Chickens That Lay Colored Eggs: 7 Breeds to Consider

Chickens that put down colored eggs are popular as backyard Gallus gallus owners add layers that grow colourful testis to add a morsel of magic to ballock - gathering and add buyers flocking to your market tabular array .

First thing first , whiteis not a colouring when it descend to chicken eggs . But blue is . So are green , rose andolive — not to mention eggs that are such arich brownyou require them to be fulfill with caramelized sugar .

Understanding Chickens That Lay Colored Eggs

When choosing chicken stock to call down , it helps to know that poulet have two canonical body type . Type A birds put most of their nutritional inspiration into egg production . While this makes them prolific nut layers , they be given to be leaner and more skittish than Type B birds . Type B volaille are dual - use dame with calm , easygoing temperaments . They lay orchis , but because they convert more of their food into dead body weight , they produce few per week than their Type A counterparts .

If you desire to add some wow to your egg selection , here are some breeds that lay colorful bollock to consider .

1. Araucanas

If a chicken position bluish eggs , it probably hasAraucanain its genetics . The breed is repute to have originated in Chile , though its beginnings are still unclear . Araucanas are rumpless ( without a tail pass ) , are often tufted ( tufts of plume hang by fine , elastic skin thread on each side of the head ) and lie in blue eggs . “ A honest Araucana is always rumpless , ” says Lanae Cash , who breeds , shows and sells Araucanas , atCash ’s Blue Eggs . “ They are not always tufted , but rumpless is a must . ” These chickens are body Type B. “ The Araucana is a very self - assured bird with a soft temperament , ” Cash add .

2. Ameraucanas

hatchery might advertise Araucanas for sale , but mind : If the birds have tails , they are not Araucanas . However , they might beAmeraucanas . “ Ameraucanas are less rare than Araucanas , and hatchery do sell straight Ameraucanas , ” says Traci Torres , Colorado - author ofMy Pet Chicken Handbook(Rodale , 2014 ) and founder of MyPetChicken.com . Careful breeding of Araucanas with other breeds produces sure feather pattern . “ There is a wild variety of colors , and each will have a unlike parentage , ” Torres says . “ Ameraucanas are easygoing birds , and they should all lie blue egg . ” With Araucana genetic science , they tend toward body and disposition Type B.

3. Easter Eggers

Note the spelling of Ameraucana . If a hatchery deal chicks under the label of Araucana / Americana , Torres says , those birds are what ’s eff asEaster Eggers . “ There ’s no breed standard . An Easter Egger is literally just a mutt , but they ’re fabulous birdie , ” Torres say . Friendly , saucy , cold- and heat - hardy , they lay well in the wintertime , with colorful eggs that graze from blue , green , rose or dark-brown to sage , Olea europaea or emollient . Their eggs also lean to be quite big , Torres says . “ Much more a Type B , they ’re not a huge bird , but they ’re just an all - around wonderful pet , and of course , everyone loves the egg colour . ”

4. Cream Legbar

Another blue - nut layer is theCream Legbar , rise in Great Britain by crossing Barred Plymouth Rocks , Golden Leghorns and Araucanas . Leghorn genetics introduce Type A physical structure and temperament trait . “ citizenry are all about the Cream Legbar , ” Torres aver . “ They ’re not flighty , but they ’re fighting , and they make fabulous forager . ”

5. Marans

plebeian brownish egg picket in comparing to the colored , deep - brown eggs laid by the French breed , Marans . Marans are calm , easygoing birds of average size of it and Type B bod . accord to Debi Stuhr , who breeds and sells Black Copper Marans at Heaven Sent Ranch , “ Marans also come in a blue , down in the mouth copper , splash , solid calamitous , wheaten and a couple of other colors still being developed . ”

fit in to Torres , “ Black Copper Marans are the friendly chickens with the feathered base that lay the really dark umber - chocolate-brown egg . ” Brown testis are graded on a scale of zero to nine , zero being bloodless , and nine a deep , dark brown . “ You want your Marans egg color to be five to nine , ” Stuhr say . “ A Marans is not a on-key Marans unless it lays at least a four or five . ”

6. Welsummer

Lissa Lucas , head author and marketing communications specialiser at MyPetChicken.com and co - source ofMy Pet Chicken Handbook , lists theWelsummeras her option for best all - around chicken . With a Type atomic number 5 build , Welsummers are with child foragers that lay large chocolate - browned eggs with drear speckles and do well in heat and cold . Lucas moot these favorable , intelligent layers among the sweetest-tempered birds in her flock .

7. Penedesenca

Penedesencas originated in Spain and are notice for laying some of the dismal brownish eggs of any breeds . “ Their eggs are beautiful , ” Torres aver . “ A dark , dark , red brown . ” Being of Type A organic structure build , Penedesencas are alert and wary of their surroundings . “ Though they wo n’t be the first ones to draw near you , if you go out every day and give them treat , and you do n’t move too chop-chop , they will become more docile , ” Torres says . Penedesencas have what is called a “ big businessman ’s comb , ” also call a cresta en clavell or Dianthus caryophyllus cockscomb , which set out as a single lobe at the front , parting into several lobes in the back .

Feeding for Egg Quality

Nutritional necessary for hens , include chickens that lay dark-skinned ballock , alter depending on whether they ’re laying ormolting . A protein level of around 20 percent works well for laying season , with an medium portion of 1/4 pound of feed per bird per day — less if they are out foraging in summer and more during cold atmospheric condition . Because shell are preponderantly atomic number 20 carbonate , hen also should have access to atomic number 20 .

“ We sometimes get fragile eggshells in the summertime when birds are forage a lot and might require a supplement , ” Torres sound out . “ volunteer free - choice oyster shells . If they involve it , they ’ll take it . If they do n’t , they wo n’t . ”

When hens miss protein , they can starteating their own eggs , Torres says , adding that this can also be just a bad habit . The behavior can be difficult to stop , so she recommends collecting eggs as soon as they ’re laid .

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