Who laid this? BCM or OE

[meganne79]

good morning! I have both a Hatchery BCM and OE that look very similar (black with copper neck). One of them laid this egg this morning as their first egg. I do have a mixed flock but I watched her in the box so I'm 98% sure it was one of them. It's neither green nor dark! Is it likely to darken or change as they lay more or did I get a brown laying OE?!?! Or maybe a light laying BCM? Thanks!

 

[Indyshent]

Try the wait and see approach. Because the depth of the color is related to how long the egg spends in the oviduct, earlier eggs actually tend to be darker than ones laid later in the season. Granted, maybe something wonky happened and that's why the egg is odd in other ways. Also, pullets may loiter in nest boxes even weeks before they start laying, so it might not have been either of them. It's also possible that your olive egger or Marans is a black sex link, by the sounds of it, in which case, she would lay a normal brown egg.