Does the color of a hen's eggs change?

[gardenchic]

Hi! These are my first chickens and they are all about 7 months old. I have 1 easter egger and I've noticed her eggs vary in color from day to day. Some are more green, some are almost olive colored and some are downright blue. I was under the impression that a chickens egg will be a certain color and never change but apparently I'm wrong. Since I only have 1 easter egger I know all of these are hers. Can someone help me out here and explain how it works? Thanks!

 

[lazy gardener]

I think I can help. Chicken eggs come in 2 basic colors: blue and white. Extra brown colored pigment can be added over the blue or white to give all of the other options. A light brown wash over blue gives you green. Go darker over the blue and you get olive. Same idea with a white egg for all of the varying shades of tan to brown. So, if your EE egg passes through quickly, it'll be blue. If it lingers, depending on how long it does, it'll have extra coloring which explains why you see the different shades. Some EE don't have the brown pigment in their reproductive system, and will only lay blue. Chickens who lay only white eggs don't have any brown pigment available either.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Anything with Araucana genetics will have a blue shell. That would include Legbars, EEs and Ameraucanas. The last 2 have other genetics which are normally from brown layers. That's why they are green or olive or khaki. It is a brown coating over the blue. If you scratched the brown layer off it would be blue. The blue is in the egg shell. The brown is a coating.
The brown can be made up of many different chemicals that the hen may or may not be able to produce in her shell gland depending on nutrition and other variables.

I raise Penedesencas which lay a very dark egg. The color will vary dramatically through the year from intense reddish maroon to a medium brown because of the same reason I explained in the first paragraph.
Penedesencas are one of the brown egg breeds that actually deposit some of the color in the shell rather than on it.

Hope that helps.

 

[gardenchic]

Thanks everyone! That does make sense. I have wondered about this ever since she started laying.