Why did my chicken change her egg color?

[Amelise]

So, my Easter Egger lays olive or very light green eggs that look like this:


And recently, she’s been laying light blue eggs, like this:

And an even darker one with calcium deposits:



What could be the cause of this? Could it be caused by stress from the weather change?

 

[sourland]

Egg color tends to lighten the further a hen gets into a laying cycle. Is there any possibility that another hen is laying those eggs?

 

[Amelise]

Egg color tends to lighten the further a hen gets into a laying cycle. Is there any possibility that another hen is laying those eggs?

Henrietta is my only mature hen. She is about 3 years old

 

[WingsysRoost]

I have at least one hen that lays egg with such a different variety of shapes, shades, and even sizes that I wouldn't have known they were all her eggs if I just saw them in the nest box. I would get a few that looked kind of similar, and then one that looked quite different, and then one that looked similar to the previous ones, and then another few that looked different again. I find that mine vary quite a bit between the basic brown egg framework. That may just be my particular birds, though.

 

[Crazy Chicken Helen]

Egg color tends to lighten the further a hen gets into a laying cycle. Is there any possibility that another hen is laying those eggs?

I thought it was the other way round I had a black silkie whose eggs got a slightly darker pinky brown each day through each cycle! Maybe it depends on the breed

 

[WingsysRoost]

I thought it was the other way round I had a black silkie whose eggs got a slightly darker pinky brown each day through each cycle! Maybe it depends on the breed

Then there's mine who seem to go back and forth with whether they want to lay darker eggs or paler eggs.

I could see it depending on both breed and the individual chicken. I don't know enough to be completely sure about that, though. It's really interesting to see the differences either way.

 

[aart]

What could be the cause of this? Could it be caused by stress from the weather change?

She is about 3 years old

Pretty simple really, her brown coating(which makes blue shells look green) is running low.
She's probably ramping down production with the ever shortening days.
Will probably molt soon.

The very basics of egg color:
There are only white and blue shells.
Brown eggs have brown coating on white shells.
Green eggs have brown coating on blue shells.
The brown coating can be very light or very dark, and can vary day to day.
Then the bloom can add another aspect to the egg color.
Pink/purplish eggs are usually from the bloom on a brown egg.

 

[Amelise]

Pretty simple really, her brown coating(which makes blue shells look green) is running low.
She's probably ramping down production with the ever shortening days.
Will probably molt soon.

The very basics of egg color:
There are only white and blue shells.
Brown eggs have brown coating on white shells.
Green eggs have brown coating on blue shells.
The brown coating can be very light or very dark, and can vary day to day.
Then the bloom can add another aspect to the egg color.
Pink/purplish eggs are usually from the bloom on a brown egg.

That seems to be what’s going on! She’s already molted right before this fall and I’m surprised she even started laying again in the first place, it took her quite a while even after she had grown back all of her feathers. But I’d say right now she’s giving us 3-4 eggs a week which seems to be slowing down to maybe 2-3 eggs a week.

 

[aart]

She’s already molted right before this fall and I’m surprised she even started laying again in the first place, it took her quite a while even after she had grown back all of her feathers. But I’d say right now she’s giving us 3-4 eggs a week which seems to be slowing down to maybe 2-3 eggs a week.

It is surprising.
Do you use supplemental lighting?

 

[Amelise]

It is surprising.
Do you use supplemental lighting?

Well, we’re not really trying for max egg production but because she lives in our garage, she gets sunlight coming from the screen door and we turn the garage lights on in the morning. We’re having a 5:30 sunset right now so I keep the light on maybe 3-4 hours after the sun sets.