Surprise in the coop this morning!

[Chikn-Chik]

I know that egg shell colors can't exactly change but my eyes have witnessed a different theory. I have five hens, one is easter egger/rhode island, three are easter egger/golden comet, and the other one is easter egger/black sex link. The comet and sex link offspring lay a muddied greenish brown egg while the Rhode Island offspring lays a light brown egg. That has been the color of their eggs since they started laying, today in the coop I found a bright green-blue egg. The only thing different is that I switched them to purina layer. I had been feeding a local milled layer but had coupons and couldn't let them go to waste. I know what they eat can make the yolk richer in color but I've never experienced this in my many years of poultry raising.

Here is a picture of the eggs, the right is what color the eggs have been and the left is my surprise egg.

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[Ridgerunner]

In general, the egg shell is made with a base color, white or blue, and brown I laid on during the last period in the shell gland. If the egg is laid early, which sometimes happens, not all the brown gets laid on and you get a much lighter than usual egg. The difference in egg color is the difference in the brown. When you crack those, clean away the membrane on the inside of the shell and you can see what the base color is.

The different additives, like marigold petals, in the different chicken feeds are more likely to affect yolk color than shell color. I doubt the feed had anything to do with that, I think it was just laid early. It will be interesting to see if it repeats.