw this in a previous flock and wondered the same thing...

Is it bad to increase the protein?