We have six chickens -- 4 black sex-links, 1 ameraucana, and 1 wyandotte. They are all about 9 months old. When they started laying in July and August, I would get 4 brown eggs, 1 tan egg (from the wyandotte) and 1 cream colored egg from the Ameraucana. Then in October, the Ameraucana became very sick and stopped walking and eating and every day, I was positive she wouldn't survive until night. She obviously stopped laying and we got no more cream eggs. But she pulled through in the end and is just fine now. After a week or two indoors, I let her back out with the other chickens. One day soon after that, I found a weird half-cream - half-brown egg. Since then, I've found no more cream eggs. We get between 3-5 eggs per day (down from a late summer average of 5-6) Is it possible that the Ameraucana could now just lay tan or light brown eggs like the other chickens? Or did her illness knock out her reproductive system and she's not laying at all? If she's truly not laying at all she won't be long for this world, so I want to try to figure out whether her eggs could have changed color. Thanks in advance!
The change in egg color may be a glitch from illness and it may also just be a glitch. It can happen, even to healthy birds. She's not an Ameraucana though - Ameraucanas only lay blue eggs. Hatcheries and feedstores sell "Easter Eggers" which may lay cream colored eggs and they falsely call them Ameraucanas, but they're not the same. As for what is going on now, it is hard to say. Usually a hen doesn't change her egg color so drastically, so I say she's probably not laying right now. My only hatchery based Easter Egger also used to lay a cream colored egg, but she was a poor layer, got sick often, and eventually just gave up laying. Haven't had an egg from her in nearly a year now.
As I have been using my computer mush more than I have in a VERY long time for anything other than Facebook- yes illness can change colour - I found this site to helpful (or did it make me more paranoid about what is wrong with my chickens) http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/18/misshapen-eggs edited to add post
Update -- We've started getting white eggs again this week. I think our Easter Egger (ex-Ameracauna ;-) has started laying - I suspect whatever illness she had stopped her egg-laying and now, 4 months later, she's started up again! I'm glad we gave her a chance...
I am so happy she's laying again! I have a RIR in the house on antibiotics, but she actually laid her first egg yesterday! I have a question for you - When you reintroduced her back to the flock, how did you do it and what was the reaction?