Do Eggs change color as time goes on?

[nittanyxi]

My chickens are 1 year old and have been laying since oct/dec of last year. I noticed that some of the ones that used to lay brown eggs are laying tan/light tan eggs now. Is it normal for the color of the egg to change that much. I understand different shades of brown from egg to egg. But what once was a brown egg is not even close to brown anymore. Anyone know what the reason could be.

I have 17 hens and they all eat the same thing. I've only noticed it in the eggs of a few of them.

 

[Imp]

Mine have done the same thing, but at about 3 years old.

Imp

 

[nittanyxi]

anybody else have this problem?

 

[flowerchicks]

I get different shades of tan and brown in my eggs. I have an Australorp that sometimes lays pink eggs (like today) but normally they are a light tan. My big shocker came today, though. I have 1 EE, she has always laid plain ol' green eggs, all the eggs in these pictures are from her. Sometimes (as in the picture below, top right) they are more olive. That BLUE egg was laid today. I KNOW it is her egg, because I know the eggs from all me hens (I only have 9 and one is broody and not laying, and they are all different breeds). Can somebody explain how a green egg laying EE can lay a Blue egg? First one ever, she is almost 2 years old.

 

[jenjscott]

It is perfectly normal for eggs to lighten as the laying cycle advances. The darkest eggs will be at the start of laying. As the year progresses, the hen will loose color and her eggs will loose color. In the normal cycle, the hen will go into molt and stop laying for a while, she will regain her color and when she goes back to laying, her eggs will be dark again.

 

[Mahonri]

Quote:
Amen.

 

[RozyJ]

Ok, so my lovely 19 week old goldline hen laid her first egg yesterday, it was nice and consistent brown all over. Today I went in, and I have a second egg, but this time speckled!? I have three chickens in total, but the other two are younger and not displaying any egg laying behaviour yet and I'm almost certain it wasn't one of them... Why are these eggs such different colours?

 

[junebuggena]

Ok, so my lovely 19 week old goldline hen laid her first egg yesterday, it was nice and consistent brown all over. Today I went in, and I have a second egg, but this time speckled!? I have three chickens in total, but the other two are younger and not displaying any egg laying behaviour yet and I'm almost certain it wasn't one of them... Why are these eggs such different colours?

A glitch in the 'spray paint.' The brown coating is applied after the shell is formed, just prior to laying. Occasionally, a hen will produce with more coating, or sparse coating. In the case of a young pullet, just starting to lay, it's probably just a bit of immaturity. It can take some time for all the parts of the egg production system to work together cohesively.

 

[ChxLadyCass]

So colors can change, but am I correct in understanding that each hen typically lays a consistent size or shape? Is that how more experienced flock owners know who is laying which eggs if colors change? So intrigued!

 

[junebuggena]

Usually egg color is pretty consistent, but irregularities can and do happen.