hen lays three different shades of egg

[Worm94]

Hello, I recently separated out three hens I wanted to hatch from this spring and I've been collecting their eggs. One hasn't started laying this year yet n the other two lay on and off.
So one lays large eggs consistently when she does, one lays eggs of a light cream tone but hers are also extremely consistent and a rounder shape than the third hen, who is laying eggs that if I didn't have em all together I'd feel like they were from three different hens. It's probably something I'll feel silly about not knowing but I'm curious as to what it means!
Here's a picture:

One is pink, one is almost tan and one is a light creamy shade and having had the other hens long enough, I know these aren't their eggs so they have to all be hers! The picture isn't good for the sizes, they're all the same size and shape which is the other reason I know, but it's still weird. Pic of the hen as well because she's very cute. (it's an older pic from before she started laying some time last year, she's gotten fluffier since).

 

[GodLovesU]

This article talks a little about egg color.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/interesting-facts-about-chicken-eggs.63122/

 

[NorthernHomestead]

I have a backyard mix EE Speckled Sussex-looking girl that lays the same way. A few times the eggs were white! Her eggs are significantly smaller than the others but they've ranged from white to pink to light brown. It's all environmental and normal. Small diet changes or stress will do it. More pink eggs since the ground froze and she can't forage.

They're all just different shades of the same color. Now if she pops out a blue or green egg tomorrow, that might be a concern. :-D

 

[Worm94]

This article talks a little about egg color.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/interesting-facts-about-chicken-eggs.63122/

I see, I'll give it a read thank you!!

I have a backyard mix EE Speckled Sussex-looking girl that lays the same way. A few times the eggs were white! Her eggs are significantly smaller than the others but they've ranged from white to pink to light brown. It's all environmental and normal. Small diet changes or stress will do it. More pink eggs since the ground froze and she can't forage.

That's really interesting too, I haven't noticed environmental factors myself yet but they're in a pretty consistent one right now (it's winter so it's just mud, snow, mud, snow, dismal weather etc).
But glad to know it's normal, chickens are such neat animals

 

[Ridgerunner]

One hasn't started laying this year yet n the other two lay on and off.

How sure are you that the third hen isn't laying? That would explain a lot. How often do you see these different colors? Is going from one color to others pretty consistent or are some of these colors fairly rare?

The base colors are genetically controlled. Since you do not have blue or green eggs the base color is white. A brown egg is brown pigment laid on top of that white base. So the shell should be the same color through the thickness of the eggshell. There are a lot of different genes that effect the actual shade of brown. Most hens consistently lay a certain shade of brown based on those genetics but most certainly does not mean all.

One of those "brown" gene pairs alters the shade of the shell material through its thickness. Instead of pure white, it is tinted. If you crack an egg and remove the membrane from the inside, you can see the base color of the egg. If the inside of that shell are different shades when you check them then it probably means two different hens laid them.

The brown is laid on in the shell gland during the last half-hour or so the egg is in there before it is laid. The brown pigment is created using recycled dead red blood cells. Red blood cells are dying and being created all of the time so the raw material for the pigment is always available. Sometimes the eggs are delayed coming out so they may get a little more brown pigment. Sometimes the eggs are laid early so they may not get as much brown pigment as normal. It is possible for a hen that typically lays a dark brown egg to lay a white egg when this happens.

Another possible reason for a difference in shade is the "bloom". As the egg is being laid they hen coats it with a liquid we call bloom. That's why the egg looks wet as it is laid. The bloom quickly dries and forms a layer that is pretty effective on keeping bacteria out of the porous egg. Some hens put a thicker layer of bloom on an egg than others. Most are fairly consistent on how much bloom they put on but you may be realizing that most does not always mean all. A heavy layer of bloom can give an egg a purplish shade, so another possible cause for a difference in egg color or shade.

Most hens typically lay the same size and shape of eggs, so consistent you can tell which hen laid which egg of you know your hens' eggs. But of course there can be occasional glitches. Seems to be a common theme, occasional glitches.

Sometimes you get extra calcium deposits on the eggshell. The egg on the right seems to have them. Many hens are consistent enough in this that you can identify their eggs by calcium deposits. Not all but many.

Looking at your photo, if you are consistently getting eggs that look like all three I would strongly suspect you have a hen laying you aren't aware of. They just haven't laid the same day. I can't tell you that one hen didn't lay all three of them but I'd consider it unlikely.

Good luck!

 

[Worm94]

How sure are you that the third hen isn't laying? That would explain a lot. How often do you see these different colors? Is going from one color to others pretty consistent or are some of these colors fairly rare?

I'm pretty sure! The three hens currently cooped together are Buttons (the one in the picture, suspect to laying all three), Matilda (a large barred hen who has never laid an egg that wasn't at least 65 grams or so and with a specific shape and tint) and Cherry (who also lays very consistent eggs in terms of size, shape, and color).
Buttons has been very consistent in her inconsistencies, actually. Thinking back to when she began to lay and the eggs I found back then, she seems to have always laid a variety of shades. I can't confirm that to a perfect degree of course, because at that point she was with the other hens but I remember finding ones that match with the current variety.
At the time I thought they were from different hens but now that she is alone with the other two, that's what's made me wonder.

Sometimes the eggs are laid early so they may not get as much brown pigment as normal. It is possible for a hen that typically lays a dark brown egg to lay a white egg when this happens.

It might be this, or what you mention later on about different amounts of bloom. She didn't lay yesterday but she laid the last two days before and then again today. None of them are laying every day, and one was laying for a while and then stopped (Cherry). To my knowledge Matilda has not started yet this year (and I guess that maybe, maybe if she has started, her current egg size might not be her usual one? Then again even as a pullet she had laid larger eggs than most chickens, so I'd find that unlikely).
But again, what I've noticed of the three is the other two lay consistent sizes and shapes, if nothing else and the other two do lay consistent colors as well.
What I ought to do is take a picture of the other two hen's eggs when they start laying again, see if I can side by side comparison the shapes and sizes to give a better example. I've got an egg carton I've been putting the eggs in, and separating by row.
Here's a crude drawing of what I've typically come to expect though, egg size/rough shape wise. Pardon my terrible art skills. It's just that of Matilda and Cherry, none of those two have laid a tan egg before and Buttons is the only one who I know for certain lays the lighter pinkish/extra light eggs. Emphasised here too, is that they are different shapes.

 

[NorthernHomestead]

I have one that lays green eggs. When I was building a cache of them to put in the incubator during my winter vacation (boy, do I know how to live it up during vacation, right? )I noticed that the fresher they were the more blue they looked. I'd look at the same egg later that day and it was green like the ones in my fridge. And that happened with more than one. Like I said earlier, if they're different shades of the same color, it's normal. It's "chicken normal".

 

[Worm94]

I have one that lays green eggs. When I was building a cache of them to put in the incubator during my winter vacation (boy, do I know how to live it up during vacation, right? )I noticed that the fresher they were the more blue they looked. I'd look at the same egg later that day and it was green like the ones in my fridge. And that happened with more than one. Like I said earlier, if they're different shades of the same color, it's normal. It's "chicken normal".

gotta love chicken normal, I'll have to pay closer attention to the other eggs, see if they do that also

 

[Bawkbok]

How sure are you that the third hen isn't laying? That would explain a lot. How often do you see these different colors? Is going from one color to others pretty consistent or are some of these colors fairly rare?

The base colors are genetically controlled. Since you do not have blue or green eggs the base color is white. A brown egg is brown pigment laid on top of that white base. So the shell should be the same color through the thickness of the eggshell. There are a lot of different genes that effect the actual shade of brown. Most hens consistently lay a certain shade of brown based on those genetics but most certainly does not mean all.

One of those "brown" gene pairs alters the shade of the shell material through its thickness. Instead of pure white, it is tinted. If you crack an egg and remove the membrane from the inside, you can see the base color of the egg. If the inside of that shell are different shades when you check them then it probably means two different hens laid them.

The brown is laid on in the shell gland during the last half-hour or so the egg is in there before it is laid. The brown pigment is created using recycled dead red blood cells. Red blood cells are dying and being created all of the time so the raw material for the pigment is always available. Sometimes the eggs are delayed coming out so they may get a little more brown pigment. Sometimes the eggs are laid early so they may not get as much brown pigment as normal. It is possible for a hen that typically lays a dark brown egg to lay a white egg when this happens.

Another possible reason for a difference in shade is the "bloom". As the egg is being laid they hen coats it with a liquid we call bloom. That's why the egg looks wet as it is laid. The bloom quickly dries and forms a layer that is pretty effective on keeping bacteria out of the porous egg. Some hens put a thicker layer of bloom on an egg than others. Most are fairly consistent on how much bloom they put on but you may be realizing that most does not always mean all. A heavy layer of bloom can give an egg a purplish shade, so another possible cause for a difference in egg color or shade.

Most hens typically lay the same size and shape of eggs, so consistent you can tell which hen laid which egg of you know your hens' eggs. But of course there can be occasional glitches. Seems to be a common theme, occasional glitches.

Sometimes you get extra calcium deposits on the eggshell. The egg on the right seems to have them. Many hens are consistent enough in this that you can identify their eggs by calcium deposits. Not all but many.

Looking at your photo, if you are consistently getting eggs that look like all three I would strongly suspect you have a hen laying you aren't aware of. They just haven't laid the same day. I can't tell you that one hen didn't lay all three of them but I'd consider it unlikely.

Good luck!

This is fascinating. We have only one egg layer right now and she is producing the same results as what @Worms94 has indicated. I'm grateful she asked the question because I was wondering myself why some days the eggs look pink and other days more brown. I assumed it was health related in some way but no clue as to what or why. Sometimes she lays first thing right after door opens and other days it's in the afternoon. Would time of day of lay have any impact on the color? I also assumed that as a new layer -- about a month now -- that her reproductive system is trying to regulate itself.
Also, would weather have a bearing? It's sounds like it's all genetics but someone has to ask the 'silly' questions....

 

[NorthernHomestead]

I've also heard that some people can wipe their eggs enough to get them to be white? Haven't tried it, but with brown/pink/white eggs I'd imagine that's possible since those are blood shades in time on a white/light shell.