Ducks that lay colored eggs?

[OhTisLove]

I've been looking around on websites, and the most colorful egg I've found is "blue-tinged" from a Blue Swedish or something.

Are there easily-found ducks out there that lay colored eggs? Even brown eggs? All five of mine lay white. Did I just miss a breed?

Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

An ad for black runners says their egg color is blue. I have ordered black runners, but won't know about egg color until midsummer, Lord willing.

 

[OhTisLove]

Quote:
Maybe cause you made it up and it's actually "robin's egg blue"?

 

[bibliophile birds]

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egg color is genetic. the reason you get such crazy variety is because, unlike chickens, ducks haven't been breed for egg color. since most people have never seen a duck egg, let alone eaten one, the market doesn't demand that they be uniform. breeders have concentrated more on breed conformation and meat qualities.

it would be a really interesting project to work on though. hmm... i'm getting some blue Cayugas in a few months........... uh oh, the last thing i need is another new obsession.

 

[92caddy]

Here is a pic of what my black cayuga ducks lay.........

 

[clucking cuties]

I am really interested in eggs color for both ducks and chickens. I know that there are many factors that can influence this, both genetic and dietary. My chickens lay a rainbow of dark dark brown (Marans) to blues, pinkish, green,(Easter eggers) and now teal to brownish greens from my F1 generation olive eggers.

Up until now my ducks, whom I greatly enjoy in every other respect, have been a bit of a disappointment in the egg color category. I did get a few passably black eggs from my Cayuga girls, but this late in the season (February) the best that I get is a light to medium gray. My Blue Swedish, Rouen, Peking and Khaki Campbell girls have given loads of delicious cream to white eggs. I did get one egg around last Halloween that had an orange tint to it, but it must have been a fluke (something she ate; maybe a leftover bit of something with orange frosting??) because I have never seen another one. We give table scraps sometimes to our birds, so something may have contained some dye or something. I have no clue, what happened, but to my great disappointment it was a one time event.

I ordered some late season Silver Apppleyard ducks (eBay) and hatched them out in August. They were all white eggs. (Yes, I am a sucker for hatching eggs.) I did not have a good hatch, and only two of twelve survived. One turned out to be a drake I named "Huey" and the other one was a duck named "Huette". Appleyards are adorable ducks, they always seem to look a bit sideways at you, and I was hooked on how cute and tame they became.

Anyway as Huey grew, I began to suspect that perhaps he was not a purebred Silver Apppleyard. He looked great as a youngster, but now he is indistinguishable from my Rouen drakes. Huette was always a bit darker, but looks more like a typical Apppleyard. Just this last week I started to get blue green eggs. I have gotten 4 of them. 3 of them we ate, but I kept the best one to preserve. It can only be Huette as the other girls have all been laying for a while.

My faith has been restored, there is such as thing as "duck egg blue". I am even considering putting Huey and Huette together and incubating her eggs. I am guessing that they had different duck mothers but may have had the same drake as a father.



Huey as a youngster...don't have a pic of Huette right now, if anyone is interested I'll post one:

 

[AmyJ]

My mallards lay blue/green eggs

Not sure about any other breeds.

 

[plight79]

I used to work a a winery that would keep Cayuga Blue ducks. Their eggs are bluish and the ducks are beautiful

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/Cayuga/BRKCayuga.html

 

[Cara]

I'll be mad if there aren't blue egg laying ducks

After all, where did the colour 'duck egg blue' come from? Have I been living a lie?

 

[Duck_feeder]

of our 4 runners, they all lay different colored eggs.

From left to right:

- Ollie (blue runner) lays white eggs that look slightly orange/pink due to having relatively thin shells. She's only been laying for a few weeks and the shells are getting thicker and larger.
- Vinny (black runner) lays gray eggs that tend to be pointy compared to the other eggs. Vinny's started laying recently too and the eggs are getting progressively larger.
- Ming Mei (chocolate runner) lays greenish blue eggs that are rounder than the others' eggs and are generally the smallest (she's much smaller than the other 3). She hasn't laid in about a week because she's gone broody and sits on just one egg (the ones that Victor lays - I take the egg away every day but she's refusing to stop being broody)
- Victor (fawn and white runner) lays eggs that are not as colorful as Ming Mei's and are slightly bluer. Victor's eggs tend to be the largest of the bunch (this one was on the smaller side). Lately Victor's eggs have been getting a bit smaller but I think that's because he's eating less while guarding Ming Mei and her nest.

I get to look forward to Moxy (blue runner) and Norie (black runner) laying eggs in a few months. I wonder if I'll be able to tell their eggs apart on sight too!