Egg color

[Kitsch6]

Would love input on this egg...the most pigmented we've gotten in about 8-10 years.  (Yes, there is some brown, it was laid in the mud and completely covered).   

[John]

The color does change when wet also.  I use a spray bottle with disinfectant and soak the eggs before placing them in the incubators.  I've found this is the best time to cull for the bluest shell color.

[Mike Gilbert]

While the egg is highly pigmented, it appears quite green on my screen.   I have had a few like that, and the pigmentation drops dramatically after the first few eggs are laid.   It is always a pullet just starting to lay.
Have you been feeding something high in copper content by chance?    There is a theory out there that pigmentation can be influenced to some degree by certain kinds of nutrients, but I've never seen any thorough documentation of that. 

[Kitsch6]

No idea who laid it; we have pullets and hens running together at the moment.  Probably a pullet, but it's still much darker than what we normally get, even from pullets.  The pic doesn't do it a whole lot of justice. The more I scratch and pick at it, the bluer it is underneath.  And no, Mike, nothing unusual that I know of; kitchen scraps, scratch/sunflower/catfood, and 16% layer ration; on the next feed delivery we will switch to a breeder pellet.