Cucumber Egg - green on the outside/white on the inside

[Jadeeum]

I am new here but have been an avid BYC reader for a few years.
Such a great resource. Thank you everyone at BYC for all your help!!

I am crazy about egg colour. I recently acquired 2 young Ameraucana crosses: one with cheek muffs, one without.
One of them is - not sure which - is laying beautiful clay-green eggs with WHITE shell inside. (I included other eggs for reference). The pictures below don't do them justice.
How is this possible? The green egg as I understand it comes from a blue egg being tinted with brown as it travels down the duct. All of my other EE's who lay greenish eggs, the inside shells are consistently blue. I know they are being tinted because I can scrub the outside green off.

So how can a green tint be deposited on a white shell?

Thank you



.

 

[PrairieChickens]

As the egg moves through the hen's body, it is coated in the pigment that will give it whatever color it is going to have once it comes out. This pigment only stains the exterior of the egg shell, not the inside, so you should find that any egg you crack open will be white inside, regardless of its outward color.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

As the egg moves through the hen's body, it is coated in the pigment that will give it whatever color it is going to have once it comes out. This pigment only stains the exterior of the egg shell, not the inside, so you should find that any egg you crack open will be white inside, regardless of its outward color.

Prairie Chickens, the OP is correct in their understanding of egg color. There are actually two basic egg colors, blue and white. A brown egg is a white egg with a brown coating, and a green egg is a blue egg with a brown coating. Blue eggs are blue all the way through in the same way a white egg is white all the way through.

OP, I'm as confused as you are as to why you'd see a green egg with a white shell inside, though. Those should be blue inside. Perhaps the blue is so light that it's only looking white?

 

[PrairieChickens]

Perhaps some pictures will make it more clear. Mind you, these aren't my own photos, but I'll be happy to crack open some of our own eggs and take pictures of the inside of the shell if that would help.








As you can see, it's quite typical for the inside of an egg to be white, regardless of the exterior.

 

[Jadeeum]

I think Walking on Sunshine is correct.
There are only 2 basic "inside" shell colours: white and blue.

A brown tinted egg (as you rightly point out PC) is some measure of brown colouring being deposited on the outside of a white shell. A brown egg is white inside.
A green tinted egg is normally the product of brown colouring being deposited on the outside of a blue shell. A green egg is usually blue inside.

So it's weird to see a green egg that's white inside. I don't know of any chicken that deposits green pigmentation on a white shell.

Sunshine - you might be right that the shell is actually a pale pale blue - almost white. But then the egg should look much more like a brown egg as there is not a lot of blue to "mix" with...?

It's a mystery....

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Perhaps some pictures will make it more clear. Mind you, these aren't my own photos, but I'll be happy to crack open some of our own eggs and take pictures of the inside of the shell if that would help.








As you can see, it's quite typical for the inside of an egg to be white, regardless of the exterior.

You're either going to have to trust us that blue is the base color for green eggs, or search the archives, PC. They may look white on the inside, but a green egg is brown over blue. Blue is a base color as is white.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

That was my thinking as well. Green eggs are blue inside, brown eggs are white. Very strange to have a green egg with a white shell inside.
As for the pics, the pictures with the brown eggs look accurate, they're white inside. That last picture with the Easter eggs looks like its been messed with. The brown egg at the bottom left, green egg above it and the brown egg at the top pf the second row look like someone went and did some photoshopping to the insides. They look light blue on the inside with an edge of white, like someone was trying to take a nice clean pic and had to hide the dirty inside or something...

 

[PrairieChickens]

Quote: So are you saying I'm wrong or the OP is? Because if blue is ABSOLUTELY the only possible interior color of a green egg, please explain the original post and picture.

 

[Jadeeum]

You hit the nail on the head - That is exactly what is odd.
Everything I've read says green tinted eggs are created when brown pigmentation is deposited over a blue shell. And only EEs make blue shells - with the variety of blue/green tints dependent on how much brown pigmentation the EE secretes.

I'd like to know if anybody else "out there" has a hen that deposits green pigmentation over a white shell. But then again - maybe it's just one of those mysterious things that happens with chickens!

 

[PrairieChickens]

Sometimes when we crack open one of our blue or green eggs, the shell inside is white. I never paid much attention to whether or not it's all the time or just sometimes, but I know I've seen it in our eggs, and I have seen other people post pics on here of blue or green eggs with white insides. One member said the eggs looked bluish when he first cracked them open, but as they dried, they turned white.