Hens which lay blue eggs

It took many years and much patience for the Ameraucana to emerge as a success story and in this breed was admitted to the American Poultry Association. They are very good foragers and prefer to free range but will tolerate confinement fairly well. Overall this is a friendly, docile and intelligent breed. The Easter Egger is a backyard favorite because of their lovable and friendly nature.

With a little encouragement and plenty of treats this sweet bird can become a lap chicken in no time. They are are quite similar in appearance to Ameraucanas. Some may have muffs, beards and tails while others may have none or some of those features. They are a low maintenance chicken that will tolerate confinement or free range with equal grace.

This breed is a little on the small side with roosters only weighing 5lb and hens weighing 4lb. However they are a vigorous and healthy breed with few problems to note. Although Easter Eggers have the blue egg gene they can lay anything from a pale pink to a blue egg, so be aware you may not get blue eggs from your hens.

It all has to do with a virus — a retrovirus to be precise. At some point in ancient history a retrovirus infected the Mapuche Araucana chickens. A similar but different retrovirus invaded the Dongxiang and Lushi as well. This retrovirus contained Ribonucleic Acid which inserts itself into the invaded organism and rewrites their DNA profile.

So now instead of laying a regular white or brown egg, the script has been changed to a blue egg. You can read more here if you are trying to understand the mechanism behind the blue egg phenomenon. You should remove all the old bedding and sanitize the coop with Virkon or white vinegar mixture. Scrub down the walls, nesting boxes and sprinkle liberally with poultry dust.

While you are in the coop you should check for any small entry points for mice, rats and weasels. Check all window coverings to ensure that they cannot be removed by raccoons. Check the perimeters of the run for signs of weakness or digging. Winter is a harsh time of year for wildlife and they will be looking for easy food — do not let it be your chickens.

Although they will be less active during the winter they will still proliferate in the warmth of the coop and make nesting or roosting a miserable experience. If you want your chickens to lay through the winter then you will need to provide extra light. Always add extra light in the morning as it is better for the birds and does not strand them outside the coop when it gets dark at night.

The old chestnut of heating the coop is bound to make its annual appearance. Your chickens do not need extra heat in the coop at night providing it is draft free and dry. They come in multiple colour varieties: black, white, lavender, splash and cuckoo.

Cream Legbars lay blue eggs per year. There are other colour varieties of Legbar however only the Cream Legbar will lay blue eggs. Cream Legbars originated in Britain in the s. They were created by cross breeding multiple breeds including the Araucana, causing them to lay blue eggs. They became endangered around the s but became popular again due to the novelty of their blue eggs.

Cream Legbars are one of the first and most popular autosexing breeds. This means you can tell the difference between males and females from just looking at them, as soon as they have hatched. The male chickens have a pale and non-distinct brown stripe while the females have a dark and bold brown stripe. The Dongxiang is known for also having black skin, muscles, and even organs.

The Lushi is described as small, with the hens weighing under three pounds and the cocks weighing not quite found pounds. It is said to lay pink eggs as well as blue eggs, so it may be the Chinese version of an Easter Egger. Keith Bramwell. It is said to be a cross between a white Leghorn and an Araucana. It resembles a Sumatra hen and has a pea comb and yellow legs. He wanted a bird with superb hackle feathers that also produced blue eggs.

Hackle feathers, for the record, are the feathers around the neck. In roosters, the hackle feathers are long, thin, and can be quite impressive. When a rooster gets ready to fight, it will raise its hackles to make itself look larger and more fearsome.

People used to claim that blue eggs had more protein and less cholesterol than did eggs of other colors. This a myth. In terms of calories, proteins, and cholesterol, all eggs have the same nutritional value, no matter what color the shell is.

Eggshell color also does not affect the taste or the appearance of the yolk. One Arizona farmer gave his chickens leftover red chile peppers, and they produced eggs with yolks the color of sunsets. Chickens that eat a lot of corn, by contrast, tend to lay eggs with yellow yolks. Chickens that lay blue eggs are so far relatively rare, and the purebreds are comparatively expensive.

White and brown eggs are the most common and least expensive, which is why these colors are the ones found in supermarkets. Hello, I found reading about chickens very interesting. I have a friend that has an anacana pure breed and says it came from Spain, lays blue eggs and swears that they are half the cholesterol.

So where did that idea come from? Thanks for your time. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Purina Animal Nutrition. Each chicken breed has specific genes that affect eggshell color. No matter the color, hens need balanced nutrition to lay eggs with strong, protective shells.

Collecting farm fresh eggs becomes even more fun when the shells are shades of the rainbow. From olive to pretty blue and speckled to chocolate brown, colored eggs are trending in the backyard chicken world.

No matter the shell color, your hens need calcium in their layer feed to lay strong and stay strong. Chickens that lay colored eggs Eggshell color is unique to each hen, depending on her breed and genetics.

Eggshell color does not change egg nutrients; the color of the shell is simply decoration. Hens with white earlobes typically lay white or lightly tinted eggs.