The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[CourtsCacklers]

And yet ... my green Easter Egger eggs are green through and through. Sure, if the egg tends toward "olive," then it will get lighter when I wash it, but the inside of the shell will still be green, not blue. My "bluest" eggs aren't very blue. Kinda pale blue. The intensity of the colors fade over time.

Like I said....I have "zero" experience with Easter Eggers-- I made a big breakfast for supper here last night so just for kicks and giggles I looked at the insides/outsides of 18 BROWN eggs that I cracked open last night and even though the inside of all of the eggs appear white (or very light) some are noticably darker than others when examined.... if the theory in the book was right-- then maybe some of the "bloom" does affect inside color making yours more green in the inside? Just a thought.... Are they the same shade green in the inside as they are on the outside? I have a close friend that has EE's (all from the same hatchery) and some lay blue and some lay green...all of his blues are very light blues...

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I must have missed it but why is the inside of the shell color important?
Does it indicate a healthier chicken if the inside has a colored lining?

 

[CourtsCacklers]

Originally Posted by LeslieDJoyce


And yet ... my green Easter Egger eggs are green through and through. Sure, if the egg tends toward "olive," then it will get lighter when I wash it, but the inside of the shell will still be green, not blue. My "bluest" eggs aren't very blue. Kinda pale blue. The intensity of the colors fade over time.

Also-- when you said "the intensity of the colors fade over time" Did you mean over the life of the chicken? or over the time of a single egg? Even brown-egg layers intensity of color on their eggs gets lighter and lighter over the course of their lifespan....hmmmm

 

[aoxa]

I must have missed it but why is the inside of the shell color important?
Does it indicate a healthier chicken if the inside has a colored lining?

Someone thought blue eggs from EEs and Ameraucanas differ by the inside colour of the egg.

I thought blue eggs were the only shell colour that was through and through, but looking through images I was wrong. Some brown eggs are, and green too.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
ohh that makes a bit more sense.

 

[lalaland]

and even better info: http://www.communitychickens.com/2013/03/all-about-egg-color.html#.Utbb5VWzKpg


the article mentions a plum colored egg - oh my!

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Booster Comb Pic updates: Really no change Here's two weeks later, pretty much looks the same to me. He will clearly lose his tips, perhaps some from his wattles. It remains dry and looks ok to me. thats a white speck on the wall, not something dripping from his nostrils.

Do you have to trim the parts that stay black or does it fall off?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Also-- when you said "the intensity of the colors fade over time" Did you mean over the life of the chicken? or over the time of a single egg? Even brown-egg layers intensity of color on their eggs gets lighter and lighter over the course of their lifespan....hmmmm

Originally Posted by LeslieDJoyce


And yet ... my green Easter Egger eggs are green through and through. Sure, if the egg tends toward "olive," then it will get lighter when I wash it, but the inside of the shell will still be green, not blue. My "bluest" eggs aren't very blue. Kinda pale blue. The intensity of the colors fade over time.

When I get "a new egg", meaning a small egg of an unfamiliar shape/color so probably from a new layer or a hen returning to lay after taking a break, the color of the shell is more intense than the colors the "same" bird's shells will be later in "the season." I have too many birds to know for sure who lays what egg, but there is variety in egg shapes that I "recognize" when I'm washing the eggs -- each hen has a signature egg shape that seems to increase in size and become more blunt over the course of "the season", but more on point to this conversation, the vibrancy of my baskets/cartons fades over the course of "the season."

None of my birds are very old, and some are new layers this winter, but this is true for the eggs that stand out (darker brown eggs from the Cuckoo Marans, or Blue/Green from the EEs). AND ... just to add one more noodle to the soup, the older birds in my flock went through a shocking molt this year, and I'm not recognizing egg shapes as well as birds return to lay ... many of the eggs seem more blunt after this molt, and the colors may have shifted a bit as well. The eggs in my basket are generally bigger now. Even the "tiny" ones weigh "small" or "medium" weights on the scale, so my perspective is shifting toward being accustomed to larger eggs (can't always close the cartons).

I had some REALLY bright green eggs at first. Almost Kelly Green. I thought those were super cool, but knew they wouldn't last. Can't remember now if they were chicken or duck eggs ... hmmmm. Would be super cool to get a blue of the same intensity as that green.

 

[lalaland]

Do you have to trim the parts that stay black or does it fall off?

should just fall off. I wouldn't do any trimming, but I've heard some breeders will dub combs that they think are too susceptible to frostbite as a preventative measure. Combs tend to bleed alot.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Quote:
I agree for my present EEs.... but had green egg shells outside and white inside in the past with EE.