Egg color not what its suppose to be?

[bbethea104]

Okay, I have two black copper marans that are fully grown and two cuckoo marans that are fully grown. However, my marans I know are about 11 months of age (not sure on the cuckoos). I have been sitting and watching to see which ones are laying and which ones are giving me what eggs so that I could tell them apart. I have read that these are suppose to be dark brown eggs...but that's not what they are laying. I have one bcm that lays everyday and hers are a light brown egg...the other bcm lays every other day and is the same color as the other??!! One of my cuckoo's (the biggest of the two) has been laying everyday as well. Her egg is also light brown but looks to have a pink tone to it, which makes it a bit darker then the bcm but not by much. I have not caught the other cuckoo laying yet. I did have a few dark colored eggs pop up a few weeks ago (before I started watching them....so not sure which layed it) and now I have not got another dark egg like it Can someone tell me why these eggs aren't dark like they should be? I just recently bought these hens from the same guy and Im thinking it may be due to over breeding??? Don't know if that's possible so Im asking for help. I also have a barred rock hen and a dominick hen but neither of these have started to lay yet as they are still young...but should begin any time.

This picture was taken before I started watching the chickens lay their eggs: I know for sure the bcm layed the middle egg (which have got a tad darker over time and almost the same color as the one on the right now...only got 2-3 of the really dark egg on the left and not sure which one that came from.



This is a recent picture of the ones I have been watching: Top eggs are the bcm eggs and what they are looking like now...bottom ones are the cuckoo maran eggs

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Dark egg color is complicated. I raise black penedesencas and normally get dark eggs but sometimes not.
I recently bought eggs from 2 varieties of different lines of Marans. The eggs were so light I was very disappointed.
My point is that people can't just hatch every egg that comes out of their flock. If they want to have dark eggs, they must select for them.
My plan is to only hatch from dark eggs and pedigree which roosters produce pullets that lay the darkest eggs.

I wanted to add that egg color consists of several chemicals. Sometimes dark layers can't assimilate those chemicals with their current diet.

 

[bbethea104]

Dark egg color is complicated. I raise black penedesencas and normally get dark eggs but sometimes not.
I recently bought eggs from 2 varieties of different lines of Marans. The eggs were so light I was very disappointed.
My point is that people can't just hatch every egg that comes out of their flock. If they want to have dark eggs, they must select for them.
My plan is to only hatch from dark eggs and pedigree which roosters produce pullets that lay the darkest eggs.

Thanks So is this something I will need to mess around with in order to get the dark eggs? I was thinking since they have got a little darker since I last took pics that it could have had something to do with their age too but wasn't sure. I have 14 bcm babies in which I bought from a different person and it will be awhile before they start to lay...can't wait to see if there are differences in the colors of them and the others that I have. Sounds like this is just going to be interesting.