Chicken egg color

[algrosvenor96]

hello, I have six Easter egger chickens and some have recently started to lay eggs. I had four really light blue fairy eggs when they first started laying at 18 weeks and since then have gotten 6 green eggs and they are 20 weeks now. Do the eggs color change from fairy egg color or are the blue layers not laying? I’m new to chickens so all this is new to me.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Egg color doesn't change.
They can lighten or darken some but won't change color.
If you were getting blue and are now getting green they're from different pullets/hens.

 

[algrosvenor96]

Egg color doesn't change.
They can lighten or darken some but won't change color.
If you were getting blue and are now getting green they're from different pullets/hens.

Thank you! Is it normal when they first start laying to go two weeks or more without laying another egg?

 

[aart]

I had four really light blue fairy eggs when they first started laying at 18 weeks and since then have gotten 6 green eggs and they are 20 weeks now.

The green eggs are brown coating on blue shells,
the first blue eggs were probably before the coating sprayer came on line.
The brown coating can vary from day to day, especially when they first start laying.
It can take up to a month or so for things to smooth out.

Were they really fairy eggs, or just small pullet eggs?
Fairy, fart, wind, rooster eggs are usually from a tiny piece of tissue breaking loose from the reproductive tract, or an immature ova(yolk) and the body forms an egg around it. Color can be darker than 'normal' as the pigment coating released has to cover a much smaller area so is thicker. Can happen with any age layer, but more common with new or older layers.

Why do you think they haven't laid in two weeks?

 

[The Moonshiner]

I wouldn't think they were from the same hen and just hadn't got the brown spray.
I've had many a brown layer and never seen them start with white eggs because the sprayer wasn't working.
There's also over a dozen genes responsible for the brown color. It would seem pretty odd that none were kicking in at all.

 

[aart]

I've had many a brown layer and never seen them start with white eggs because the sprayer wasn't working.

Maybe not. I have had OE lay blue before the coating kicked in.
Could be the blue eggs are the 'missing' ones.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I think @aart's explanation is best. The blue color is intensified in a fairy egg, because the pigment is concentrated over a smaller area. As the eggs get larger the pigment is spread out more and appears lighter. If you have ever written "Happy Birthday" on a balloon with a black Sharpie before you blew it up, you will see what I mean. As you blow up the balloon, the letters appear lighter as the pigment becomes stretched.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I think @aart's explanation is best. The blue color is intensified in a fairy egg, because the pigment is concentrated over a smaller area. As the eggs get larger the pigment is spread out more and appears lighter. If you have ever written "Happy Birthday" on a balloon with a black Sharpie before you blew it up, you will see what I mean. As you blow up the balloon, the letters appear lighter as the pigment becomes stretched.

But what's that got to do with lacking the brown but then getting it later?

 

[noregerts]

I love that you're referring to the color sprayer .

 

[aart]

The blue color is intensified in a fairy egg, because the pigment is concentrated over a smaller area.

That can be true of fairy eggs, but usually it's the coating that is intensified not the color of the shell itself....2 different things, shell and coating.