Understanding egg color

[KARy408]

Oh what a magical and crazy ride this egg laying business is!

I'm pretty sure all 4 of my Pekins are laying now. The color has started to fade from the tip of all their beaks, and two have developed the black freckles so I know they were the first and/or are my 2 best layers.

As all their eggs have gotten more regular, I've noticed 2 distinct colors! Some are a beautiful, creamy, pastel brown color, whereas others are cooler in color, almost greenish and I'd say less opaque or consistent overall, sometimes scratchy looking.

As I understand it, with both eggs this coloring is the bloom, right? If I scrub them hard, they all go stark white (but I've been avoiding this). This is what qualifies as a "tinted" egg, correct?

I'm also wondering if you are able to identify the egg layer based on this info? Are some of my girls laying one color with some laying the other color? Or perhaps the better/longer layers are giving me the creamy brown ones?
Just wondering what the general opinion around here is I guess.

 

[chooks4life]

Oh what a magical and crazy ride this egg laying business is!

I'm pretty sure all 4 of my Pekins are laying now. The color has started to fade from the tip of all their beaks, and two have developed the black freckles so I know they were the first and/or are my 2 best layers.

As all their eggs have gotten more regular, I've noticed 2 distinct colors! Some are a beautiful, creamy, pastel brown color, whereas others are cooler in color, almost greenish and I'd say less opaque or consistent overall, sometimes scratchy looking.

As I understand it, with both eggs this coloring is the bloom, right? If I scrub them hard, they all go stark white (but I've been avoiding this). This is what qualifies as a "tinted" egg, correct?

I'm also wondering if you are able to identify the egg layer based on this info? Are some of my girls laying one color with some laying the other color? Or perhaps the better/longer layers are giving me the creamy brown ones?
Just wondering what the general opinion around here is I guess.

Yes. Egg shape, size, coloring, spotting, any traits you can observe, are all very strongly heritable. Most females remain very consistent with egg type (once they've reached their final egg size), provided they're on a diet that gives them sufficient nutrition to color both their bodies and eggs according to their true phenotype. Since yours are fading that's not too likely so they can be subject to change in event of getting the full spectrum of nutrients. (Not saying the diet they're on isn't decent, just that normally what is sold as a 'complete diet' is actually bereft of many nutrients required for complete health and longevity since it's expected the animals will be culled young so only need to survive a short time, which doesn't require a full complement of nutrients, just short-term survival rations.)
Best wishes.

 

[KARy408]

Thank you Chooks, this all very interesting to me! I feel like I'm conducting a science experiment in middle school again LOL! I'll have to start keeping an egg diary soon...do people do that? My husband already thinks I'm obsessed...

I'm not too worried about my Duck's nutrition as they are quite spoiled! They're onNon GMO layers rations, but you have to supplement that for Ducks specific needs so they also get a good amount of Nuritional yeast mixed in. I also add a waterfowl vitamin booster to their drinking water every other day or so, and in addition they get a lot of meal worms and dark leafy greens as treats. Everything I've read about duck keeping indicates the color change on the beak to be totally normal. In Pekins I read it's how you identify your better layers, and I know with other breeds the beak actually gets darker as the laying season progresses.

 

[chooks4life]

That's interesting, I was wondering if it was different for ducks than chooks.

Yes, an animal journal is always a very good idea, and egg records are one of the vital bits of info to log away. More so if you want to maintain a strain or family lines' productivity, but then again even with pets you'll always end up with some emergency where you really needed to know who laid what last... It's the sort of thing that becomes important when (and how) you least expect it and those animal journals can be invaluable when you least expect it, lifesavers even.

Best wishes.