The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Breeding
Egg shell coloring
Sarah Meaders:
So many of us are on FB in both Ameraucana pages, so a lot of us have seen the post that was placed on a different chicken page regarding egg shell colors in Ameraucanas, Araucanas, and EE's. In short, the original poster declared that after much research, she has solved the mystery of how to tell an EE from an Ameraucana and Araucana. (Am I spelling Araucana right?) She stated that any egg that is blue on the inside is a true, pure Ameraucana or Araucana, and any colored egg that is NOT blue on the inside is an EE. Obviously, this is flawed logic, and there are many breeders chiming in. But some of the comments from people who know much more than I do has me scratching my head, and although I have read the exact same information on many expert scientific articles, I am seeing something different in my own eggs.
The statement is that ALL blue eggs will be the same blue on the inside AFTER the membrane is removed completely. There is also a statement that if the "blue" egg is NOT the same blue on the inside, that it is an EE.
Scientifically, the blue shell is said to have had the oocyanine deposited through the building of the shell, therefore, logic says it will be the same color through and through. Here is my problem with the blanket statement that all blue eggs will be the same blue through and through:
I have very beautiful, very pure Ameraucanas from two different breeders who know what they are doing. I can assure you, my birds are pure Ameraucanas. I have been getting blue eggs for several months now; various shades of blue, a couple are already almost white at this point in their cycle, and some are almost a grayish blue. I am very happy with the blues on my eggs. I am almost obsessive about my shells. I don't let my family crack open any blue eggs, because I examine each blue egg for fertility and inner shell color.
Not once, not a single time, have I cracked open a blue egg, carefully cleaned the membrane off, sometimes more than one layer of membrane, have I ever had a inner shell the same color as the outer. Every. Single. Egg. is either white on the inside, or an EXTREMELY pale blue compared with the outside. Yes, I make sure I get the membrane off completely, and I do so immediately after opening the egg so as to not let it dry.
Also, this thread has many statements that all brown/tan/pink eggs will NOT have the same color as the outside since the brown "sprayer" is at the end of the tunnel. Scientific logic says that should be true. HOWEVER, I have a lovely pinkish egg from my flock (I have several breeds of several different colored egg layers) that is the exact same pinkish color on the inside as it is on the outside.
My point, either I have a flock full of mixed breed EE's and their eggs aren't really blue and I am imagining things, which means so are my kids, my hubs, and all my friends who love the multiple colored eggs I have....OR...even though scientifically ALL blue egg shells SHOULD be blue throughout, there are always exceptions, and the oocyanine is not always evenly deposited and distributed during the shell making on every blue laying hen.
Am I the only one who has painstaking cleaned the inside of a freshly laid blue egg, looking for that blue coloring, and ended up wondering why it is very pale, or even white? Is it just me? I realize this may not even matter to some, but when I read so many comments that state "if the inside shell is NOT the same blue as the outside, it is an EE", that kind of gets my attention.
Someone chime in and tell me I am not crazy! Or color blind! Or inept!
Don:
It is apparent that the term EE means many things to different people. And it sounds like there are still many that put egg color at the top of the list. I am getting a multitude of calls/emails for "Real" blue egg laying "pullets". It is definitely an interesting concept to have egg color define the EE rather than Feather color, type and other traits. I have not personally seen a pink egg color on the inside and not sure if there could be some chemical reasons that might cause this to happen. The different soil conditions for Hydrangeas comes to mind?
There are often "Sports" that can happen from any group of poultry over time. As far as the blue coloring being a different shade on the inside and outside, I am not surprised that some vary in shade of blue. I think the goal of having the blue the same color inside and out more refers to the teal or greenish tint rather than the density of the blue color thru the shell thickness.
Don:
I had a request from someone this week, I thought must be from a similar stream of thought.
" do you have a line of a certain blue charted color of eggs?
I wasn't sure what they were really looking for, tried to ask some questions. Very limited text bites. Tried to give them some options, but not sure if they acquired what they were looking for.
Birdcrazy:
--- Quote from: Don on April 10, 2016, 01:23:38 PM ---I had a request from someone this week, I thought must be from a similar stream of thought.
" do you have a line of a certain blue charted color of eggs?
I wasn't sure what they were really looking for, tried to ask some questions. Very limited text bites. Tried to give them some options, but not sure if they acquired what they were looking for.
--- End quote ---
Don, I got the same email this week. Very vague what they were asking information about.
Sarah Meaders:
There seems to be a recent ramp up of egg color fanaticism on Facebook lately. Don't get me wrong, I am serious about egg color, too, but a recent one really has my attention. Someone posted on both pages about some BBS being sold and the breeder stating the eggs from his stock is a mint green. This has raised some discussion about whether there should be any green whatsoever in the Ameraucana egg. Someone brought up the egg color chart, and others said that if their stock laid a blue egg with even a hint of green, they would not continue to breed that chicken, etc etc.
So here's my current question about egg color...some of my girls lay a very pretty blue egg, but in different shades of light, you can see a hint of a very soft minty green...not a green egg by any means, but minty none the less. Of course the egg chart has different levels of minty green on it, and even some lavendar-ish in the lower A numbers.
Is this the consensus of the Ameraucana Breeders Club that minty green, and lots of other colors on the ABC chart are, in fact, unacceptable and should not be bred, or if they are, should be sold as EE's? I have some eggs in the incubator right now that have minty hints in the shell, and I just sold two dozen hatching eggs that on a cloudy day look minty.
Another question....if your stunning looking Ameraucana lays an egg that is not sky blue, is it dishonest to show that bird as Ameraucana? Especially since so many breeders are improving type and coloring over egg shell?
Not trying to start an argument here, but this is my first year selecting breeders, and hopefully my first year to actually enter my beauties. I want to make sure I understand and stand with the official position of my club and represent the ABC honorable.
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