Should I be concerned if one of my hens keeps laying eggs like this?

[humblehillsfarm]

Thanks for making the clear. I have brown and blue shell producing chickens and some produce shells in colors in between. I'll watch them more carefully now to try to see what's going on.

I know you're correct and I was confused, however, because one of my Marans/Legbar crosses lays a shell that's olive on the outside but blue on the inside.

But (and not to distract from the OP's question) why aren't the blue shells so blue anymore? And my Sicilian Buttercup used to lay an egg that had almost a pink shell but I haven't see that as she's aged either.

An olive egg has a blue shell with a brown "paint" deposit on it. Brown eggs are white with brown paint. Olive eggs are blue with brown paint. Tinted/pink eggs I believe are just a light deposit of brown. If you scrub a brown or olive egg hard enough, you will be able to remove the paint. As a chicken progresses in a laying cycle, the brown deposit gets lighter and lighter. After molting, the first round of eggs will be darker.

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

Thanks for making the clear. I have brown and blue shell producing chickens and some produce shells in colors in between. I'll watch them more carefully now to try to see what's going on.

I know you're correct and I was confused, however, because one of my Marans/Legbar crosses lays a shell that's olive on the outside but blue on the inside.

But (and not to distract from the OP's question) why aren't the blue shells so blue anymore? And my Sicilian Buttercup used to lay an egg that had almost a pink shell but I haven't see that as she's aged either.

An olive egg is cause by a blue egg with brown paint on top. That’s why it’s blue in the inside, because the brown pigment only stains the outside.

 

[aart]

I think the OP's concern was with the wrinkled shell.

Wrinkled and cracked up.
Could be stress or disease or just a funky shell gland

Thanks for making the clear. I have brown and blue shell producing chickens and some produce shells in colors in between. I'll watch them more carefully now to try to see what's going on.
I know you're correct and I was confused, however, because one of my Marans/Legbar crosses lays a shell that's olive on the outside but blue on the inside.
But (and not to distract from the OP's question) why aren't the blue shells so blue anymore? And my Sicilian Buttercup used to lay an egg that had almost a pink shell but I haven't see that as she's aged either.

Start a new thread

If you scrub a brown or olive egg hard enough, you will be able to remove the paint.

Maybe for the really dark brown layers, coating can be scratched easily by bedding and toenails.
But you'd have to scrub pretty darn hard to get it all off.



There are only white and blue shells.
Brown eggs have brown coating on white shells.
Green eggs have brown coating on blue shells.
The brown coating can be very light or very dark, and can vary day to day.
Then the bloom can add another aspect to the egg color.
Pink/purplish eggs are from the bloom on a brown egg.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

All species of birds apply various pigments to their egg shells.
Most brown layers (and colors other than blue) apply the pigment after the shell formation is complete. The blue pigment in those birds with the blue egg gene appears to be applied as the calcium carbonate is being assembled in the uterus. Hence the interior of the shell being blue. Some birds with extremely dark pigments do the same and begin applying pigment early in the shell building process. One can rub/scrape the brown pigment off the shell of most brown eggs. However, with some of my eggs, that isn't possible because the pigment is throughout the shell depth.
Olive eggers are created by breeding a bird with the blue egg gene to a dark brown egg layer. Crossed with a light brown egg layer usually makes a khaki egg.
There are other colors of chicken eggs around the world like pink, orange and yellow.

Wrinkled and cracked up.
Could be stress or disease or just a funky shell gland
...

Funky for sure but a damaged shell gland (uterus) has a cause.