How many times a day do they lay and what happened to our Easter Eggers?

[JessicaPoff]

We have two Buff Orpingtons that always lay the pinkish brown eggs and we have two Easter Eggers that were laying the pretty Bluish green colored eggs. But we have noticed a change in our layers for the past 5 months and now we are struggling to know who laid what. They are also laying at different times and I know this sounds crazy but we either have a broody but not aggressive Buff Orpington or she is laying more than one time a day which I read that can't happen but it does not explain how come I can go out to our coop and get two brownish colored eggs and later go back out and she is laying on an egg that looks like she produced.
So my question is first off what caused our Easter Eggers to stop laying the pretty colored eggs and going to the brownish pink color OR is one of my buff orpingtons laying more than one egg a day? Every time I am out there she is laying down like she is laying another egg and she has that look in her eye of concentration and when she gets up there is an egg. I go back out a little while later and she is back at it again.

 

[black_cat]

Chickens will only lay one egg a day. I'm not an expert on this, but maybe the bloom on the eggs has changed, giving them a different appearance?

 

[JessicaPoff]

Chickens will only lay one egg a day. I'm not an expert on this, but maybe the bloom on the eggs has changed, giving them a different appearance?

Can you explain what you mean by the bloom on the egg? Is this food related? Do I need to try a different feed?

 

[Aapomp831]

Can you explain what you mean by the bloom on the egg? Is this food related? Do I need to try a different feed?

Feed has nothing to do with egg color. The bloom is the protective coating that keeps bacteria out of the egg - and also contains the pigment. From my understanding, this pigment is limited and fades as the egg cycle matures.... I would have to read up on it again but I remember reading something like that. I have Black Sex Links and their eggs go from light brown to darker brown and then lighten up again as the molt comes nearer.

@aart knows more about this than I do.

 

[janiedoe]

Easter eggers are mixed breeds so the makeup of the parent stock affects their laying ability. Some are great layers for life, some lay well for the first couple of years and then slack off. Mine love to hide their eggs all over the run and the yard. You may have a hidden stache somewhere. They may also be molting and not laying. Up your protein in that case.
Chickens need about 24 hours between eggs. Your orpington may be going broody but she may just like sitting in the nesting box. One of my girls likes to go in and sit after every hen leaves the box. She isn't broody and has never been but she loves the nest.
The bloom is the protective coating on the egg. It can look darker or shinier but doesn't change the basic egg color. It is darker at the beginning of a cycle as @Aapomp831 says.
How old are your layers?

 

[JessicaPoff]

Easter eggers are mixed breeds so the makeup of the parent stock affects their laying ability. Some are great layers for life, some lay well for the first couple of years and then slack off. Mine love to hide their eggs all over the run and the yard. You may have a hidden stache somewhere. They may also be molting and not laying. Up your protein in that case.
Chickens need about 24 hours between eggs. Your orpington may be going broody but she may just like sitting in the nesting box. One of my girls likes to go in and sit after every hen leaves the box. She isn't broody and has never been but she loves the nest.
The bloom is the protective coating on the egg. It can look darker or shinier but doesn't change the basic egg color. It is darker at the beginning of a cycle as @Aapomp831 says.
How old are your layers?

They are not quite one yet.

 

[black_cat]

Easter eggers are mixed breeds so the makeup of the parent stock affects their laying ability. Some are great layers for life, some lay well for the first couple of years and then slack off. Mine love to hide their eggs all over the run and the yard. You may have a hidden stache somewhere. They may also be molting and not laying. Up your protein in that case.
Chickens need about 24 hours between eggs. Your orpington may be going broody but she may just like sitting in the nesting box. One of my girls likes to go in and sit after every hen leaves the box. She isn't broody and has never been but she loves the nest.
The bloom is the protective coating on the egg. It can look darker or shinier but doesn't change the basic egg color. It is darker at the beginning of a cycle as @Aapomp831 says.
How old are your layers?

I thought that it does change the egg color?

 

[MissMonty]

I have a hen that this past fall she was pretty regularly laying two eggs a day. Its uncommon but possible. Often the eggs will be soft shelled or not quite right but in my case the eggs were perfect. I know it was her because at the time she was the only chicken (she got dumped on our farm). Then it continued when we got her some friends because then we had 3 chickens and got 4 eggs almost daily.

So it is possible, not at all common but it is possible. I have never heard of a huge vast sudden change in egg color. Over time they may slightly change the tint they're laying but it wouldn't go from blue to brown for example, especially not at a fast pace like the time frame you mentioned

 

[Finnie]

We have two Buff Orpingtons that always lay the pinkish brown eggs and we have two Easter Eggers that were laying the pretty Bluish green colored eggs. But we have noticed a change in our layers for the past 5 months and now we are struggling to know who laid what. They are also laying at different times and I know this sounds crazy but we either have a broody but not aggressive Buff Orpington or she is laying more than one time a day which I read that can't happen but it does not explain how come I can go out to our coop and get two brownish colored eggs and later go back out and she is laying on an egg that looks like she produced.
So my question is first off what caused our Easter Eggers to stop laying the pretty colored eggs and going to the brownish pink color OR is one of my buff orpingtons laying more than one egg a day? Every time I am out there she is laying down like she is laying another egg and she has that look in her eye of concentration and when she gets up there is an egg. I go back out a little while later and she is back at it again.

Do you know for sure that both EEs were laying blue-green eggs? Maybe it’s possible that only one of them lays blue and the other lays brown.

 

[JessicaPoff]

Do you know for sure that both EEs were laying blue-green eggs? Maybe it’s possible that only one of them lays blue and the other lays brown.

No, they both were at one time. The first time they laid there would be two greenish blue eggs and two brownish pinks a day. Which indicated to me that all of my layers were laying. But when the weather turned colder, the egg color changed and now we are getting three a day now. All brownish pink.