We have green eggs and brown eggs...Why?

[JenJenWv]

Well, our June chicks finally started laying this week. On Monday afternoon, we got a little brown egg in the nest box. Same on Tuesday afternoon. Nothing Wednesday. And this morning, we had two eggs! One brown and one green. The green egg surprised me because I figured they would all lay the same. They look just alike and are hatched from the same mother. What makes a chicken an Easter egger? I was hoping we'd get colorful eggs, but had no idea what kind of chickens we have because they were given to us by friends whose mama chicken didn't want to raise them. When we had the brown egg on Monday, I figured they would all lay brown. So the green egg was a pleasant surprise. But I'm just curious if there is any way to tell ahead of time if one is an EE because to me all four hens look just alike. Will this automatically pass on in her offspring? Or does the rooster need to be an EE too and how could you tell?

Hope somebody can shed some chicken light on the subject for me!

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Well the mom was most likely sitting on eggs that were not all hers or perhaps the Dad had the Easter Egger in him. What you can know is that at least one hen will always lay a brown egg and at least one hen will always lay a green egg. You have a surprise waiting to find out what the others will lay.

And yes, the Hen that is laying the green egg, could pass that on to her babies.

Were are the PICS of your babies, maybe someone can give you an indication of which one might be laying a green egg.

Do any of them have dark colored legs, almost green.

 

[JenJenWv]

A couple of the roosters have dark colored legs, but the hens all have yellow legs. They are mostly white with a little black on them.

Here's some shots of them. We only have four hens out of ten chicks. Need to do something soon with extra roosters, but they haven't really bothered each other so far. I took these pictures when I was still trying to figure out hens and roosters. Same rooster in the top and bottom shot, I believe, but he has dark greenish legs as does one other. And I think I got shots of all four hens in there. Chickens don't make great models! They move around more than children.

 

[msgenie516]

Hi,

I'm just curious, is the hen in the foreground in the fourth picture the one that laid the green egg? She is a different color but she kind of looks like one of mine that lays a green egg and I'm not sure if she is really an Easter Egger, too. It is the shape of the head that is similar to mine.

Enjoy your green eggs! Genie

 

[Jenlyn9483]

IMO they could all be EE's that Rooster DEFINITELY has EE written all over him. The ones that lay brown eggs could have some delware in them..Some of them have the black speckled looking hackles of Delewares..

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Quote:
My mother a EE/BSL cross that looks almost just like a Delaware.

Every one of those chickens just screams EE to me.

 

[JenJenWv]

Quote:
I don't have any idea which ones are laying. All I have figured out so far is that we have at least two laying. They just started this week--we've had three brown eggs and one green so far. We're just so thrilled to finally be getting some eggs! Is there more to a chicken being an Easter Egger than the color they lay?

So if we wanted to raise some chicks from these chickens and keep the colored eggs going, that rooster would be a good bet as a keeper?

 

[msgenie516]

Quote:
Unfortunately, I know very little about this and I have no idea if the rooster would be a good one to breed to get Easter Egger chicks. I do think that most any hen that lays green eggs would be considered an Easter Egger as I don't think it is a true "breed".

However, I have noticed some similarities among chickens that lay the green eggs, the shape of the head being one and small combs and wattles being another. These are only my observations, for what they're worth!

The one I have I purchased purely by chance but thought it was a bit odd-looking from the start. And when she started laying green eggs, I was both surprised and delighted! Here is her picture:

Enjoy your pretty chickens! Genie

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Yeah - That Roo is definately a EE.

 

[msgenie516]

Quote:
Hi,

I am really trying to learn about these chickens. Since I have a green egg laying chicken, I would love to know what you see in that rooster that makes you say he is so very "EE". I am not at all sure what to look for. Thanks for any help! Genie