Strange egg color

[Invision]

These two eggs are from the same Coturnix, anyone know why they are different? Or has anyone seen this?

 

[familyfarm1]

Weird!! But cool.

 

[dc3085]

If you were to dissect a hen you'd see that the eggs form in a series in the ovaduct. There are usually 4 or 5 eggs forming inside a healthy quail hen. Sometimes one of the eggs moves through the process to fast or too slow and comes out miscolored. That color is actually pretty normal for coturnix hens.

 

[Quailsong]

Cots can lay quite a variety of colours, even from the same hen or strain. A while back I started saving the 'weirdest' of the bunch to take a photo of them all together. Enjoy.



My quail normally lay eggs which looked like the ones on the far left/right. The top & bottom range is much rarer, usually during days of stress (summer heat, storms, etc) or change (after changing the litter). Though I can sometimes tell by the pattern who laid what. Like the bottom egg on the left of the pure white one. That one was laid by a little golden/wild mix I had. She almost always laid that pattern.