- Mar 22, 2012
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- 13
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I looked through about 30 old threads on eggs changing colors, and got some helpful info, but not exactly the answer I'm looking for. And this is a bit of a saga, so bear with me, please.
After a recent decimation of my original flock by a neighbor dog, I got 3 approximately year-old hens from Craigslist and two 1-2 year old hens from a friend. They are in a separate coop for quarantining from my two remaining original Wyandottes. The Craigslist hens came with two roosters whom I have rehomed, so there's been a lot of upheaval in their lives over the last two weeks. They are also kinda small and scrawny. They are, however, laying again, and seem to be adjusting well to better food and less rooster attention. They are on layer feed and greens from the garden with occasional kitchen scraps.
Chicken specifics:
Craigslist ghettohens - 2 easter egger/?EE mix (one very small, one medium chicken), one barred rock mix (small ?bantam)
Friend hens - one black star, one red star
So, I have 5 different hens. I expected small to medium blue/green eggs from the EE's, small brown eggs from the little BR mix, and large brown eggs from the red and black stars.
However, I'm getting at least 8 distinctly different types of eggs, and I'm confused as to who is laying what. About a week ago, I started a spreadsheet of what color/size eggs I'm getting at what times (yes, I'm a little obsessive, why do you ask?). And just for comparison, my one Wyandotte who just started laying has a pretty consistent brown egg that is very slowly getting larger as she lays longer.
Egg specifics:
small brown
small olive
medium olive
large brown
large light brown with very dark dramatic speckles
medium bluish green
medium brown with some mild speckles
?medium brown (unsure if this is just a larger than usual small brown egg, but are new in the last few days)
I read a lot of places that said that eggs can gradually lighten until molting time, and then they darken up again, but nobody's really confirming that egg appearance can be variable on a shorter schedule. I also read that for EE's, a green egg is just a blue egg with a brown wash on it that can vary in intensity.
Ergo, I think I can conclude that the medium olive and medium bluish green eggs are from the same hen. The medium bluish green eggs have a very distinctive pyramidal shape, and the olive ones are fairly similar - though not too obviously similar, which is why I was confused at first. I've also gotten a blue and an olive in the same day twice (though it's possible that one or both of those times the blue was laid late the night before).
At first I thought the large brown egg was from the red star and the large speckled was from the black star. I've never gotten them both the same day though. The large brown egg has a distinctive swirl on the end usually, which the speckled doesn't have. But, I looked closely at the two today, there are some identical indentations on the side and end from the oviduct that support the conclusion that they are from the same hen. Is that possible to get two such different-appearing eggs from the same bird? And then just to confuse matters, I then assumed the red star was doing both of those. However, today I collected eggs and found her in the nestbox looking like she wanted to lay. Under her was a medium bluish green egg I assumed was from another chicken earlier. I came back 30 minutes later expecting a large brown or speckled egg but found... a medium brown egg?
Best conclusion...
Egg + chicken:
small brown = small BR mix
small olive = small EE
medium olive, medium bluish green = medium EE
large brown, large brown with speckles = black star
medium brown, medium brown with speckles = red star
So, is this possible or have I missed something? I can post pictures of chickens and eggs and give more details about what eggs I got what day if needed. This seems like information overload already though.
Thanks in advance for any comments!
After a recent decimation of my original flock by a neighbor dog, I got 3 approximately year-old hens from Craigslist and two 1-2 year old hens from a friend. They are in a separate coop for quarantining from my two remaining original Wyandottes. The Craigslist hens came with two roosters whom I have rehomed, so there's been a lot of upheaval in their lives over the last two weeks. They are also kinda small and scrawny. They are, however, laying again, and seem to be adjusting well to better food and less rooster attention. They are on layer feed and greens from the garden with occasional kitchen scraps.
Chicken specifics:
Craigslist ghettohens - 2 easter egger/?EE mix (one very small, one medium chicken), one barred rock mix (small ?bantam)
Friend hens - one black star, one red star
So, I have 5 different hens. I expected small to medium blue/green eggs from the EE's, small brown eggs from the little BR mix, and large brown eggs from the red and black stars.
However, I'm getting at least 8 distinctly different types of eggs, and I'm confused as to who is laying what. About a week ago, I started a spreadsheet of what color/size eggs I'm getting at what times (yes, I'm a little obsessive, why do you ask?). And just for comparison, my one Wyandotte who just started laying has a pretty consistent brown egg that is very slowly getting larger as she lays longer.
Egg specifics:
small brown
small olive
medium olive
large brown
large light brown with very dark dramatic speckles
medium bluish green
medium brown with some mild speckles
?medium brown (unsure if this is just a larger than usual small brown egg, but are new in the last few days)
I read a lot of places that said that eggs can gradually lighten until molting time, and then they darken up again, but nobody's really confirming that egg appearance can be variable on a shorter schedule. I also read that for EE's, a green egg is just a blue egg with a brown wash on it that can vary in intensity.
Ergo, I think I can conclude that the medium olive and medium bluish green eggs are from the same hen. The medium bluish green eggs have a very distinctive pyramidal shape, and the olive ones are fairly similar - though not too obviously similar, which is why I was confused at first. I've also gotten a blue and an olive in the same day twice (though it's possible that one or both of those times the blue was laid late the night before).
At first I thought the large brown egg was from the red star and the large speckled was from the black star. I've never gotten them both the same day though. The large brown egg has a distinctive swirl on the end usually, which the speckled doesn't have. But, I looked closely at the two today, there are some identical indentations on the side and end from the oviduct that support the conclusion that they are from the same hen. Is that possible to get two such different-appearing eggs from the same bird? And then just to confuse matters, I then assumed the red star was doing both of those. However, today I collected eggs and found her in the nestbox looking like she wanted to lay. Under her was a medium bluish green egg I assumed was from another chicken earlier. I came back 30 minutes later expecting a large brown or speckled egg but found... a medium brown egg?
Best conclusion...
Egg + chicken:
small brown = small BR mix
small olive = small EE
medium olive, medium bluish green = medium EE
large brown, large brown with speckles = black star
medium brown, medium brown with speckles = red star
So, is this possible or have I missed something? I can post pictures of chickens and eggs and give more details about what eggs I got what day if needed. This seems like information overload already though.
Thanks in advance for any comments!
