Egg Color Genetics

Egg color is one of the things that got me into breeding chickens. I wanted every color egg in my basket.

The typical egg color is white eggs. Plain white eggs are usually laid by leghorns. The shell is white and a lot of people think they are boring! I actually only have one white egg layer in my mixed fun flock currently.

Now the next egg color you see is brown eggs. Some people say they are more healthy but the egg shell color has nothing to do with the healthiness of the egg. A brown egg is a white egg shell with a brown pigment on it. This pigment is called protoporphyrin IX, and is a pigment that is deposited in the final stages of shell formation. So it is on top like a coating. The amount of the pigment deposited influences to darkness or lightness of the final brown color of the egg.

Anther egg color is blue! Blue eggs are sought after because they are so unique. The pigment responsible for these blue eggs is called oocyanin and is deposited at the beginning of the shell formation and causes the shell to be blue. Some lines of birds have blue shells with so much pigment that they look greenish teal.

Now the last egg color is green eggs, which is a combination of both pigments. At the beginning of egg formation the shell has the blue pigment deposited and then at the end the brown pigment coats over the top of the blue shell giving a green appearance.