Easter Egger/Aracauna/Ameracauna egg colors question:

[Terry Allan Hall]

I've heard it both ways, so I'm asking y'all....do these 3 breeds lay the same color eggs all their lives or can one that lays blue eggs change to olive or green or just how does that all work?

Thanks for any enlightenment shared!

 

[ksacres]

*short version* a single hen lays ONE color her entire life, but shades can vary.

*long version* there are technically only TWO colors of eggs, white and blue. Blue egg shells are dominant. Brown eggs are produced by "painting" brown pigment on a white egg. Olive eggs are produced by "painting" brown pigment on a blue egg.

 

[Parson's Wife]

I heard that aracaunas(??) eggs are cholesterol free as well. (not the americaunas but aracaunas...(sorry for the misspellings)

 

[speckledhen]

No, they aren't cholesterol free. Actually, there are some studies that say they have slightly more rather than less. Basically, they are the same as any other egg in nutritional value.

 

[silkiechicken]

Like humans, they are all the same on the inside, but what they eat, or in this case what the parents eat, can have some effect on the concentration of various things in them.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Quote:
OK...3 of my Ameracaunas lay green, 3 lay olive, 2 lay blue and one lays a pale pink...not real sure about that last one's bloodline, though...she was a foundling.

 

[ksacres]

green egg: blue egg with very little brown "painting"
olive egg: blue egg with a lot of brown "painting"

an olive egg layer could *potentially* become a green egg layer, b/c genetically they are the same, just as Marans or other dark egg layers tend to have lighter pigments as laying progresses, so could your EE.

Ameraucana breeders will tell you that you are at the right egg color when you break and egg and the color is consistent throughout the entire shell (the inside of the shell *should* be the same color as the outside).

There are several different genes that control egg color, so this is just scraping the surface.

But, a hen can only lay what she's genetically born with, and those genes don't change or modify as she gets older.

 

[seagullplayer]

This may help answer some of your questions:

http://www.ameraucana.org/faq.html

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Thanks for all the info!

So would my pale-pink eggs actually be white w/ just a smidgen of brown over them?

 

[soonerdog]

Yep

http://www.ameraucana.org/scrapbook.html
http://www.ameraucana.org/DnLd/BreedersDirectory.pdf