Why do I have so much variation in egg color?

[HappyDuckie]

I don't have one right now but I will get one later. I also have pinkish ones in there that look kinda like wyandotte eggs (I've heard that wyandotte eggs are pinkish brown?)

Wow! You have some unique girls. Yea, my Wyandotte does lay pinkish brown/tan eggs. I'll get a picture of mine in a moment too.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I don't have one right now but I will get one later. I also have pinkish ones in there that look kinda like wyandotte eggs (I've heard that wyandotte eggs are pinkish brown?)

I have SLWs. They are beige-ish eggs, with a pinkish cast under certain lights - but mine are so pale pink its easy to convince yourself its there when its not, or not when it is. Easy to confuse with Brahma eggs, too, from which the SLW were (in part) derived.

and the light itself used is also a big factor. LEDs, incandescant, and natural sunlight all have an effect, as does sunlight behind cloud cover.... Grrrrrr.

I'll get a photo. Egg production has been down, this is the past week, natural (behind clouds) lighting.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Unwashed. One of these is from an SLW. The other two are not.

After washing

Easy, huh? (SLW middle, both photos)

 

[aart]

Short answer, because that's the way it is.

 

[CHlCKEN]

I have one white leghorn, who lays white eggs, as expected, and three red sex links, who lay brown eggs, as expected. However, there's so much variation in their egg colors that you'd think I have five different breeds that lay different browns! We can make a full gradient in an egg carton and the only ones that aren't RSL eggs are the white ones. Is this a problem? Is there a reason for it? I can post a picture later.

Color changes as you get further into the year. Every chicken will be a little different. The bloom can also affect the visual color of the egg.

 

[black_cat]

Here's one of our egg rainbows:

All but the white ones are from RSLs. This doesn't showcase the lightest, the pinkest, or the darkest that I've gotten, but these were all within ~a week of each other, so I wouldn't really chalk it up to being change over the course a season, unless a season is a week.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Out of curiosity, did you get all your RSL from the same "batch", and were they described as RSLs, or a particular "name brand" of RSL, like the Golden Comet, that might tell us something of which Red Sex Link variety they were, since there are so many ways of obtaining that end result from the various recognized breeds?

Here's one of our egg rainbows:
View attachment 2709290
All but the white ones are from RSLs. This doesn't showcase the lightest, the pinkest, or the darkest that I've gotten, but these were all within ~a week of each other, so I wouldn't really chalk it up to being change over the course a season, unless a season is a week.

 

[black_cat]

Out of curiosity, did you get all your RSL from the same "batch", and were they described as RSLs, or a particular "name brand" of RSL, like the Golden Comet, that might tell us something of which Red Sex Link variety they were, since there are so many ways of obtaining that end result from the various recognized breeds?

I don't know. We asked for barred rocks (adults), they gave us RSLs and a leghorn, and they told us that they gave us rhode island reds. They all have similar coloring, and are definitely more of a red color than a golden color.

 

[black_cat]

 

[black_cat]

I have SLWs. They are beige-ish eggs, with a pinkish cast under certain lights - but mine are so pale pink its easy to convince yourself its there when its not, or not when it is. Easy to confuse with Brahma eggs, too, from which the SLW were (in part) derived.

and the light itself used is also a big factor. LEDs, incandescant, and natural sunlight all have an effect, as does sunlight behind cloud cover.... Grrrrrr.

I'll get a photo. Egg production has been down, this is the past week, natural (behind clouds) lighting.

View attachment 2707870

I can't help but notice the one GIANT egg in the middle of the bottom left quadrant and Oh my gosh that is HUGE
are you going to try to hatch that one?