Wildest Egg Colors Ever

Well, there are white and brown eggs that you have probably seen at the store, and if you’ve owned chickens of various breeds, you may have even seen blue, green or extra dark brown eggs. But are there more colors on the spectrum?

Yes!

Although they may be rare, they’re real. Take a look at these ones…

Real quick,

Under each egg color description, we have a list of breeds that MAY lay those egg colors— this doesn’t necessarily mean that the listed breed will always lay that specific egg color— it depends on genetics and where you purchase your layers from.

Also, we use the word “bloom” often in this article. A bloom is a protective clear coating around an egg. When a thicker bloom is on an egg, it can give a pink, gray or purple tone to the egg depending on the color of shell. Many breeds possess this trait, but it is somewhat inconsistent— if a hen lays a “heavy bloom” egg one day, the next day it might not lay a heavy bloom egg.

Pink,

Found in many brown egg layers. This is the result of a heavy bloom on a lighter brown egg.

Pink layers: Australorp, Plymouth Rock, Easter egger, and many more.

Speckled Brown,

Found in dark egg laying breeds, and some medium brown egg layers. This occurs when dark portions of pigment are grouped together on a shell, leaving lighter areas between spots which gives the egg a beautiful speckled cowhide appearance.

Speckled layers: Welsummer, Welbar, Penedesenca, Marans, F2 Olive eggers.

Purple,

A quite beautiful color made when a dark brown egg layer produces an egg

with a heavy bloom overcoating. The pink hue to the egg’s bloom added to the dark pigment results in that gorgeous purple color.

Purple layers: Marans, F2 Olive eggers, Easter eggers, Heavy bloom designer breeds.

Olive,

The result of a blue egg with 1 or more added brown egg genes from ether parent. This is a striking color in a carton of eggs and highly sought after.

Olive egg layers: Swedish Isbar, Crosses between blue and dark brown egg layers (typically called “Olive eggers”).

Speckled Green,

This is the same as a speckled brown eggs, but the trait possesses 1 or 2 copies of the blue egg gene. A speckled green egg layer is always an exiting hen to have.

Speckled Green layers: Swedish Isbar, Olive egger (F1, F2+ typically using a Welsummer as a parent).

Mint,

A nice pastel color which is somewhere between blue and green…. Well, actually a combination of the two. Mint layers typically have 2 copies of the blue egg gene and one copy of a dominant brown egg gene.

Mint layers: Easter eggers, Swedish Isbar, Olive eggers (backcrossed).

Gray,

An extremely rare color, but certainly a beautiful possibility. The gray color comes from a heavy bloom over a deep olive colored egg.

Gray layers: Olive eggers, Heavy Bloom designer breeds.

Black,

Ok, this is common on the internet to see “all black chickens” marketed to lay black eggs. Well, that’s a myth- sorry, although no chicken breeds lay black eggs (Yes, Ayam Cemani and Svart Honas lay cream colored eggs, not black), Cayuga ducks often lay deep black eggs. I remember my first Cayuga laid her first egg which was black with beautiful gray streaks- it was quite a treasure to find in the coop!

Black layers: Cayuga ducks, (sometimes) Ancona ducks, Runner ducks.

Blue Striped,

An unbelievable color to see. This is a rare occasion from blue egg layers, where the top portion of the egg is sky blue, then the middle is deep blue, while the bottom turns to a light blue again. This looks literally like a painted Easter egg, but is 100% natural from the hen- a true occasion from blue egg layers.

Blue Striped layers: Araucana, Ameraucana, True blue egger, Legbar, any blue egg layer.

Purple Spotted Brown,

Another outstanding color which is difficult to find. This is the rare occasion of a heavy bloom over a light brown egg with dark brown spots. The bloom adds the purple color to the dark brown spots, and the lighter brown is subtly turned pinkish/brown.

Purple Spotted layers: Welsummers, Olive eggers (F2+), Welbars, Heavy Bloom designer breeds.

Stay tuned for more great articles!