Photos of Rhode Island Red and/or Sex Link eggs from different hatcheries, please!

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I'm on a quest to find the most beautiful colored deep brown egg from the most prolific hen. So far, my favorite egg color is from Eggland's Best Organic Brown Eggs. I called up EB, and they told me that they only use RIR--but wouldn't tell me where they get them. My RSL from Meyer lays a paler brown egg, and judging from their catalog, their RIR lays the same wimpy-colored paler brown eggs.

If you have any photos of your brown eggs from production birds from different hatcheries, photos would help me out a whole bunch! Thank you, thank you!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMO you won't get a deep brown egg from a production type chicken.
Marans, Penedesencas, Empordanesas, Welsummers and some lines of Barnevelders lay very dark eggs. Some lines of Langshans lay a little darker egg too. However if they aren't bred well and selected for egg color, it can be lost in a very few generations.
All the breeds I listed lay in the range of 150-200 a year.

These are my penedesenca eggs with a jaer egg for contrast



This was the first batch of Penedesenca eggs I ever put in the incubator





The lone dark egg all the way at the back is my Penedesenca. The 2 dark eggs in the second row and the entire 3rd row are different varieties of Marans. They were from very good lines but the new breeder didn't select well and she lost the dark color.



These are Penedesenca eggs sitting on my counter now.


I had a Welsummer that laid eggs about the color of the last picture.

ETA

None of the eggs in the above pictures are from hatchery stock. Most are my eggs and all mine came from breeders. A lot of the eggs in the turner picture are from another breeder.

The European standard for a Penedesenca egg is that it must be an intense reddish maroon.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm on a quest to find the most beautiful colored deep brown egg from the most prolific hen. So far, my favorite egg color is from Eggland's Best Organic Brown Eggs. I called up EB, and they told me that they only use RIR--but wouldn't tell me where they get them. My RSL from Meyer lays a paler brown egg, and judging from their catalog, their RIR lays the same wimpy-colored paler brown eggs.

If you have any photos of your brown eggs from production birds from different hatcheries, photos would help me out a whole bunch! Thank you, thank you!

Eggland's Best and all the other big egg companies get their birds from hatcheries like Hy-Line that only cater to the big companies that buy tens of thousands of chicks at a time. They don't sell to you and I.
They do not buy from the likes of Meyer, Cackle, Murray McMurray, Ideal, etc.. Those companies primary customers are small holders.

In addition the genetics of those chickens that are raised for the egg industry are closely held corporate secrets.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Eggland's Best and all the other big egg companies get their birds from hatcheries like Hy-Line that only cater to the big companies that buy tens of thousands of chicks at a time. They don't sell to you and I.
They do not buy from the likes of Meyer, Cackle, Murray McMurray, Ideal, etc.. Those companies primary customers are small holders.

In addition the genetics of those chickens that are raised for the egg industry are closely held corporate secrets.

Sure, but that doesn't stop me from finding the best-colored egg I can. Any photos on this thread will come from backyard flock holders, not companies, right? So stands to reason that I can buy any strain of chicken that other people on this site can.

Also, Meyer supplies RSL to large hatcheries by the millions. Just because a hatchery supplies larger customers doesn't mean that they don't also want smaller customers, too. I just wish I liked the Meyer RSL egg color better, because I'm a fan of the chickens themselves.

I have some Marans that lay a lovely dark egg, but the eggs are smaller and few and far between. If there is a commercial production bird available to backyard flock owners that lays a darker egg, I'd like to know about it. Therefore, I started this thread.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I understand your point. I just tried to answer your questions to the best of my ability based on nearly 60 years with chicken breeds and work with the egg industry.

ETA
My Black Penedesencas lay huge eggs. Regularly in the 60 to 75 gram range. They take a fair break during and after molt but from mid February to mid September they lay pretty much every day.

 

[popsicle]

My Black Sex Links from Cackle lay fairly dark eggs, and they were the first to hit point-of-lay in this year's group of chicks.
In the photo, the egg in the front and all the way to the right is from one of my Cackle BSL--it's next to a Cuckoo Marans egg (also from Cackle).

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

My Black Sex Links from Cackle lay fairly dark eggs, and they were the first to hit point-of-lay in this year's group of chicks.
In the photo, the egg in the front and all the way to the right is from one of my Cackle BSL--it's next to a Cuckoo Marans egg (also from Cackle).

YES!!! That's the color! All my RSL lay the color of the egg just in front of that one, far right top row. Cackle, huh... I've never ordered from them. Are they any good?

 

[popsicle]

Overall I'm very happy with Cackle, I'm planning on ordering from them again this spring. They produce some breeds better than others--but don't all hatcheries? You will of course also hear some negative reviews from some people, but again, all hatcheries have both glowing and terrible reviews.