Was I lied to?

[TallChickMagnet]

This is getting more confusing because every other post contradicts the one before it....

 

[off-grid hen]

Well. This IS confusing. I don't have orpingtons-buff or otherwise. This hen has red earlobes, as someone said before, so she VERY likely lays brown or even light cream colored eggs. I do know for a fact that your other two hens are brown leghorns which lay a white egg. If your spouse says the egg is a tan/off white color, then maybe it is. But you could test it by putting the questionable egg next to eggs laid by the Leghorns on a piece of white copy paper and compare them.

Go to The breed section on this site or to feathersite.com and look up buff Orpington. It will give you specific info on the breed. They have very good photos as well, and you can compare other breeds as well. I don't know if feathersite has photos for production breeds like cinnamon queen or golden comet. If not then do a google image search. Look at how the tail stands or droops or whatever, leg color, comb shape, eyes, general posture/carriage. If she's a red sex link, she's very buff colored rather than obviously mixed with RI red. but as other said, she is slightly too reddish. It could be the angle of the sun when you took your photo? The worst case scenario, you tell people she's a "Buff Orpington Cross".

Edit- you could run the egg under lukewarm water, sometimes the very light brown eggs show their color better. I just came inside thinking i got 5 leghorn eggs,(I only have 4 birds) but one of my other girls laid a VERY light brown egg with a thin shell. When i washed it off, i could see little brown speckles on one end. Good luck.

 

[Maev]

You might have to resign yourself to never knowing for sure what you have. Better pictures might shed a little more light on her origins. But if she's a good hen who lays well, do you really care what breed she is? Good luck!