Cinnamon Queen (RIRxSLW) or Welsummer?

[UThobbyfarmer]

Here mine. I’d say her earlobes are light brown with a touch of green in the right light. Maybe that’s wishful thinking?

 

[NatJ]

Here mine. I’d say her earlobes are light brown with a touch of green in the right light. Maybe that’s wishful thinking?

I've seen earlobes that look somewhat greenish.
Also ones with light blue or yellow.

I think the earlobe color on yours is likely to change as she gets older: either more obviously red, or more obviously white (possibly with other colors, like green or yellow or blue.)

Why do you say wishful thinking? Are you particularly fond of green earlobes on chickens?

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I also noticed your hens look to have more of the Legbar body coloring. Similar to the one I sold. The pullet I kept is pretty reddish in her body with minimal barring.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I've seen earlobes that look somewhat greenish.
Also ones with light blue or yellow.

I think the earlobe color on yours is likely to change as she gets older: either more obviously red, or more obviously white (possibly with other colors, like green or yellow or blue.)

Why do you say wishful thinking? Are you particularly fond of green earlobes on chickens?

I’m hoping she’ll lay a medium green or oliveish egg. I don’t think that’s as likely to happen with blaring white earlobes. I never noticed earlobe color on any of my birds until someone brought it up in the context of what color they *might* lay. Is there truth to that?

 

[NatJ]

I’m hoping she’ll lay a medium green or oliveish egg. I don’t think that’s as likely to happen with blaring white earlobes. I never noticed earlobe color on any of my birds until someone brought it up in the context of what color they *might* lay. Is there truth to that?

There is no genetic link between earlobe color and egg color.

In practice, the most common breeds usually have white earlobes/white eggs or red earlobes/brown eggs, just because of how people have selected those particular breeds. Exceptions exist both ways (such as Dorkings with white eggs/red earlobes, or Penedesencas with dark brown eggs/white earlobes.) When someone creates a new breed using just red earlobe/brown egg breeds, or just white earlobe/white egg breeds, of course the new breed has the same set of traits as the parent breeds, so the common pattern continues.

Shades of blue, green, or yellow in the earlobes seem to have no correlation with egg color at all. Silkies are known for having blue or turqoise earlobes, but lay white or off-white eggs. Green or yellow earlobes are not preferred in any breed of chicken, and blue are not preferred in any breed except Silkie. All of those colors seem to be based on white earlobes plus the genes for colored skin (yellow skin, green/willow skin, blue/slate skin, or the Silkie black skin.)

With the chickens that lay blue or green eggs, the purebred Ameraucanas and I think Araucanas have red earlobes, and the purebred Cream Legbars have white earlobes. For ones of mixed ancestry, they can have any combination of earlobe colors depending on what breeds were mixed in. I would say they are a little more likely to lay darker eggs (green or olive) if they have red earlobes, and a little more likely to lay lighter eggs (blue or light green) if they have white earlobes, just as a coincidence of which other breeds are in their ancestry, but I would also expect to see lots of exceptions to that.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

@NatJ Thank you for your excellent reply! It provided a great start to my day. By learning something new about chickens.

 

[Hoot66]

The legbars are making some nice looking hens.

 

[Hoot66]

@UThobbyfarmer , We got a blue egg today. It's the same size and shape as the nearly white eggs that we've been getting.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

@UThobbyfarmer , We got a blue egg today. It's the same size and shape as the nearly white eggs that we've been getting.

Nice! Egg-citing. Do you just have the Cinnamon Queens and Legbar mix hens? Was everyone laying? Sounds like it may be that same hen laying a darker shade today.

 

[Hoot66]

I have 14 pullets total. 3 CQ, 4 LB, and 7 Americana. Only 5 are laying as of yet. I think it is 2 CQ, 1 Americana, and 2 LB Laying. Until today, I was only getting 4 eggs each day. Two browns, a white and a green. Today was 5 eggs with the fifth one being light grayish blue. The Americans are 10 days younger than the rest of the flock.