Where to buy hens for deepest blue eggs?

[User635240]

I'd like to start offering blue eggs in my assortment to grocery stores. I'm familiar with Cackle's Easter Egger (medium sized, nice blue eggs, still laying strong at 3yo) and Cackle's Ameraucana (jumbo round powder blue eggs, but expensive birds - $20 each plus $30 shipping). I'm looking at McMurray Whiting True Blue and/or Hoover's Prairie Bluebell Egger. Any experience with these two as far as color and frequency? Any ideas where to find a really deep blue egger, dark blue (similar to how the Marans eggs are rich dark brown compared to the RIR brown)?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Best bet are going to be ameraucana, araucana or cream legbars.

Prarie bluebells are a 1st generation cross with a white layer, so they will only have light blue eggs

 

[User635240]

Best bet are going to be ameraucana, araucana or cream legbars.

Prarie bluebells are a 1st generation cross with a white layer, so they will only have light blue eggs

Ok. Good info.
Any recommendations on specific hatcheries?

 

[SourRoses]

The Bluest eggs come from 2 copies of the Blue egg gene and a lack of color inhibitor genes. Sometimes the very slightest tint of green making them teal tinged can look Bluer.
The bloom can affect the appearance, although it may appear different to different people, just like lip gloss vs matt lipstick.

There was once a thread containing pictures of some ultra blue eggs in an Asian country. It turns out they had fed the chickens a precursor chemical to the Oocyanin pigment that colors Blue eggs.
Without that addition, the Oocyanin production is limited to the bodily stores, which are a byproduct of bile production.

So first things first, make sure the breed and bloodline you pick always has 2 copies of the blue egg gene.
That can be harder than it sounds, as many sources seem to settle for simply blue. Thankfully there is now the Blue egg gene test, so one would hope that more breeders are using that to sort out their homozygous vs heterozygous birds.

My suggestion is to go with a reputable breeder rather than a hatchery, and when you do, ask questions about egg color. Pictures in different lighting really help because it's very very common for people to take the most flattering possible pictures of their blue eggs and only share that.
To confirm that, I took some of my blue eggs and went gallivanting around the house and yard taking pictures. It made a huge difference. The backdrop seemed to matter as much as the lighting. My two most realistic pictures were, one with green plants and my hand as a backdrop in mild shade, and another inside in front of a window on a white piece of paper with white and tan eggs surrounding the blues.

I have Ameraucana from two sources / bloodlines. The Isabels all laid pale Blue. The Blacks tracing back to a show line tended towards a little more blue. When I crossed the lines, one of the hens I got, Dovey, lays what I consider very Blue. The eggs have the slightest teal tint but would still belong in the blue shades on any color chart card thingy.
Which may point to the presence of inhibitor genes in the parents. Hypothetically, it could be that breeders selecting against green in the eggs have accidentally selected for color inhibitors. Maybe.