The Chicken and the Egg Colour

The amazing technicolour egg palette that can be part of a backyard flock is, at the very least, enchanting. When you pick out your babies or pullets or hens, part of what you might consider is the egg colour they will offer. And—happy news!—hens that lay beautiful coloured eggs can be just as prolific (or close to) as your good old-fashioned white or buff-coloured egg layers.

In this installment, I wanted to keep it simple: I am not going to get into the mysteries and challenges of laying. That’s a whole book! I wanted to share (direct from our coop) what egg colour you might see from different types of hens in your flock. Sometimes the colours may be well beyond what you ever expected, sometimes they’ll be just what you hoped.

Here are a few FAQs about laying, before we get to the egg show:

• When do hens start laying? We’ve found when raising from chicks, laying usually starts about four months (give or take) from bringing home the fluff balls. Some say three months, but more often it has been closer to four for us.
• When do they lay the most eggs? Hens (in east TN) lay the most in the very late winter (late Feb) to early summer (early July). Laying slows down a bit with heat, molting (often in the fall, when protein normally used for eggs gets redirected to feathers), and when the days get short and light gets less (Oct-Jan, in the Northern hemisphere). Some folks use lights to encourage laying through the darker days. We’ve talked about it, but so far, we like to give our girls a winter break.
• How many eggs does a hen lay? In the high season many hens will lay one egg per day. We’ve found that Wyandottes (which are a “dual purpose” breed) lay a little less. Once through the high-laying time they might lay an egg every other day. Some hens, especially those in their first two years of laying, will carry on each day. Of course, as they get older, they might take longer breaks between eggs after peak laying time. It’s good to watch for pauses in laying. Pauses could mean sickness or that a hen is egg-bound. However, as long as your hen is healthy and happy—eating, drinking, pooping, preening—a longer pause in laying is probably fine, and this can include weeks or even months, sometimes.
• How long do hens lay for? Our first brood hens are just approaching 3.5 years and those two remaining hens (bless their resilient hearts) seem to be tapering off. Lady laid a number of eggs this spring, maybe every other day—where she was an every-day layer in her early years. Now it’s mid-July and she is not laying at all. Edie laid through the early spring this year too, maybe every other day. She was also an almost every-day layer. Now, she’s laying few to none.
  **Heads up,** chickens can live 5–8 years, so think about what you will want to offer them as they lean into retirement.
• Do I need a rooster for eggs? It’s interesting, because a LOT of people ask this question. The answer is no, you do not need a rooster for your hens to produce eggs. Hens, like female mammals, contain and release their eggs without any outside influence. If you want the eggs to be fertilized and have baby chickens hatched in your flock, then you’ll need a roo’.

But, back to the joys of egg colour! Here are snapshots of our Eggs of the Ages.

It’s worth noting, even though they aren’t commonly attributed as such, so far, Renata and Tasse, our bantams, are some of our most prolific / constant layers. (Yes, I did knock wood as I wrote that.) At about 1.5 pounds each, their half-sized eggs are *perfect* for a pie crust egg wash. No dish with sloppy leftovers in the fridge required. Also, who doesn’t want a 2.5-egg omelet? These two have very similar egg colour (just above!), though we have come up with the nickname “Rennie Round Egg,” because Renata lays a more globe-shaped egg, while Tasse’s eggs are a bit larger and the classic egg-shaped egg.

It’s also worth noting that our two Starlight Olive Eggers have two very different coloured eggs. Minnie’s is a light green colour and Pauline’s is a rich cream colour—with the occasional white fleck. These two are not only the same breed, they were plucked from the same tub at Rural King on the very same day. They look alike and act like sisters and we call them the Tawny Twins, as an homage to our booted bantam sisters: The Tiny Twins. Whereas Edie and Josephine (Jo-Jo), both Barred Rock, are 2.5 years apart and their egg colour is very similar.

And here are the sweet chicken girls who laid them. I suppose the moral of the story is . . . chickens lay beautiful eggs. While some are more consistent with what is expected from the variety of bird, like Plymouth Barred Rocks and California Whites, some of the others with the Cadbury mini eggs colours will surprise and delight you.

**Hot tip** You might think that having a white-egg layer is less appealing, because you’ve seen enough white eggs for a lifetime. However, the pristine white shells really do add a beautiful balance to each carton’s spectrum. That’s artistry that’s worth considering.

That and Snoopy, our Cali White, is about the sweetest, most human social little girl (right up there with Tasse) in the flock. She loves a little snuggle on the daily, and will sometimes nod off with gentle pets. She’s gorgeous and has the most amazing comb and wattles I’ve ever seen on a hen. Snoopy even seems to be winning her way into little Eed’s in-it-to-win-it heart, as I often find them scratching around in the dirt together, or braving the cross-yard compost run, gallina y gallina.

All of the beautiful eggs colours are very, very lovely.  No grey just yet, Mr Jones. And they bring joy to neighbours, friends, and family who imbibe in our flock’s offerings—even inspiring the occasional social share, so we hear. Of course, on the inside, all eggs (that are raised with love and health and fresh air) are a lot alike: they have beautiful creamy saffron-coloured yolks, and—according to a friend who literally blind taste tested our eggs alongside store-bought—flavor like nothing you’ll find from a same-same shelf of cartons.

There is so much more to say about laying, egg oddity, egg normality, nest boxes, etc. For now, here’s the adorbs Miss Snoopy picking her nest box of the day: