egg colors

[hdowden]

what mix makes green eggs?? blue and white
what creates pink??
what about any other color??

 

[tadkerson]

There are genes for brown eggs

a gene for blue eggs (The blue egg gene and the white egg gene are actually alleles for those that understand)

a gene for white eggs.

eggs are either white or blue because of the genetics involved.

Chickens that lay:

white eggs have two genes for white egg ( no blue egg gene) and no brown egg genes.

brown eggs have 2 genes for white egg shell plus genes for brown egg shell.

blue eggs have one blue egg gene( plus a white egg gene) or two blue egg genes ( no genes for white egg) and no brown egg genes.

green eggs have one or two blue egg genes ( no genes for white egg) and brown egg genes.

Pink eggs are just a tinted brown egg. There are no pink egg genes.

Tim Adkerson

 

[1muttsfan]

There are 2 colors of egg shells, white and blue. Brown eggs are one of those two colored eggshells with brown pigment laid on the outside layer.
Brown eggs are white eggshells with brown pigment layed on top. Green eggs are blue eggshells with variable amount of brown pigment laid on top- the amount of brown pigment can vary from just a small amount, leading to light green eggs, to a heavier coating, which causes olive eggs.

 

[hdowden]

so to get green i should put a brown layer over a blue correct?

 

[hdowden]

what causes the tint on the brown to make them look pink? also what other colors could you get besides the ones listed if there are any other colors?

 

[tadkerson]

so to get green i should put a brown layer over a blue correct?

Yes.

I have never seen a pink egg they all look tinted to me.

Tim

 

[ChicKat]

Although a very light coating of the brown pigment may make an egg look pink---it is really a very light beige. Some eggs look cream, one poster on the BYC forum had an avatar with an egg that had such light brown pigment, it looked like a pearl.

Another variation for you to think about is the chickens that will lay spotted eggs. I think some Welsumers lay a brown egg with darker brown spots. Those are some interesting and pretty eggs. There is even a grocery near here that has brown eggs, with dark brown spots. For a couple of eggs my BPRs were laying light brown with spots (darker brown, some lavendar and some blue spots)....but they subsequently settled to solid colors.

 

[hdowden]

i would love to have a spotted egg layer that stayed spotted throughout the hens life and didn't turn to a solid color.

if i have a brown layer with eggs that look pink and breed her to a cochin what would their eggs be? would the resulting chicks lay "pink" ?

 

[Kaseykeepstrack]

We started getting spotted eggs last week and have suspected they are probably from our Welsumer, but wondered if the other possibility was our Maran. We've only been getting eggs for 2 weeks total and 3 of our 7 are laying. The others are plain brown eggs from our BR and our BO. I was out of town last week and my husband didn't pay much attention to who was in the box. They are so pretty!

 

[hdowden]

what color eggs will the chicks from a white leghorn and an EE lay