Why are some cochin eggs brown and some white/cream?

[Simmonsfunnyfrm]

I have two bantam cochin pullets, one black and one lavender splash. I got them from a respected breeder around these parts. Today I got my first little bantam egg! It's so cute! It's a creamy white egg and I'm thrilled because I wanted them to be white since all my other girls lay brown or blue green so far. I have looked at a lot of cochin bantam eggs and have noticed about half are white, half are brown. Why is this? Is a hen that lays one color not pure bred? Or is it acceptable in the breed standard for them to lay either color? I won't be showing them and I think they're cute, so I don't care if they're purebred or not, mostly just curious.

 

[Simmonsfunnyfrm]

No takers?

 

[Simmonsfunnyfrm]

It's a mystery! Ah well, I guess it's time to enlist the help of Google.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

I think my white bantam lays brown, but it's been awhile since she's laid. I'm still waitin on the Partridges though. Once they start I can tell you what color they are.......

Best of Luck~Ms.B

 

[Simmonsfunnyfrm]

Let's post pictures of the cochins in question and their eggs and see if we can find a pattern! I'll have mine up tomorrow.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

I think I have a pic of my white one, but it's not very good. I'll see if she's back laying, I just broke her of broodiness, so I'm hoping she's laying again soon.

Now, I'll go try and find that pic.....

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Here's the white one:



And here's a Mottled:




She didn't lay very long before a hawk got her but she laid white eggs.....hmmm....

Where did you get yours? Mine are both from McMurray, but Nora (white one) is a year older than Buddah (Mottled).

 

[Simmonsfunnyfrm]

Okay I have my pictures! Sorry about the delay, I got sidetracked. This is Hopalong. She is so named because I was not going to get her at first, I had already picked out all my chicks from the breeder's bin, then she flew with all her might out of the brooder and onto my hand, so of course I had to get her after that

. Well, I'm not sorry I did, she's a sweetie.


And the little cream egg at top left is from her this morning. The brown ones are from my Cinnamon Queens, and the green one is from Jewel, one of my EEs.


Let's see someone's cochin that lays brown eggs. I know they're out there! Even a google search yielded poor results for my quest to find out why some are cream and some are brown. Weird.

ETA I got her from a local breeder Msbagawkbagawk. She is also a fellow BYCer I think, but she's rarely on. Her username is Luckypickens. She breeds excellent cochins and heritage RIRs here in Arkansas.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Ok, well I'm pretty sure Nora is laying now. So I'm putting her in my chicken tractor and see if she'll lay for me. Then I'll get some pics of her eggs.

 

[mrsc1951]

My cochin isn't quite old enough to lay yet so I don't know what color her eggs will be but I know that there can be a variation in a chicken's egg color from day to day. I see it all the time with my Australorps and Brahmas. Typically the Brahma eggs are darker brown than the Australorps but if I put 12 Brahma eggs in a carton there may be only 3 or 4 that are the same color (of brown). I think that is probably true of most breeds that lay colored eggs. Just my opinion.