Different Chicken Breeds for Colorful Eggs

Backyard chicken keeping has become very popular in recent years. If you’re going to have a small group of hens, why not have beautiful eggs? That is where my egg color obsession started. From a small group of laying hens who gave me blue, brown, tan, and sometimes green eggs. Like most people, I still wanted a darker brown, a more vibrant green; and did you know you can get speckled patterns? Have to have those as well, of course. The question for most people is how do you get that rainbow egg basket of your dreams? Let me help! For those who don’t know, I have been breeding hens for egg color for over 5 years now, and it is still exciting.

Let’s go through some breeds that lay different colored eggs. Knowing what breed lays which color of egg is sometimes the hardest place to start.

Blue Eggs

Blue eggs are a staple in every rainbow basket. There are several true breeds who lay blue eggs:

• Ameraucana (Blue, Black, Splash, Wheaten, Ermine, Buff, Laced, many more)
• Cream Crested Legbar (Also come in different feather colors: Opal, Silver, White)
• Araucana
• Hatchery Hybrids (Easter Eggers) 

The great thing is all of these breeds come in a variety of feather colors. A note about Hatchery Hybrid layers; since they are crosses/hybrids, sometimes they do not lay the color advertised. If you are looking to start a breeding program, they may not possess the genetics you want in your breeding pens, however, they can be great birds for backyard flocks.   

Brown Eggs

These are the staple of backyard eggs. Farm fresh brown eggs. Did you know you can get a wide range of browns? They can come in brick red, tan, terracotta, peach, speckled, chocolate, and everything in between. Here is a short list of different brown egg layers that will give you a great range of brown eggs:

• Marans: (Black copper, Blue copper, Splash, Wheaten, Cuckoo): Chocolate/Dark brown eggs
• Please note: breeders work very hard on their dark egg genetic lines; not all Marans will lay super dark eggs. Those not from dark egg genetic lines still lay a darker brown egg, however, may not be as dark as those from well-bred lines.
• Welsummer: Speckled brown eggs, ranging from terracotta to a darker brown. 
• Wyandotte: (Columbian, Golden laced, Silver laced, and other varieties): Light tan to cream, some even lay a peach or pinkish colored eggs.
• Rhode Island Red: old faithful brown egg layer. 

There are many more brown egg-laying breeds, these are just a few to cover the wide range of shades and patterns that the birds can lay.

White Eggs

To get the full rainbow effect, white egg layers are often used as a good contrast to show the wide range of egg colors. There are so many wonderful breeds that lay white eggs, such as:

• White/Brown Leghorn
• California White (sometimes lay cream)
• Polish Varieties 
• Hatchery Hybrids

Green Eggs

Wait, they can lay green eggs? Absolutely. Green egg layers are often referred to as Olive Eggers. Breeders have put various quirky names to their fun project pens that create these beautiful green eggs that range in color from spearmint green all the way to moss colored. There is a lot of breeding genetics that goes into creating green eggs, but let’s talk about the basics of creating an “olive” egger. 

To get a hen that lays green eggs, a cross must be made. This includes a brown egg laying breed and a (true/purebred) blue egg laying breed. Some possible combinations can be as follows:

• Ameraucana + Maran = Olive eggs
• Crested Legbar + Welsummer = Olive eggs
• Wyandotte + Ameraucana = Light green eggs

These basic crosses will produce pullets that will lay shades of green, but how dark? Keep in mind, the color of the brown egg laying breed will determine the shade of olive eggs the chicks will produce, so think of the brown as the limiting factor. The olive color will only be as dark as the brown color it comes from. Maran crosses may produce darker army green eggs, whereas the Wyandotte may only produce spearmint-colored eggs.  

This is the basics of olive egg breeding. Please know that it gets very involved the more generations that you breed. These first crosses however will produce 100% green egg laying pullets if the parents come from purebred lineage and not hybrids or crosses.  

Other factors that affect Egg color: 

Genetics play a huge role in egg colors, however, nutrition does as well. The pigments that are used to create the color of the eggs are pulled from the hen’s body and used to produce the colored shell. If the hen does not have the proper nutrition available to her, the color of the eggs may be dull. Maran varieties in particular, their eggs fade as their laying cycle progresses. The darkest eggs are produced at the beginning of their laying cycle (after molt or point of lay pullets) and fade as the cycle progresses. The hens’ natural reset (molt) refills their “ink cartridges” and if they are given proper nutrition during those times, they will produce higher quality-colored eggs. Full Plume® Feathering Feed is a great option during a molt to help support layers. To enhance your flock’s egg colors, nutrition is a must! I feed all my hens Henhouse Reserve® to make sure they lay the best color of eggs that they are genetically able to produce.