# Chicken Eggs



## kids-n-peeps (Aug 24, 2009)

I know this is a goat forum, but the chickens were getting jealous :wink: , so I agreed to post some pictures of their eggs:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

ah yes the wonderful americanas (sp?) -- do you get any purple ones? we use to have a chicken who laid purple eggs. We also would get blue too. Lots of fun


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## SterlingAcres (Oct 19, 2009)

Hey, I get the same color varieties KP  We've got purebred Buff Orpingtons and purebred Black Ameraucanas. And one Easter Egger. Do I see an olive egger in your mix?


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## kids-n-peeps (Aug 24, 2009)

We have Black/Blue Splash Ameraucanas, two Barnevelders, 2 Brabanters (white eggs), and then we have seven "hybrids"/mixes that we hatched out from a very mixed rooster, so we get a few weird-colored eggs, but none purple. Get out of town, Stacey - purple????


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

not like BRIGHT purple but they were purplish brown. Distinct from the brown eggs thats for sure.


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## kids-n-peeps (Aug 24, 2009)

Purplish eggs would be cool, esp. to put in a carton of fresh farm eggs to sell. I'm kind of missing our Welsummers' dark brown spotted eggs . . . the egg carton is so pale-looking now (but still pretty as far as eggs go  ).


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## SterlingAcres (Oct 19, 2009)

Get out KP! Are your Ameracaunas separate? I've got a hatching itch that I'll need to scratch soon. lol I'd also like some darker eggs. I'm looking into Welsummers or Marans, not hatchery quality. Suggestions?


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

very pretty colored eggs.... :wink: :greengrin:


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## DebMc (Dec 11, 2009)

SterlingAcres said:


> I'd also like some darker eggs. I'm looking into Welsummers or Marans, not hatchery quality. Suggestions?


Cuckoo Marans! Mine lay dark chocolate colored eggs. They're supposedly the favorite of fictional character James Bond.

I have a variety of layers - Jumbo Pekins, Tufted Roman Geese, Sebastapol, Turkeys and an assortment of chickens - that produce all different sizes and colors of eating eggs.

Deb Mc


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## kids-n-peeps (Aug 24, 2009)

We have a black and also a blue ameraucana rooster on the group. Our Ameraucanas are just starting to lay for the first time, and unfortunately out of the 27 chicks we bought last Fall, only 9 were hens. Oh well, if we like them, I may try to get a few more unrelated to this group and then try to hatch some out using a broody hen.

I think our Barnevelders are gorgeous, but they do not lay eggs nearly as dark as our Welsummers once did. However, our Barnevelders & Welsummers did come from a hatchery and egg color may not be a focus.


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## jillygoat (Jan 20, 2010)

Beautiful eggs - you just don't see that in a grocery store, do you? Once I got my first look at Americauna eggs - I knew I had to get some! I know that technically a green egg or a blue egg taste the same as a white or brown egg - but I feel such peace when I see the blue and green mixed in - I can never go back!!!! Next in line will be a Maran for those super dark brown eggs. Such fun!


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## donbusbin (Aug 30, 2009)

I give eggs to a friend of my wife's, he has a granddaughter who refuses to eat regular eggs but loves the green and blue ones. She doesn't want to hear that all colors are the same inside. Another thing is that free range eggs are more nutricous and better tasting than those pooor pale grocery store things.


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## heathersboers (Sep 5, 2008)

I saw some of the cookoo maran? eggs on e-bay- they were dark chocolate brown-and soooo expensive!!! I love the colored eggs! Hubby won't eat them though!


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## cdtrum (Aug 25, 2008)

I'm glad others also get a thrill out of their hens eggs......I just love how they look in a big bowl in my frig! I let my friend have my only 2 Ameraucanas.....I miss my blue/green eggs in the mix......will be getting Cochins (sp?) this spring, what color do they lay?


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## SterlingAcres (Oct 19, 2009)

<<Another thing is that free range eggs are more nutricous and better tasting than those pooor pale grocery store things>>

We free-range our birds year round. Their eggs yolks are so dark, they're almost orange. They're delicious  I'd never eat store boughts again :x


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## logansmommy7 (Nov 11, 2009)

SterlingAcres said:


> <<Another thing is that free range eggs are more nutricous and better tasting than those pooor pale grocery store things>>
> 
> We free-range our birds year round. Their eggs yolks are so dark, they're almost orange. They're delicious  I'd never eat store boughts again :x


You are right-and I would love for people who don't think they are different to take a taste test-there is a distinct flavor difference! Love my home grown eggs~!


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## kids-n-peeps (Aug 24, 2009)

Absolutely much tastier. Also a lot of the eggs sold in grocery stores as "free-range" are actually still from hens overcrowded in houses and only have access to a tiny door that might lead to a tiny muddy pen that only a small % could fit in. I was reading up on this the other day and it really made me mad that a lot of consumers are paying $4+/dozen for eggs that they believe came from chickens who spend their daylight hours in grass, foraging and moving around happily. In most cases, that is far from reality.


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## farmergal (Jun 19, 2009)

Agreed!!! We sell eggs at the farmers markets here, and it's really sad the number of egg cartons we get back (because customers will bring us their old egg cartons to re-use) that say "Judy's Family Farm" and are covered with cute drawings of the happy free-range chickens. But those customers are paying tons more $$$ for eggs that are really not any better than the cheaper, commercial-looking Wal Mart kind... the chickens are still kept inside and eat only layer ration their whole lives. So the eggs, IMHO, are junk! And the chickens are not happy like the chickens in the advertising, so you are paying more for nothing.
To get good, rich, buttery eggs, I've decided, grass is an important ingredient... or plenty of veggies and cuttings. Chickens thrive on variety! Our girls love eating wild mustard in the winter, and even before I started providing them with free-choice oyster shell they produced the hardest shelled eggs I'd ever cracked, from all that nice calcium from the mustard! They also eat BOSS, pumpkins, wormy tomatoes & corn, old broccoli & cabbage plants, farmers market leftovers (always too much zucchini), bugs (esp. worms and maggots in the composting hay/poop that always slides down to the bottom corner of the sloped goat pasture)... and, um, the occasional frog or mouse. (I crack up when I see "vegetarian eggs" in the grocery store. I was a vegetarian for years, and let me tell you chickens are NOT naturally vegetarian! If I don't clean out the coop often enough a mouse family will set up shop under the shavings, and the chickens go nuts chasing and eating them.)

As for breeds, I have Cuckoo Marans (just hatchery quality tho), and heritage quality Sal Favs, BBS Orps, Buff Orps, & partridge silkies. Also the standard hatchery Rhode Island Reds, White Leghorns, a couple of Wyandottes, a couple of White Crested Black Polish, and a bunch of useless (but endearing) other bantams. Makes for a very fun, colorful egg basket every night... and a very fun, colorful flock!

As you can tell, I love talking chicken  I was a hatch-a-holic before I became a kid-a-holic  Good thread!


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## DebMc (Dec 11, 2009)

Yes, the incredible, edible egg contains all the amino acids the human body needs. Organic, free range and pasture fed - the best, IMO! :chick: 

( *)< Quack, quack, Ha-a-onk, Bawk, bawk, bawk! <(* ) 

Deb Mc


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## SterlingAcres (Oct 19, 2009)

<<As you can tell, I love talking chicken I was a hatch-a-holic before I became a kid-a-holic Good thread!>>

ME TOO!!!  I had a crazy hatching year last year. lol


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## myfainters (Oct 30, 2009)

Yes, we've had crazy hatching years too... last year we hatched out 92 chicks! LOL Too many breeds to count but I love my aracaunas and easter eggers.


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## logansmommy7 (Nov 11, 2009)

I love my chickens too-but have to admit-my goats took the front seat when I got them! I'd like to try hatching some but have never done it. I would probably need some advice before trying. I have one hen who has gone broody on me twice now. I'm sure she will probably do it again in the spring.


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## SterlingAcres (Oct 19, 2009)

My goats have also taken front seat. lol I'm sure I'll be hatching in between breedings, but it won't be as addicting as it used to be... I've got a new obsession.


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## logansmommy7 (Nov 11, 2009)

SterlingAcres said:


> My goats have also taken front seat. lol I'm sure I'll be hatching in between breedings, but it won't be as addicting as it used to be... I've got a new obsession.


Glad there are other people out there with obsessions like mine- :laugh:


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## kids-n-peeps (Aug 24, 2009)

My chickens wouldn't like the way this topic is going


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## SterlingAcres (Oct 19, 2009)

kids-n-peeps said:


> My chickens wouldn't like the way this topic is going


  Mine either. They were spoiled rotten until the goats took over.


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## logansmommy7 (Nov 11, 2009)

kids-n-peeps said:


> My chickens wouldn't like the way this topic is going


Yeah mine probably wouldn't but since we got the goats and they broke the gate to the chicken coop down-they free range every day. So, actually, the are probably happier...they certainly lay better than when they stayed in their muddy run all day!


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