Need a Quick answer about the egg colors, and how they are "formed"

[sloallie10]

So me and my family were discussing that there are only two egg colors, brown and white, and that to get the green and blue egg, a blue egg is a white egg, with a coat of______ what on it? And that a green egg is a brown (?) egg with a coat of _____ on it?? Can anyone please tell me if this is right, or correct me.. please.. :]

 

[gvntofly05]

your right on only being 2 egg colors but it's actually white and blue. If you crack open a blue egg the inside of the shell is also colored, just as a whit egg is white inside. Brown egg have their pigment painted on as they move through the oviduct. The coloring on brown eggs can be washed or scrubbed off to reveal the white egg underneath. When you crack a brown egg the inside shell is always white.

 

[Akane]

Not all brown eggs will wash off. No color comes off my dark brown eggs or my lighter barred rock eggs. My very dark brown eggs also aren't completely white inside. There are lots and lots of brown genes so saying there are only a couple colors isn't entirely accurate. Genetically there are lots of brown colors and one gene that makes the blue or green eggs. The blue gene on a white egg is just blue but combined with brown it makes green. The shade of brown determines the shade of green. So we have white, blue/green, and every brown shade from off white to pink to practically black depending what and how many genes they get.

 

[1birdlady]

We have Barred Rocks, and after reading this thread and the one above, I tried scrubbing the brown color off an egg laid this afternoon.

It did not wash off at all, and I used a scrubby sponge to really try!

But the shell is white inside, so go figger...

Interesting topic!

 

[sloallie10]

hmmm ok thanks. so there are only to egg colors really, blue and white, sooo a green egg it a blue egg with brown on it.. or?

 

[ArizonaNessa]

Yes there are two egg colors, white and blue

White = white with no pigment
Brown = white with brown pigment
Green = blue with brown pigment
Blue = blue with no pigment

Pigment happens towards the end of the egg production process. If you are to get a brown egg just as it is laid you might be able to rub off a little but probably not much if any at all. When I first learned this little bit of trivia I broke open 6 dozen eggs to disprove it but nope it's true. Now if you start crossing things up you could get oddly colored eggs but it still goes back to white and blue.

Edit: It still baffles me as to the usefulness of this little tidbit of information. I can't think of one single reason on the planet to need to know this

 

[Akane]

White is more of a lack of other colors. It means they don't have a blue/green or brown gene. Everything covers white. Green is blue with brown. There are lots of brown not just one gene or color which then makes lots of shades of green along with off white and pink. Anything not white or sky blue has at least one brown gene. I'm not sure if someone knows how many brown genes there are. I've never seen it in books or online.

Now this is an argument of semantics. I say brown is a color. The fact the inside of most eggs might be white does not negate brown eggs are brown. Genetically there is a color brown as well because there are brown genes.

 

[wjallen05]

Wow, very interesting (and slightly confusing).

So if I crossed my Ameraucana rooster with my Leghorn hens, the resulting female offspring will lay a blue egg?
And if I crossed my Ameraucana rooster with my Silkie hens, the resulting female offspring will (be adorable) and lay a green egg?

 

[ArizonaNessa]

If you cross a true ameraucana with anything you are passing on the blue egg gene so if you crossed with a brown egg layer you would end up with an EE that could potentially lay blue, green, or brown. If you crossed with a white egg layer then you will end up with an EE with blue and white egg gene and that bird would lay either white or blue but more likely white. But no matter what you cross a true Ameraucana with you are going to get an EE unless you crossed with another true Ameraucana.

If your ameraucana roo that you have came from a hatchery or a feed store then it is an EE and could be carrying any combo of color genes therefore anything you cross it with will come out with a chance of laying either white, blue, brown, or green because there is no way of knowing what colors he carries.

 

[wjallen05]

My Ameraucana is an Ameraucana, not an EE. I hatched him out from some eggs I bought from a breeder that has show stock.