I would imagine that if they have never seen - nor known of - eggs in colors other than the "normal" white or pale brown, then it IS a big deal. The clincher(s) for me come(s) in the 2 statements: that the woman was given a mixed lot of chicks by the gov't - so who KNOWS what went into the mix! - and the last sentence, that colored eggs are common in the Araucana breed. Can you imagine the fuss if one of the breeds that lay REALLY dark brown eggs had been included?

If I ever do keep hens, I want both Eater Eggers and one of the dark brown egg-layers!

You think that is "odd" or funny; 2-yrs ago I was in Afghanistan and no one...I mean no one new what a pig looked like. I showed some of the locals a picture of my son and his market barrow at the fair and they thought it was some kind of special American super-dog!

When I told them it was a hog (pork)...they refused to even hold the picture. They thought the picture was going to defile them...LOL!

Two different people who know I get green eggs told me about seeing this on the news. I thought they would be different also. but watching this video, they look exactly like mine. LOL

Its amazing to me how little we know about the living creatures we live around. Even people that live in the country don't seem to be familiar with some of the basic habits of barn yard creatures LOL When I read that sentence under the video that said" scientists say that the yolk has the same nutritional value as a regualr yolk" I could have died laughing.

CI

Correction - I want EaSter Eggers - I want to eat the eggs - I don't want the hens to!

Wooooh... I have two hens that lay blue eggs AND green eggs, ha ha! Yeah, just an aruacana hen probably. I like the Cukoo Maran, it lays really dark brown eggs.

I think the aruacana eggs taste better than the white ones.

I meant to add this to my last post, but I forgot

My 14yr old's home Ed teacher told the class that whatever color a hens ears were is what color the eggs would be, My daughter said hens don't have ears and she said then whatever the inside of the holes on their head were.

Are you Kidding me!!

CI

I've posted this picture before:
{{gwi:35717}}

I love all the different egg colors and choose the variety of hens I keep accordingly. I currently have 6 Americaunas/Easter eggers that range in color from army green to robins egg blue......so pretty.

-Sheila

Ingenue... Believe it or not, your fourteen year old's Home Ed teacher is correct. At least according to the website below.

I think an email from McMurray is where I first heard this.

Thanks for all the interesting posts.

Here is a link that might be useful: ear feathers egg color

I don't know how they can have earlobes and not have ears LOL

hat thar is jest to edg u cated for me.

CI

Sheila,
It was that beautiful photo that gave me the final push to acquire and keep some hens after several years of reading and pining for the room to do it.

Alas it all came together last spring and this photo represents some of the first eggs I gathered from my birds:
{{gwi:35719}}

Unfortunately all of my Marans have succumb to some form of predation, the last to a Red Tail Hawk.

I am looking to add more Marans this Spring but am searching for some reasonably priced, quality birds to breed as I want the darkest eggs possible.

earlobe color is not geneticly connected to shell color; it does happenthat many white lobed hens do make a white shell and many red lobed hens do have a brown colored coating applied to the white shells but what about Silkies who have blue lobes and lay a white shelled egg?

There are really only 2 shell colors, white and blue. ooporphryn,results from hemoglobin metabolism, is a brown colored coating on a white egg to make the shell appear brown, and on a blue shell to cause it to appear green. The brown can be removed leaving either a white or a blue shell. By the way, the blue shell is totally blue, not just the surface and is caused by oocyanin, a byproduct of bile formation. There are a very few instances of totally brown shells.. Some ducks, black Indies and Cayugas, which make an almost black appearing shell on their eggs.

that was very informative and interesting

CI

Here's a page I put together for when I give people eggs. (It's a multipurpose page for my Web site, but just pay attention to the bird part at the top.) It shows which chickens/ducks lay which eggs.

> http://jonathanfeist.com/Pages/PhotoPages/PeopleCreatureDirectory.html

--Jonathan

The picture of Sheila's eggs were also what shaped my choice for a flock. My flock (chicks) will hopefully arrive the last of March :))))) Moretogrow, your eggs look beautiful as well. I haven't been around here in about a year but now that my plan is made and hopefully so close, I will be posting more questions. Lori

Currently I get eggs in my CSA veggie box every week. Each week it's a beautiful surprise of exactly how the eggs will look.

{{gwi:35720}}

Oh wow, the eggs are beautiful!!!! I'm so glad to be spreading some of my obsession with others :) I honestly never get tired of looking at the beauty in eggs, it never gets old.

Moretogrow, I've had bad luck w/my marans, two dropped dead from most likely a heart attack or stroke and my other was carried off from a fishercat break in last fall. I only have one pure and 2 crosses left. I would also love some more but I'm not sure I want to invest in eggs w/my last years incubator failures looming in my mind. I will test out some orpington eggs from my own flock soon and see how they do.

Lori, you will have to keep us posted on your spring chick order! this is just the beginning! so much fun ahead for you.

Deco, it's so nice that you have and support a CSA in your area, I wish we had one, those eggs are very pretty.

-Sheila

sullicorbitt, I've had some issues with luck as well, actually it has proven a real test for me on many levels. I pined for the land to homestead for so long that the continued assault on my flock from all manner of beasties has pitted me against the wildlife with which I so enjoy coexisting.

I felt inclined initially to kill off the attackers but was unable to reconcile this. Legalities aside, I cannot trap or shoot hawks, coyotes, foxes, fishers, bobcat, skunk, raccoon, weasels, and who knows what else so the birds I brought here can run free; so the birds are in a hardened aviary, except on days when we are here all day. I plan to build some chicken tractors to facilitate their foraging in the meadows. And I continue to add fence as able.

I have had great luck with the health of my birds having lost none to anything other than predators.

I cannot find anyone around here interested in splitting an order of chicks, so I am going to build a second coop and aviary and start a second flock.