Egg color question!

[suburbanchix]

I've been reading about influencing egg color by crossing blue-egg layers with brown-egg layers, but I have (dumb) question. Does simply having the rooster fertilize the egg influence the color of egg that is later laid? OR....do you have to HATCH those eggs and then look for the new egg color from the resulting hybrid chickens? My guess is that a hen is going to lay whatever color eggs she's going to lay, regardless of her involvement with a rooster, and that you don't see variances in egg color until the offspring of the mating begin to lay their own eggs. Is this the case?

 

[Ceilismom]

You are correct, you cannot tell from the outside whether an egg is fertilized or not. The DNA that a rooster passes on to his offspring is the only influence he has on the egg color.

 

[suburbanchix]

Thanks for confirming! BTW, the green egg in your avatar photo is lovely. Is that for real??

 

[Ceilismom]

Yes and no. The eggs was really green (easter egger), but I was standing at an angle that cast a shadow over the eggs, causing them all to appear more saturated than they really were.