Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Chickin Fairy]

So I have kinda a newbie question, but I'm curious about something. All my birds took a break this fall/winter in laying and they are just getting back into it. For now, only my Seabright and one Easter (Olive?) Egger are laying. The first egg my EE laid after her break was the blue one pictured here, the color slowly darkened until she laid her "normal" color, which is the dark brown one here. The two smaller ones are from my Seabright. These are her first eggs ever

So... why does this happen? How is there such a drastic color change? Diet has been exactly the same for the last couple of weeks because they haven't been able to free range.

 

[1muttsfan]

Blue egg color is incorporated in the shell of the egg. Brown egg color is laid on as an extra layer on the outside of the shell. So it took a little longer for the brown egg pigment mechanism to overlay the brown on the blue once she got back to laying.

 

[Chickin Fairy]

Blue egg color is incorporated in the shell of the egg. Brown egg color is laid on as an extra layer on the outside of the shell. So it took a little longer for the brown egg pigment mechanism to overlay the brown on the blue once she got back to laying.

That's fascinating. So basically, the one that is blue was laid quicker and the one that is brown spent more time developing? Or is it that the brown pigment mechanism wasn't quite calibrated when the blue one was coming through?

 

[Chickin Fairy]

Ah, well. Maybe next year, Lions.

 

[Sally PB]

Yeah. I'm still proud of them!

 

[Folly's place]

The Packers lost in close game, and so did the Lions. Blast it! Both teams did great, and there's next year...
Mary

 

[1muttsfan]

That's fascinating. So basically, the one that is blue was laid quicker and the one that is brown spent more time developing? Or is it that the brown pigment mechanism wasn't quite calibrated when the blue one was coming through?

So the eggshell itself is either blue or white, all the way through. Brown coloration is from an added layer on the outside of the shell. Your hen's brown egg laying mechanism probably just wasn't moving along yet when she started laying. It's not dependent on transit time.
Green eggs are blue eggs with variable amounts of brown coloration in the outside layer.
Just another miraculous thing about our feathery friends.

 

[MIchickenlady]

Why having birds with smaller combs and wattles makes sense up here in Michigan. Our two brown leghorn hens, our only birds with big combs, do have frostbitten comb tips. Nobody else has any problems.
And in freezing weather I no longer have an open water dish, after having two roosters freeze toes holding the edge and then having wet toes. Only two, over many years, but still too many.
Mary

Mary, you mentioned you dont use an open water dish, do you use the nipple waterers then?

 

[Folly's place]

We use the 'old style' metal waterers, with heated bases in winter.
Mary

 

[Sammster]

Are your girls back to laying, yet? I'm mostly still waiting. I have one girl who laid fairly regularly, all winter. But her eggs are fragile. She has a shell-gland issue. Sometimes her eggs go to the dogs. And I have one who lays maybe once or twice a week - out of eight girls. Four hens will be 3 years old in the spring. 4 hens will ne 2 years old. They are all RIRs.