Egg color… speckled?!

[ChicksofHeaven]

Hello!
I have two Rhode Island reds, not quite a year old. They started laying in early December and they are doing great, free range walks with my old lady hen.
They of course lay brown eggs, and Ive found it interesting that one lays a darker brown than the other.
Often, the lighter brown eggs lave a few speckles on them. Almost as if her color printing cartridge plops out a little extra brown.
The other day I got an especially speckled egg…
I’m including a picture to show the dark brown on the left, light brown on the right and the Misprint in the middle!
Could there be a problem that needs addressing?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Every hen does something different as far as pigment. It tends to be darker at the beginning of the season and lightens up as the year goes on. Speckled can come and go. It's nothing to worry about.

I'm always surprised how uniform the color of brown store eggs are. It's probably why it's easier to get consistent white eggs for mass consumption, and that's why you see more of them.

 

[Eggcessive]

I used to have dozens of hens, and had a few that laid speckled eggs which were exciting to find. Older hens may lay speckled eggs more often. The egg color, speckling, blum, and calcium layer is all done in the shell gland of the oviduct. This article below is pretty in depth but scroll down to read the results of the study for a explanation:
https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-022-09100-8

Here is a picture of the oviduct and shell gland location:
https://149353356.v2.pressablecdn.c...2018/08/labeled_female_reproductive_tract.jpg

 

[Ridgerunner]

Could there be a problem that needs addressing?

Not from what you show. Each hen can be very different it the egg color she lays, even the same breed. That does not affect the safety or nutrition and will not stop an egg from hatching.

I'm always surprised how uniform the color of brown store eggs are.

They electronically candle and inspect the eggs before they are packaged for sale. Any that do not meet the criteria are separated and sold to bakeries, pet food manufacturers, or such instead of going into the egg cartons that go to the store. There is nothing wrong with the quality of those eggs but the average consumer would not understand that.

 

[Tellyegger]

Liquid chicken hauled by the tanker load. That's what becomes of those non conforming eggs.