Is there truly a BLUE egg?

[Perris]

My hens have always layed what I consider a pale mint green egg, and I have read all about other chicken owners that get blue eggs. Yet the photos they show look pale green to me.

There may be another issue here - colour perception. The blue-green boundary is notoriously ambiguous. There have been quite a lot of studies in which people are shown colour charts and asked to name a given sample, and there is a big cross-over between blue and green, i.e. what some people see as and call blue others see as and call green. There's a good intro to the issues in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue–green_distinction_in_language

 

[sawilliams]

Also with blue eggs the inside and outside of the shell will be the same color because there is no brown that's been added late in laying.

This^

As it was explained to me a blue egg gets its color the same why a white egg does (well except the color of course), it's part of the inital shelling process. When you crack a brown egg it's white inside when you crack a green egg is blue inside. White and blue are the shell colors. Browns and reds are more like a dye overlay though red is more typically part of the bloom. You have either a white egg or a blue egg with or without brown dye and with or without red bloom (all eggs have bloom some red some not).

So if you have a blue egg and you crack it pull the membrane from the inside. If the outside and inside color is the same (as like in a white egg) then it's a true blue. If the outside is darker or greener then the inside you have a green egg (or a blue egg with brown dye). Same as a tan or brown egg but inside of blue the inside is white.

 

[jolenesdad]

What pretty birds!!! They may be Easter Eggers. I’d find a breeder with true blue layers and go see if THAT blue still looks green to you. If it does then it’s perception. If it does finally look blue you haven’t had a 100% pure bird yet.

 

[aart]

There may be another issue here - colour perception. The blue-green boundary is notoriously ambiguous. There have been quite a lot of studies in which people are shown colour charts and asked to name a given sample, and there is a big cross-over between blue and green, i.e. what some people see as and call blue others see as and call green. There's a good intro to the issues in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue–green_distinction_in_language

Yes!
As well as the vagaries of different cameras, the lighting the pics are taken in ...and different computers.
My bluest eggs came from EE's (sold as ameraucanas but were not).
My CCL eggs are not as blue as I'd hoped.

 

[oregonkat]

Black Copper Marans lay the darkest eggs in the business. Welsummers lay a medium dark egg in comparison. I no longer have my Wellie, she got eaten by a bear but her egg was a medium milk chocolate brown. Here is a pic of one of my egg cartons: The blue eggs one of top of the other bottom right are CCL eggs, the eggs immediately adjacent are Isbar green eggs: The darkest brown egg in there is a BCM egg but not the darkest they can get by any means, and the brown egg at the top left is a Cuckoo Marans egg.

 

[cake lady hen lover]

Black Copper Marans lay the darkest eggs in the business. Welsummers lay a medium dark egg in comparison. I no longer have my Wellie, she got eaten by a bear but her egg was a medium milk chocolate brown. Here is a pic of one of my egg cartons: The blue eggs one of top of the other bottom right are CCL eggs, the eggs immediately adjacent are Isbar green eggs: The darkest brown egg in there is a BCM egg but not the darkest they can get by any means, and the brown egg at the top left is a Cuckoo Marans egg.
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Thank you so much for sharing your egg carton pic! I see the difference between the EE eggs and the CCL eggs, the legbar eggs seem to lean a little more towards blue. My Welsummer is gone now too, can't wait to get another Copper Maran though. Do the black copper maran's have darker eggs than other marans? Thanks!

 

[aart]

Do the black copper maran's have darker eggs than other marans?

They do...

Black Copper Marans lay the darkest eggs in the business.

But...
not all BCM will lay super dark eggs...depends on the 'line' of the birds.

 

[oregonkat]

not all BCM will lay super dark eggs...depends on the 'line' of the birds.

Too true, which is precisely why the breeders with the darkest eggs can ask and receive huge amounts of money for hatching eggs!
@cake lady hen lover here is the chart for color comparison for Marans eggs. It is worth visiting the BCM thread on BYC just for interest!

It seems like most of us move around in the 3 - 6 range. But how about those 7 - 9 colors?? Extraordinary, yes?

 

[aart]

But how about those 7 - 9 colors?? Extraordinary, yes?

Oh, man, I WISH!!
I have a full Marans at 3 and a Marans mix at almost 4.
My full marans is not the greatest of specimens...local backyard breeder.

 

[oregonkat]

Yes, me too! My BCM girls are all very beautiful and I have not bothered to see how close to the SOP they are but my eggs at the moment are at most a 4 at the top of the laying cycle. I was hoping for better with this new batch of pullets as they came from the darkest eggs that I could find (moderately locally) but even then, they were not anywhere close in color to the bottom row of the chart! There is a guy on the dreaded ebay that auctions his award winning BCM eggs, and they are very dark but good grief they go for masses amounts of money! I think I will just plod along with my own efforts and see if I get super lucky one of these days!