Egg color changes: a pink egg instead of blue/olive.

[Cinnaminute]

My 6 EE girls have been laying since the end of October 2022 so they're still pretty new layers. I know some weird things can happen! But this seems a bit much. I'm also worried it could be connected to health? Anyway, here's the info:

So basically, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the color eggs my girls give me by now. Some are definitely more obvious:

1. Moose lays golden brown eggs.
2. Stitch lays speckled brown eggs.
3. Zelda lays powder blue eggs with an olive undertone.
4. Tilly lays olive eggs (and she lays the biggest eggs of them all).
5. Cleo lays lighter olive eggs.
6. Kiki lays dusty grey olive eggs.

My final two girls I had to figure out were Cleo and Kiki. I had the most difficult time catching them on the nest. But pretty sure I confirmed Cleo because she sometimes lays outside the nest. I have also seen Kiki on the nest before and later checked to find 2-3 olive eggs there so I'm pretty sure the dusty grey are hers.

Due to the weather, I'm sure, I had Moose quit laying for a week or two. I didn't see a single golden brown egg for a time. She started again and lays more regularly.

However, this is the weird part: Zelda quit laying for a bit. She had been super regular and I am very familiar with her powder blue dusted eggs. I figured she's going through the winter weirdness. Everyone has been laying pretty irregular after all. However, about a week ago her comb got a bit pale and shriveled looking. I've been worried sick about her. She's acting completely normal, though. Active, still bullies me, eats good, etc. I've been feeling her breast-bone to make sure she isn't losing weight and have felt her to see if she's egg bound. Nothing seems off and the past couple days her comb has been getting its color back. I also checked for mites and lice. Everything seems fine (though admittedly I'm both inexperienced and paranoid).

Anyway, today when I collected the eggs, I got two olives (Tilly & Cleo) and a brown (Moose)... and a pink egg! The egg is the right size to be Zelda's (she lays the smallest eggs). It did have blood on it, which I haven't seen since the girls started laying. Is it normal for a chicken who hasn't laid in weeks/months to bleed a bit when laying again? Sadly the egg was also already busted. It wasn't laid in the nest (I imagine the box was occupied - I don't know why, I have 3 boxes but if they can't use the 1 favorite box everyone uses, they'll just lay goodness knows where). But yeah, I found this to be so weird. I definitely see some blue speckles on the egg which definitely points to Zelda. I find the whole thing odd. But Zelda herself is odd. She's been growing spurs and is the dominant lady so I guess she has some rooster-isms. No crowing though, haha.

Sorry for the lengthy story! I wanted to share the oddness. Anyone else have such a drastic change? I'm eager to see if I get more pink eggs in the coming days. But here's a picture of the pink egg and Zelda's usual egg.

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

A blue egger can't start laying brown/pink, so the egg probably came from Moose or Stitch, since egg color (especially for brown eggs) can change around a lot.

 

[littlechickenmama17]

That is so weird! Not being mean, I have never seen any eggs change drastically like that! I do agree with @Hanathehappyhen , the egg is probably another hen, but if Zelda ( love her name! ) got a bit sick, usually hens bodies stop laying to focus their energy on getting better, so keep an eye on her. I have also never seen a hen growing spurs before! If you could, I would LOVE if you showed pics of her! That sounds super interesting!

 

[Cinnaminute]

@Hanathehappyhen Oh, so pink is in the brown family so to speak. Thank you for the info! I appreciate it!

@littlechickenmama17 Thank you. I've been giving her Nutridrench and VetRX, as well as the others. She seems to be on the up but I'm keeping a close watch! I'll also get a picture of those spurs tomorrow. They're slow growing and have gotten a bit stumpier the past month but I was scared she was a rooster until she started laying, haha.

 

[NatJ]

She's been growing spurs

I have also never seen a hen growing spurs before!

Some hens do grow spurs. It is more common in some breeds than others, and hen spurs are usually shorter than rooster spurs (for birds of the same age), but spurs in hens are not really rare.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-with-spurs.32638/
Here's an old thread where lots of people mention having hens with spurs.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-what-hen-growing-spurs.1065181/
The second post in this thread has photos of a Welsummer hen with spurs.

 

[aart]

A blue egger can't start laying brown/pink, so the egg probably came from Moose or Stitch, since egg color (especially for brown eggs) can change around a lot.

Correct.

so pink is in the brown family so to speak.

Yes.
The very basics of egg color:
There are only white and blue shells.
Brown eggs have brown coating on white shells.
Green eggs have brown coating on blue shells.
The brown coating can be very light or very dark, and can vary day to day.
Then the bloom can add another aspect to the egg color.
Pink/purplish eggs are usually from the bloom on a brown egg.

 

[Cinnaminute]

@aart Thank you! That makes perfect sense!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

A pink egg is a brown egg with a heavy bloom on it

 

[Cinnaminute]

Just wanted to post a final update:

Pink egg: I discovered that the pink egg was actually from my EE girl Kiki. She looks nearly identical to Cleo so it seems I mistook some of Cleo's eggs for hers. The only way I can really differentiate between them, apart from personality, is that Cleo has a tiny bit of crest and that's near impossible to see when she's in the nesting box. So apparently Kiki didn't start laying until she was around 8mo (the other 5 EEs all started around 5-6mo).

Zelda's comb: As for Zelda, she stopped laying because she's going into a molt. Seems for her, the comb paled/shriveled and the laying stopped before the feathers started to drop. Tilly started molting about a week ago. Her comb paled a few days before the feather drop started and then after that she stopped laying. So thankfully Zelda is healthy. She just has a talent for making me worry. I was really panicking there for a bit and Kiki randomly starting to lay at the same time didn't help.
Not to mention, everything I read never said anyone would molt at 32wk/8mo!

So before I go...

Here's a post of boss lady Zelda herself (spurs and all - this was before the feather loss started and when I was panicking about her comb going pale/shriveled):


Followed by a lovely molting picture featuring Tilly.


Zelda refused to pose for a pictures. I tried, but she was very embarrassed:

And Kiki the pink egg layer who is laying a pink egg nearly every day:


Thank you everyone for your help! Have a good one!

 

[3typesbirdies]

A blue egger can't start laying brown/pink, so the egg probably came from Moose or Stitch, since egg color (especially for brown eggs) can change around a lot.

I have two Easter Eggers. One was laying lovely blue eggs and the other one lays pale green-blue. Both had stopped laying during the winter, but the blue-green layer started back up in mid Spring. The blue eggs simply stopped and I was sure that hen was going to have to be culled. I just couldn't tell the hens apart and never caught them laying. This morning I was in the chicken yard when the egg song began. It was an Easter Egger laying the first egg of the day, and I was sure it would be blue-green. IT WAS PINK. I've read what the Internet says about an Easter Egger not changing the color of her eggs..... BUT THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED! The only chicken in the coop, the only egg in the nest and it was warm while she was cackling away. She's probably been laying all Spring, but this egg will save her life if someone else can validate this phenomenon.