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    Home » Homestead » Animals

    85+ Chicken Breeds for Colorful Eggs

    March 9, 2020 by Tamara 1 Comment

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
    You can read my full disclosure statement here.

    an egg carton of colorful eggs, text overlay Chicken Breeds for Colorful Eggs

    Today we will be talking about chicken breeds for colorful eggs, which breeds lay which color eggs so you can get that colorful rainbow collection of eggs that you have always wanted!

    Bringing Chicks Home in Spring

    Spring time is the best time to add chicks to your homestead and before you do, you may want to consider certain chicken breeds for colorful eggs! Last week, we talked about Chickens for Beginners. So be sure to check out that article if you are new to keeping chickens!

    Spring is a good time for chicks, because that is when chickens naturally want to reproduce.  So there are lots of options for finding them, from an online hatchery, to your local feed store, or you can turn to local chicken keepers.

    Spring is also a time where you may be over run with eggs, because the birds produce the most in the spring. If you find you are over run with eggs, see my article 12 Ways to Use Eggs to get some great ideas on how to use them up.

    chick sitting on colorful blue and brown eggs

    Other articles you may be interested in:
    How to Use Eggshells in the Garden
    Chickens for Beginners on the Homestead
    How to Get Rid of Rats on the Homestead Our favorite homesteading and gardening tools in our Amazon Store!
    Our Garden Harvest Tally Spreadsheet is now available!

    Planning for Rainbow Egg Colors

    In order to have a beautiful variety of egg colors from your flock, you will need to have a bunch of different chicken breeds in your flock. Some breeds lay white eggs, some lay brown, blue or green. Others lay off white or cream colored, and some lay those dark chocolatey brown eggs that are so sought after.

    an assortment of colorful eggs on the counter top

    Below I will go over which breeds lay which colored eggs, generally speaking. Sometimes, you don't know the genetics of a bird, so an odd egg color may show up in a bird. Other times, it is harder to guarantee that an egg layer will lay a certain color egg, as is the case in cross breeds.


    21 Chicken That Lay White Eggs

    a blue Polish hen in the grass

    A blue Polish hen is just one of many white egg laying breeds.

    Popular white egg laying breeds are as follows:

    1. Ancona
    2. Andalusion
    3. Appenzeller Spitzhauben
    4. Campines
    5. Crevecoeur
    6. Dutch Bantam
    7. Hamburg
    8. Holland
    9. Houdan
    10. La Fleche
    11. Lakenvelder (white to cream)
    12. Leghorn
    13. Minorca
    14. Modern Game
    15. Polish
    16. Sebright
    17. Sicilian Buttercup
    18. Sultan
    19. Sumatra
    20. White Faced Black Spanish
    21. Hybrid Breeds: California White, Austra White

    17 Chickens That Lay Cream or Lightly Tinted Eggs

    a pair of blue and white silkies

    Silkie chickens are one of many breeds that lay a cream or slightly tinted egg.

    Popular cream/lightly tinted (off white) egg laying breeds are as follows:

    1. Aseel
    2. Catalanas
    3. Cochin (cream to light brown)
    4. Cornish
    5. Cubulaya
    6. Dorking
    7. Egyptian Fayoumi
    8. Faverolle
    9. Japanese Bantam
    10. Lakenvelder (white to cream)
    11. Mille de Fleur
    12. Old English Game
    13. Phoenix
    14. Redcap
    15. Rosecomb
    16. Silkie
    17. Yokohama

    20 Brown Egg Laying Chickens

    a young barred plymouth rock pullet in the grass

    A young Barred Plymouth Rock hen, one of many breeds that lays brown eggs.

    These brown egg laying breeds lay a light brown to a medium brown egg:

    1. Australorp
    2. Brahma
    3. Buckeye
    4. Chantecler
    5. Cochin (cream to light brown)
    6. Cornish
    7. Delaware
    8. Dominique
    9. Java
    10. Jersey Giant
    11. Langshan
    12. Malay
    13. New Hampshire
    14. Orpington
    15. Plymouth Rock
    16. Rhode Island Red
    17. Sussex
    18. Turken
    19. Wyandotte
    20. Hyrid Breeds: Sexlink, Red Star, Black Star & Blue Sapphire

    4 Chicken Breeds That Lay Dark Brown Eggs

    These breeds are highly sought after for their dark brown egg color:

    1. Barnvelder
    2. Marans (This breed probably lays the darkest of the brown, but only if acquired from a true breeder of the line. Hatchery stock has not bred for this trait nearly as well)
    3. Pendescena
    4. Welsummer

    5 Chicken Breeds That Lay Blue Eggs

    a blue Araucana hen with a white background

    A rumpless blue Araucana hen, one of a few blue egg laying breeds.

    Popular breeds that lay blue eggs are:

    1. Araucana
    2. Ameraucana
    3. Easter Egger (not a true breed, but a mixed breed)
    4. Cream Legbar (their eggs will range from a true blue to a greenish blue color)
    5. Hybrid Breeds: White Sapphire, Whiting True Blue

    3 Chicken Breeds That Lay Green Eggs

    These are probably the hardest egg layer to find. Green eggs are not a natural egg laying color by any breed. Generally, cross breeds will lay the highly sought after olive egg color.

    Also good to note, all hens from an olive egger crossing may not lay green eggs, this is why they are hard to come by. Often the birds crossed for an olive egger offspring, are a Marans x Ameraucana or Easter Egger. If the female offspring inherits the brown egg laying gene from the Marans parent, she will lay brown eggs.

    The females that inherit the pea comb from the Ameraucana or Easter Egger parent, are often more likely to also have the blue egg laying gene. So when choosing chicks from this breeding, look for chicks that have the pea comb vs the single comb.

    1. Easter Eggers (not a true breed, but a mixed breed)
    2. Olive Eggers (not a true breed, but a mixed breed)
    3. Cream Legbar (their eggs will range from a true blue to a greenish blue color)

    Eggs that are Other Colors

    two hands holding an assortment of blue and green eggs

    The colors of eggs we went over above, are the standard colors found in chicken breeds or popular crosses. Sometimes other colors can come up in your bird, that may seem pinkish, or lavender. This is often caused by the bloom on the egg, but is not a true egg color.

    The bloom is the protective coating on the egg, that prevents bacteria from entering it. But sometimes it can be extra thick, or tinted, which results in an odd colored egg. Sometimes a bird will do this consistently, other times it is just a fluke.

     



    Other Considerations Besides Egg Color

    It is a good idea to consider many factors when choosing the right chicken breeds for you, other than just egg color. Other important factors to consider include how calm a breed is, how it fares in extreme temperatures and how many eggs that breed is known to lay.

    Some breeds are very flighty, and this may not work well for young children who may want to love on them. Other birds will suffer severe frostbite if you live in a very cold climate. And yet others might not do well if you live in a very hot climate. Lastly, some birds don't lay very many eggs at all, and if you are getting chickens to have eggs, this would not work out well for you at all!

    So be sure to consider all aspects when it comes to choosing which chicken breeds will work for you. An assortment of egg colors are fun to have, but only if it will work for you if all things are considered in choosing which breeds are best for you.

    My Farm Fresh Tuesday Blog Hop Featured Post this Week:

    How Long Do Eggs Last?

    brown eggs in the grass with text overlay How Long Do Eggs Last?

    How Long Do Eggs Last from from Homestead Wishing

     

    Want to Remember This?

    Don't forget article on  Chicken Breeds for Colorful Eggs article!

    Please pin "Chicken Breeds for Colorful Eggs" to your favorite chicken or homesteading board on Pinterest!

    carton of blue and dark brown eggs with text overlay Chicken Breeds for Colorful Eggs

     

     

     

     

     

     

    « Chickens for Beginners on the Homestead
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    1. Debbie-Dabble

      March 10, 2020 at 5:59 am

      Thanks so much for hosting each week!!
      Hugs,
      Debbie

      Reply

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