Oliver Eggers stopped laying green eggs

[MysteryChicken]

Do you have just the one chicken or you mean you have 1 olive egger with other types? I have 2 olive Eggers in my group of 10 chickens and I was getting very green eggs left & right ... weird how neither is laying green anymore, at the same time.. unless they changed colors or they just stopped laying

One Olive Egger with several other chickens.

 

[member 544621]

Does that happen? Like in the winter they'd just stop? Bc I have been getting less eggs.. I figured all the chickens were just laying less frequently but perhaps both eggers just stopped laying.. they both would lay nearly every day, which always seemed excessive but I was getting more eggs out of those 2 than any other of my chickens (I posted pics if you didn't see them)

Yes - hens will stop laying as much, or not at all, during the winter months. They need 12 hrs of daylight or artificial light a day to lay consistently. I have a light on a timer in my hen house and everyone continues to lay throughout the winter. Some believe it is good to give them a break, but I don't know if that is anthropomorphic or not. They also take a break from laying when they molt.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Egg color doesnt change odds are it was never an olive to start with just a brown with a heavy bloom

Isn't it blue with brown bloom? Blue eggs aren't white with a blue bloom, they're blue throughout.

 

[aart]

All I can assume is her blue pigment stopped working for some reason.

That's the only way a bird would go from laying green/blue to brown.
I've never heard of it happening.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Had this happen with my one hen I kept for her beautiful green eggs. She laid consistent olive green eggs, until all the sudden I started only getting light brown.
I tracked her laying with blue food dye to figure out who was laying olive green.
Both are from the same hen. All I can assume is her blue pigment stopped working for some reason.
View attachment 3721197
She only lays light brown now.

I've tried this trick on multiple occasions and, on every single try, the dye transferred to other eggs in the nest box that bird chose to lay in. Looked just like this when it happened, too. Based on the very apparent size, shape, and bloom differences between those eggs in that picture, it's pretty clear they're not from the same hen.

Does that happen? Like in the winter they'd just stop? Bc I have been getting less eggs.. I figured all the chickens were just laying less frequently but perhaps both eggers just stopped laying.. they both would lay nearly every day, which always seemed excessive but I was getting more eggs out of those 2 than any other of my chickens (I posted pics if you didn't see them)

Yes, that does happen, especially in older birds but even in younger ones as well. The amount of light they are exposed to in the day triggers different hormones to be released that will stop egg laying and start molt as the days get shorter in the fall, and trigger egg laying again as they days get longer in the spring. They may also quit laying to put that energy toward survival in locations with particularly harsh winters. Some put lights in their coops to prevent this, but that does not seem to make that big of a difference, at least from what I've seen, giving you maybe a tiny percentage more eggs than you would get without it at best. But that's spoken as someone who has never put lights in my coops for that purpose, so I have no actual experience with it.

Isn't it blue with brown bloom? Blue eggs aren't white with a blue bloom, they're blue throughout.

Brown pigment is applied near the end when the egg is being 'manufactured', just before the true bloom is put on. Blue is intermixed with the shell, itself, and found throughout. Occasionally, you'll find an egg that has brown throughout, but usually that is a one-off and the shell, itself, is not constructed properly as well, either sandpapery or weak in some way. I have heard that there are people out there working with hens that lay eggs with a pinkish-brown tint throughout the shell consistently, but it's been years since I've seen any mention of them and hens that produce that kind of egg are pretty rare to find. The vast majority of brown eggs are a brown coat on a white shell.

A green egg is brown on a blue shell. Brown can be inconsistent in coating, especially between the beginning of a laying cycle and the end. However, the blue shell, at least in my experience, doesn't change much, maybe only getting a tiny bit paler over the lay cycle. My Legbar and all the Easter-eggers I've had over the years have had just as blue of egg shells just before they quit laying to molt in the fall as they did in the spring when they started laying. If you go from getting blue shelled eggs to white shelled eggs, a much more logical conclusion is that one bird stopped laying and another started rather than a radical shift in the egg color from a single bird. The only way to know for sure is to lock your olive-eggers in a pen where no other birds can get in, and see if any eggs are laid within and what color they are. As mentioned above, tricks such as using dye in the vent are prone to giving false conclusions.

 

[Directinfluence]

well... idk, im hoping maybe they just both stopped laying bc of the weather & they did go through a molt... ill report back if i ever start seeing green eggs again.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, hens generally quit laying when they molt, as they're putting a lot of energy to regrowing their feathers and keeping warm without the insulation that feathers provide. Hens who are not laying also tend to have paler and slightly shrunken combs than those who are laying, which both of your olive-eggers appear to have compared to the other birds in your pictures. I think that's pretty strong evidence that they've just stopped laying for the winter. I'm sure you'll start seeing green eggs again when it warms up in the spring!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Do you have just the one chicken or you mean you have 1 olive egger with other types? I have 2 olive Eggers in my group of 10 chickens and I was getting very green eggs left & right ... weird how neither is laying green anymore, at the same time.. unless they changed colors or they just stopped laying

Does that happen? Like in the winter they'd just stop? Bc I have been getting less eggs.. I figured all the chickens were just laying less frequently but perhaps both eggers just stopped laying.. they both would lay nearly every day, which always seemed excessive but I was getting more eggs out of those 2 than any other of my chickens (I posted pics if you didn't see them)

Mine havent laid in over two months so yes lack of daylight does that

 

[Directinfluence]

Mine havent laid in over two months so yes lack of daylight does that

Oh ok.. these are my first set of chickens.. but also I live in Phoenix and although the temperature has changed we do still have more sunlight than most areas in the winter so I didn't really consider that a factor, but again what do I know

 

[aart]

Oh ok.. these are my first set of chickens.. but also I live in Phoenix and although the temperature has changed we do still have more sunlight than most areas in the winter so I didn't really consider that a factor, but again what do I know

Well, you're here to learn!

How old are your birds, in months?
Pullets will often keep laying their first fall/winter.
Most hens will stop laying and molt their second fall/winter.