Who Lays Which Eggs w/picture

[OwensChickens]

Our flock of hens consists of:

2 @ Buff Orpington
4 @ Easter Egger
2 @ Australorp
1 @ Blue Ameraucana (we think)

Here is a sample of the eggs we have been getting (5 different kinds):

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Top row: Left first 3 eggs...typical of Buff Orps. Next 3 to the right are typical of Ameraucana (lay blue only) and/or Easter Egger
Middle row: Left first 3 eggs, typical of Australorp, possibly BO's. Next 3 eggs, and bottom row of right 3 are Easter Egger. Only EE's lay green eggs.
Bottom row: Left 3...not sure about those...they are really dark and splotty...sure you don't have a Welsummer? Or are they just dark in my monitor? Can't explain those with your breeds. I've had some Gold Stars lay darker eggs like that, but my moniter show them to be dark enough for a Welsummer. My Welsummer lays something that looks like that. I would guess someone is a cloistered something other than what you think????

My guesses from what mine typically lay.

Lady of McCamley

Here is also a good egg chart from Wilco Chickville site. (EDITED TO ADD: when Wilco says "Ameraucana," they mean Easter Egger..they don't sell a true Ameraucana, or at least that is not an Ameraucana egg as that breed only lays blue eggs.

 

[lizanne]

I would say the blue are the Ameraucana, The green are the EE's, the darker brown are the Australorps, and the lightest brown would be the Orps. One of your EE's could be laying the Med brown.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

..and yes EE's can lay brown eggs...but not typically that dark of brown...and Australorps don't typically lay that dark of brown either.

However, I would guess that one of your EE's could possibly have the genes to lay dark brown if Welsummer or Marans was on the other side of the Ameraucana or EE...but that usually ends up being an Olive Egger.

Lady of McCamley

 

[OwensChickens]

Thanks for the quick replies. I forgot one bird. We have not identified the breed yet. Best guess so far is a Splash Wyandotte. Here is a picture:

 

[OwensChickens]

The dark eggs are dark brown with speckles.

 

[OwensChickens]

And we are not positive on all of our chicken breeds. You may have noticed a few posts from us today. Owen has his first 4H show coming up at the end of this month.

 

[lizanne]

..and yes EE's can lay brown eggs...but not typically that dark of brown...and Australorps don't typically lay that dark of brown either.

However, I would guess that one of your EE's could possibly have the genes to lay dark brown if Welsummer or Marans was on the other side of the Ameraucana or EE...but that usually ends up being an Olive Egger.

Lady of McCamley

My Australorps lay a darker egg. Not as dark as the ones in the pic, but darker than the med brown. My Wyandotte lays eggs like the med brown. Could any of the chickens be mixed breed (besides the ee)?

 

[OwensChickens]

My Australorps lay a darker egg. Not as dark as the ones in the pic, but darker than the med brown. My Wyandotte lays eggs like the med brown. Could any of the chickens be mixed breed (besides the ee)?

We do have some that can be mixed breeds as we hatched some from eggs that we got from a friend and had mixed hens and roos. Others we bought from backyard breeders who claimed they were pure breeds (but they were mixed as chicks and they were not positive which were which).

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Here's your potential dark egg layer...she looks like she could be a Splash Marans, feather-less footed American type. Not ideal splash coloring, but I think that looks to be a single comb not a rose comb (Wyandottes have rose combs) although the comb comes out very blurry in the photos, especially when I try to enlarge...so that may well be who is laying darker, not ideal Marans dark, but definitely darker than your average brown egg. My Splash Marans hatching eggs were based brown with splotches.

Much more likely than an EE laying that dark or your Australorp. And my Wyandottes lay more of a light brown egg, similar to the Orps.

Lady of McCamley