Having your own egg laying hens means you could have eggs that range from blue to pink, but what chickens lay which colors? Keep reading to get my chicken egg color chart.
Before I raised my own chickens I didn't know that chickens could lay different colored eggs. I only thought that white eggs and brown eggs existed.
After learning that I could potentially get blue eggs, I decided to get Easter Egger chickens for my first flock of chickens.
Raising chickens that lay uncommonly colored eggs is really fun!
What Chickens Lay Colored Eggs
While white and brown eggs are the most common in grocery stores, eggs can also be colored dark brown, pink, cream, blue, and green.
To keep track of which chickens lay which eggs, grab this free printable chicken egg color chart.
Printable Chicken Egg Color Chart
Once you have entered your email address this chart will be sent directly to your inbox (you may have to check your spam or junk folder though). Print this chart out as an easy guide so you can remember which chickens lay what egg colors.
Colored eggs and the chickens that lay them
Here are the different colored egg types and the chickens that lay them. You may notice that some chickens overlap egg colors.
Some chickens like Easter Eggers lay different colored eggs within the breed. Every chicken will lay one color of egg for their whole life, but other chickens within the breed may have different shell colors.
Blue Eggs
These chickens lay blue eggs.
- Americana
- Araucana
- Cream Legbar
- Easter Egger
Green Eggs
These chickens lay green eggs.
- Olive Egger
- Easter Egger
- Ice Cream Bar
- Isbar
White Eggs
These chickens lay white eggs.
- Andalusian
- Belgian D'Uccle
- Campine
- Catalana
- Hamburg
- Lakenvelder
- Leghorn
- Minorca
- Polish
- Russian Orloff
- Sebright
- Sicilian Buttercup
- Silkie
Light Brown Eggs
These chickens lay light brown eggs.
- Buff Orpington
- Wyandotte
- Speckled Sussex
- Barred Rock
- Brahma
- Buckeye
- Chantecler
- Cochin
- Delaware
- Dominique
- Java
- Jersey Giant
- Golden Comet
- Rhode Island Red
Dark brown eggs
These chickens lay dark brown eggs.
- Barnvelder
- Black/Blue Copper Marans
- Penedesenca
Cream eggs
These chickens lay cream colored eggs.
- Dorking
- Easter Egger
- Salmon Faverolle
Pink eggs
These chickens lay pink colored eggs.
- Asil
- Australorps
- Easter Eggers
- Sussex
- Plymouth Rock
What about speckled eggs
You may be wondering if certain chickens will lay speckled eggs. Well, technically all chicken breeds have the ability to lay speckled eggs.
Below you is an example of a speckled egg. This is caused by extra calcium deposits on the egg's shell.
Some speckled eggs are caused by calcium deposits and others are caused by excess pigmentation. Speckled eggs with excess pigmentation will have dark freckle like spots all over the egg while those caused by calcium deposits have a lighter color.
Some chickens that do lay speckled eggs are Cuckoo Marans and Welsummers.
Does shell color affect egg nutrition
While you may have heard that brown shelled eggs are more nutritious than white shelled eggs this is not true. The color of the egg shell does not affect the egg.
Things that do affect egg nutrition is the chicken's diet, environment, and health. If you want to get better eggs from your chickens read this article.
Which chickens should I get
While egg shell color can help you determine which chickens are best for you, it should not be a deciding factor. Some chickens are going to fare better for your climate than others.
When you pick out your chickens make sure to get chickens that will suite your climate, meet your egg laying wants, and be friendly around you. Here are some of my favorite breeds.
I love raising a mixed breed flock because now my basket has many different colored eggs in it.
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