Easter Egged question

[PittyLova]

So I ordered some eggs off of ebay that were Easter Egger eggs. The rooster was a black copper marans. So all 8 of my eggs that I ordered were blue/green/rose. However, my extras were 4 DARK brown eggs, 1 with darker spots. Do EE's lay dark eggs like that?? Go figure the 2 babies that have hatched are from these dark eggs, which made me wonder if possibly the hen is another breed? Here's a picture of the lightest brown that hatched.

I don't really care too much what they are, but am curious more than anything. I thought EE's only lay lighter colors.

 

[sylviethecochin]

It's highly likely that your extras are pure(?) black copper marans. Easter Eggers should carry the blue gene (which, combined with brown spray-paint, makes the green eggs commonly associated with Easter Eggers)

Since that egg obviously doesn't carry a trace of blue, I'd guess whoever laid it was not an Easter Egger. Since the seller has a BCM rooster, she might just have hens to go with him.

 

[PNWhomesteader]

our easter eggers only lay light green/blue eggs, although when we bought our chicks the farm and garden store employee said that it is possible for them to lay any shade of blue/green to light brown... but that brown was very unusual.. i would think that the easter egger hens mixed with the copper maran roo would result in olive egg layers.. like the previous comment, i imagine those dark eggs may be from black copper maran hens.

 

[MolliesDollies]

My Golden Cuckoo Maran lays splotchy brown eggs like that, so I'd lean toward it being a Maran egg, not an Easter Egger (mine lays pretty green eggs).

 

[PittyLova]

Thanks guys. I'm newer to chickens but figured they weren't EE eggs and thought maybe some marans eggs given how dark they were. I don't know if they have other rooster by chance but they mentioned the marans and the chance if babies being olive eggers. I'm just happy I got some winter shipped eggs to hatch! And hey...I got them for super cheap!

 

[KDMdesigns]

Lucky you!! Blk copper marans are beautiful birds! Just added one hen from unknown mates when I also purchased some fertile eggs last Summer. She lays the darkest in our flock although not as dark as I hoped for. The other pullet I thought could have been an EE, turned out to be a light brown layer too.. so I back to square 1; try to add some more rainbow eggs to my egg basket lol.. share images of other eggs& hatchings for our viewing!

 

[PittyLova]

Lucky you!! Blk copper marans are beautiful birds! Just added one hen from unknown mates when I also purchased some fertile eggs last Summer. She lays the darkest in our flock although not as dark as I hoped for. The other pullet I thought could have been an EE, turned out to be a light brown layer too.. so I back to square 1; try to add some more rainbow eggs to my egg basket lol.. share images of other eggs& hatchings for our viewing!

I wish I had taken pictures of the other eggs. I have 2 babies and 1 egg that I'm hoping is just a late bloomer in the incubator (blue egg). I currently have a flock of mutt chickens. Their dad was an EE roo. Some of them look nothing like what you would expect. I would swear 2 are Austrolops but they lay pale green eggs. We get some various shades of blue, green, and rose from our girls. They're about 2 now so I'm looking to add some youngsters to up production and eventually replace them. I was really hoping to get a nice EE roo out of these eggs.

Here's the current babies

 

[KDMdesigns]

Those chicks definitely don't look like Blk Cooper Marans, mines(even if they were mixed) were black. You might have a great surprise with these little ones(dark brown egg color yet brown in chick coloring! Adorable!

 

[Frazzemrat1]

EEs are typically a mutt breed anyway, mostly because a mash of breeds came together to make them, although most hatcheries breed their EEs to get what they want. These guys may be olive eggers, and those are even more mutts. Just whatever has a blue gene and a dark brown gene will produce OE chicks...

 

[KDMdesigns]

EEs are typically a mutt breed anyway, mostly because a mash of breeds came together to make them, although most hatcheries breed their EEs to get what they want. These guys may be olive eggers, and those are even more mutts. Just whatever has a blue gene and a dark brown gene will produce OE chicks...

Completely agree with this response!