My EE's egg color changed?

[angelika]

Hi, I am new here, and to backyard chickens.

We adopted a flock of 3-1 year old hens. We were told they were Ameracauna, Red Sex Link and Black Sex Link. When we got the hens we got a green rounder egg, and two tan longer oval eggs. I attached a photo and a photo of the girls when they just arrived.

So we had a fox incident, and the RSL was sadly taken. Ever since, about a week ago, there are no more green eggs. I am pretty sure Daisy is laying, as there are two eggs in the same nest every other day. And they are different shapes. But the new eggs are pink. No more green. So was Ursula laying the green eggs? Or can my Americauna/ Easter Egger have changed?


Photos below, I hope!

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o289/deliasmiles/chickens.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o289/deliasmiles/Eggs.jpg

 

[Firekin1]

Hi, I am new here, and to backyard chickens.

We adopted a flock of 3-1 year old hens. We were told they were Ameracauna, Red Sex Link and Black Sex Link. When we got the hens we got a green rounder egg, and two tan longer oval eggs. I attached a photo and a photo of the girls when they just arrived.

So we had a fox incident, and the RSL was sadly taken. Ever since, about a week ago, there are no more green eggs. I am pretty sure Daisy is laying, as there are two eggs in the same nest every other day. And they are different shapes. But the new eggs are pink. No more green. So was Ursula laying the green eggs? Or can my Americauna/ Easter Egger have changed?


Photos below, I hope!

http://s123.photobucket.com/user/deliasmiles/slideshow/

Your photo's are password protected, but chickens will not change egg colors as it's their underlying genetics which determine colors.. Whatever color they start laying will be what they continue to lay.

 

[donrae]

Egg color doesn't change. Shape can change, I've had torpedo shaped eggs on and off. But color--white, blue or brown--is genetic. I guess it could be possible for a brown layer to "miss the paint" in a one-off thing, but not to just change to another color.

In the picture of your birds, I'm seeing what may be the black sex link, then what may be a buff Orpington? then an Easter egger. Unless the middle bird is a sex link, and she's quite a light color, I don't see a red sex link. Which bird in that picture was lost?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The shell of a hen's egg will not change color but it may undergo a dramatic lessening of that color up to and including a brown egg laying hen producing an egg with a pure white shell. Just like with the calcium in her bones a hen has only a finite reserve of pigmentation stored inside her body to impart to the outer shell of her eggs. I have never understood the importance some people place on the color of the outside of an egg. All hen eggshells are pure white both inside and out up until the last 30 minutes or so before being laid and only then is the outer pigment added.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The shell of a hen's egg will not change color but it may undergo a dramatic lessening of that color up to and including a brown egg laying hen producing an egg with a pure white shell. Just like with the calcium in her bones a hen has only a finite reserve of pigmentation stored inside her body to impart to the outer shell of her eggs. I have never understood the importance some people place on the color of the outside of an egg. All hen eggshells are pure white both inside and out up until the last 30 minutes or so before being laid and only then is the outer pigment added.

You may well have 3 four year old hens verses 3 one year old ones.

 

[angelika]

The red one is the one we lost. The big golden one is the one I thought was an EE. The black and red were supposedly sex links. The family we got them from bought them as chicks so they are sure about the age. I don't care so much that we no longer get the green eggs, it just doesn't make sense that Ursula, the red hawk like hen, was the green egg layer.

 

[angelika]

Egg color doesn't change. Shape can change, I've had torpedo shaped eggs on and off. But color--white, blue or brown--is genetic. I guess it could be possible for a brown layer to "miss the paint" in a one-off thing, but not to just change to another color.

In the picture of your birds, I'm seeing what may be the black sex link, then what may be a buff Orpington? then an Easter egger. Unless the middle bird is a sex link, and she's quite a light color, I don't see a red sex link. Which bird in that picture was lost?

OK, now it's starting to make sense. You think the red one on the right was the EE? I was told it was the plump girl in the middle. And that the two on the ends were sex link. And I'm new so I have no idea. Maybe they were wrong, Ursula was the EE and that is where my green eggs went? It's starting to make sense. I wonder what kind of chicken Daisy is then. The golden one in the middle? She is the friendliest.

 

[donrae]

The bird on the far right, with her head down, is definitely an Easter egger, she was your green egg layer. I don't know if you noticed in person, but she has a different type of comb than the other two girls, smaller and bumpy instead of large and pointy. Her comb is called a pea comb, and it's very closely linked genetically to blue or green eggs. The other girls have what's called a straight comb.

If you want, get a profile pic of your gold and black birds and we can confirm the breeds. Not that it really matters, but it's just cool to know sometimes.

 

[angelika]

Here you can see all three ok. And then one with just Daisy.

 

[donrae]

Your black hen looks more like an Australorp than a black sex link....bsl hens classically have red at the throat/chest and she appears solid black which is an Australorp trait.

Your big gold hen is a buff Orpington...the solid gold color plus the white/pink legs are the signs.