Mystery breed laying multiple colored eggs?

[ADuckingMess]

Hello all!

Two weeks ago, I was given 4 hens and a mess of quail. The 4 hens are barnyard mix but I suspect mixed Marans due to their coloration, temperament, and feathered legs.

Each day the ladies lay one beautiful brown egg until yesterday when there was a green one in the mix.

Before they joined us, they were not foraging or free range and are now. I did slowly introduce them to the ducks and they quickly accepted each other and all bop around together but are in separate coops at night.

All of this to ask: is the green egg most likely genetic or can it be caused from a bloom or change in diet and foraging?

Thank you so much!!

 

[rural mouse]

Genetic.

A brown egg is a white shell, coated in brown pigment (like a paint sprayer). A green egg is a blue shell coated in the brown pigment. When you use the green egg, peel the white membrane out of it.

The 3 brown eggs look like they all came from the same hen. The green definitely came from another hen. If you got all 4 in one day, then all 4 ladies are laying. If over the course of several days, then at least 2 are laying.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Hello all!

Two weeks ago, I was given 4 hens and a mess of quail. The 4 hens are barnyard mix but I suspect mixed Marans due to their coloration, temperament, and feathered legs.

Each day the ladies lay one beautiful brown egg until yesterday when there was a green one in the mix.

Before they joined us, they were not foraging or free range and are now. I did slowly introduce them to the ducks and they quickly accepted each other and all bop around together but are in separate coops at night.

All of this to ask: is the green egg most likely genetic or can it be caused from a bloom or change in diet and foraging?

Thank you so much!!
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One of the birds for sure is a mix, that is why you are getting a green egg. Foraging and bloom do not alter egg color like that.