I've got four hens - A polish & I think a cochin (both over 1 yr old), a silver-laced wyandotte & a black sex-link (both 7-8 months old). This summer, I was getting off-white eggs from the polish (I actually got to see her lay the egg, so I know they were hers). None of the other girls were laying. The Polish stopped laying sometime in September. Well, yesterday, when I went to clean out the boxes, there were two light-brown eggs! I left them there, to watch the hens' reactions. The Polish went right to the eggs, & started attacking the other three birds! The wyandotte didn't know what to do, because her normal nest was being blocked by the Polish (she & the cochin normally share a box, & the Polish sleeps on the ground in front of the box.) They all finally went to sleep. My question is, do I have another layer in there or has the Polish's egg color changed? The summer white eggs & the winter brown eggs are about the same size. The beginning of this week they all started going back outside to graze on whatever grass was peaking through the snow & dead leaves. Before that, their diet was pretty much layer crumbles, BOSS, canned dog food & corn, & dry dog food. during the summer, they had whatever they could graze and/or catch to eat, the dog's dry food, & access to crumbles that they never ate.
