Reoccurring Egg Color Mystery

[GracieKatt]

Ok, so I have only two hens that are laying right now. I know this for a fact. My oldest hen is a tiny silkie who lays small, pointy eggs and she is raising chicks right now and hasn’t laid once since she went broody. My Buff Orpington has always laid these smooth, even pinkish-brown eggs and my other laying hen is a barnyard mix that has always laid these plain old cream/tan color eggs.

Today I collected their eggs and I collected two days before that and two days before that. On all three of these occasions I have collected four eggs (pictured) and on all three occasions I have collected two of the cream/tan eggs, one of the rosy brown eggs, and a fourth mystery egg that is just plain light brown with some fine darker brown speckles, no pinkish tinge, AND the shell of this egg is much weaker than the shells of the other three eggs.

The only explanation I can come up with is that my Orpington has taken to consistently laying an egg of a different color and shell strength approximately every other day. But I feel like that’s kinda far-fetched. Is it?

Photo: the two eggs at the bottom are definitely laid by the young barnyard mix hen. The one at top right is the same egg the Buff Orpington has always laid. The one at top left is the mystery egg which is a slightly different color and totally different shell texture than the one the Orpington always lays.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

How many hens do you have altogether?

 

[GracieKatt]

How many hens do you have altogether?

I’m sorry! Honestly I forgot I made this post. I have only three adult hens and my silkie isn’t laying and I would absolutely know if any of the eggs were hers. They’re little.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So you have a barnyard mix that lays a light brown egg every day (hence you get 2 of these when you gather every other day).

And you have a Buff Orpington who lays the dark brown or rosy egg at top right in the picture, every other day...

And you have a Silkie that's not laying at all.

And that's all the chickens you have, right?

So your question is, who laid the egg by your thumb? Is that right?

 

[NewcoopNewpoop]

I would try and check your eggs daily if not multiple times a day and supervise as much as you can. I think sometimes eggs can change color when exposed to air, but also it would give you a better idea of who is laying and when.