EE egg color changes??

[MysteryChik]

i have 3 EE hens. 2 started out laying green eggs and the other one lays blue eggs. For the past week, one of my green egg layers gives me a white egg every now and again. Any idea why? (I've actually witnessed her lay them). In the photo where I have just the one white egg with the colored ones, the photos off. It actually is white

 

[Lady Clucksley]

i have 3 EE hens. 2 started out laying green eggs and the other one lays blue eggs. For the past week, one of my green egg layers gives me a white egg every now and again. Any idea why? (I've actually witnessed her lay them)

How lucky to have EEs in your life! My little Elfi is my best hen friend, she's so clever and lively. She lays a blue green egg, very pastel, but sometimes favors a lighter shade and sometimes darker and maybe speckled a bit. When I've tried to read up on this, it seems like all eggs start out white, and gather pigment in the oviduct; if it moves through very quickly, the pigment may not stick, so if she is laying at an above average rate, she may have eggs moving through so quickly they aren't picking up much color. Elfi has darker eggs when laying less frequently, paler when laying often. I notice this with my Maran as well; when I'm getting a lot from her, I'll get lighter eggs. If she's giving an egg every other day, they're much darker and speckled. Keep in mind I've learned all of this from the internet, so it could be way off, but it seems like a reasonable explanation. Fresh eggs daily has a great post on egg color, and is a great blog to follow.

 

[MysteryChik]

How lucky to have EEs in your life! My little Elfi is my best hen friend, she's so clever and lively. She lays a blue green egg, very pastel, but sometimes favors a lighter shade and sometimes darker and maybe speckled a bit. When I've tried to read up on this, it seems like all eggs start out white, and gather pigment in the oviduct; if it moves through very quickly, the pigment may not stick, so if she is laying at an above average rate, she may have eggs moving through so quickly they aren't picking up much color. Elfi has darker eggs when laying less frequently, paler when laying often. I notice this with my Maran as well; when I'm getting a lot from her, I'll get lighter eggs. If she's giving an egg every other day, they're much darker and speckled. Keep in mind I've learned all of this from the internet, so it could be way off, but it seems like a reasonable explanation. Fresh eggs daily has a great post on egg color, and is a great blog to follow.

. Thanks, that's probably exactly what's going on. BBC sometimes they're green, & only every third egg fr one is white. Ty so much

 

[junebuggena]

How lucky to have EEs in your life! My little Elfi is my best hen friend, she's so clever and lively. She lays a blue green egg, very pastel, but sometimes favors a lighter shade and sometimes darker and maybe speckled a bit. When I've tried to read up on this, it seems like all eggs start out white, and gather pigment in the oviduct; if it moves through very quickly, the pigment may not stick, so if she is laying at an above average rate, she may have eggs moving through so quickly they aren't picking up much color. Elfi has darker eggs when laying less frequently, paler when laying often. I notice this with my Maran as well; when I'm getting a lot from her, I'll get lighter eggs. If she's giving an egg every other day, they're much darker and speckled. Keep in mind I've learned all of this from the internet, so it could be way off, but it seems like a reasonable explanation. Fresh eggs daily has a great post on egg color, and is a great blog to follow.

All eggs do not start out white. There are two colors for shell color, white or blue. Brown eggs are actually a coating applied over a white shell. Green eggs are that coating applied over a blue shell. Looks like your white egg is actually a pale pink or very light brown, not truly white. Hold them up to a white sheet of paper to see the color tint. It is possible for Easter Eggers to not inherit the blue shell gene. She can't go from blue/green shell to white. Doubt she ever laid a green egg for you.

 

[Lady Clucksley]

That is good to know! It's hard to find information on this, but that makes a lot of sense. I'd wondered why the inside of my EE's eggshells are bluish and the brown eggs from my other hens remains white. Does the blue gene come from the same blue that Aurucanas have? I love learning more about these birds. I feel like a shoddy biologist now; can you recommend any texts I could reference for learning more about chicken genetics? I know, that sounds extremely dorky, but I teach science classes and in my Biology classes I like to use real-life examples, and I live in an area where a solid half of my students have or have family in Agriculture.

 

[junebuggena]

Only one set of genes for egg shell O and o. The dominant gene is for blue shells, the recessive counterpart is for white shells.
The genes for the coating, however, are very complex. There are over nine known genes for the coating, some recessive, some dominant. And individuals can have several different coating genes expressing at once. That's how we get so many different shades of brown and green.
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