Category: eggs

Egg color part two

On By CarynIn eggs

I was recording egg color along with egg weight in a notebook as we collect eggs, but they were relative colors: light brown, medium, brown, dark brown. It bothered me that without a reference, I couldn’t tell what I called “dark” the day before. And “dark” certainly isn’t a universal application because there are chicken breeds that lay much darker brown eggs. So I pulled out an old Pantone color book and am now comparing color to the Pantone standard. It means I write down things like 16-1331, but I am hoping to see a correlation between the color of egg laid and which chicken laid it. (I’m still working on how to figure out that last part.)

Using Pantone colors to match egg color

I tried hanging out in the coop for awhile. Cloud got upset and was yelling at me and decided to perch on my shoulder, then when I got her down and I left the coop, she went into the nest box! So I waited, and waited, and finally got sick of waiting and puttered around the yard (I don’t sit still well for long). I went back to check on her, and it looked like she was sleeping in the nest box. Alrighty then.

Cloud sleeping in a nest box?

I am not waiting around for chicken naps. I did collect an egg from that box an hour or so later when the other chickens alarmed at something (or maybe it was the egg song, not sure on the subtleties of that yet). I am assuming it was Cloud’s egg. It was a different color than all the previous eggs. Maybe an individual chicken can lay different shades? Oh well, it is still fun to color match.

Egg color

On By CarynIn eggs
Difference in egg color

I think I am seeing the result of getting Faverolle pullets from a hatchery. I lucked out that all my chickens have the Faverolle beards and muffs, but Faverolles are supposed to lay slightly tinted pink eggs. These are brown eggs. I compared them to pictures from the Faverolles Chicken Club, and mine are definitely darker, especially the one in the lower right of the picture. That said, these are also from the girls who are laying three months earlier than I expected. I guess we’ll see what coloration we get as the others start laying! The eggs definitely taste fine, and we now sometimes get three a day.

Navi update: Navi has been released from a week of isolation (so she only had access to copper sulfate water and food). Her crop is no longer squishy and has reduced dramatically in size. There is still something in her crop in the morning, but she is eating well and her droppings have returned to normal, so I figured she could use some exercise. What she really wanted was a good dust bath. On another update, the tire dust bath has now been accepted by the flock. Hurray!

Navi checking out the nest box that was added since she went into isolation
The dust bath finally getting used!

Eggs

On By CarynIn eggs

We are currently getting about two eggs a day. One in the early morning, one either late morning or afternoon. Even though I am gathering one egg at a time, I still tie on my egg apron before I go out. It makes me happy to see an egg in the pocket! (I made the aprons two years ago for my kids so they could gather eggs at Oma’s.)

Egg in a pocket
Egg/harvest apron made from calico fabric (2017)
Chicken on a nest

Mostly I find eggs in the nest boxes under the work bench, but early in the morning I found one in the shavings under the roost, and another time by the coop door. I guess the chickens were surprised. We think that Cloud, Pooh, and maybe Magic are laying, because they take the submissive posture when their back is touched. The others don’t.

Stray egg

I also decided to blow out some eggs to keep the shell. It will be interesting to see how the size of the hens eggs change over time! These eggs were much easier to make holes in than my store bought eggs without completely cracking them. Better shells maybe? I used a knife with a sharp tip to tap the hole in each end (larger on one side for the egg material to exit), rounded the holes by gently scraping with the knife, scrambled the inside with a wire, and used a straw to blow out the egg. (I’ve seen where those eggs come from! My lips are not touching that egg shell!)

Blown out egg shell