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An 'Egg' of a Different Color



You go grocery shopping, you reach for white eggs - however today, you want to live a little and try the brown eggs. You give them a go and realize they taste exactly like your common white egg. The truth is all eggs are made the same, so before you cringe at the thought of eating a blue shelled egg, read on to find out an egg is simply an egg.


You may notice, brown eggs are commonly more expensive than white eggs. This must mean they’re organic and more nutritious right? Wrong! The truth is, any color egg can be organic free range.


So why the price difference?


Simply, it takes more feed for a brown-shell egg layer to produce an egg. The pigments (color) are added onto the brown egg at a much later process than white, so it takes more nutrients and energy, therefore, more feed.


So, "how do hens produce colourful eggs" you ask? Incredibly it only takes 26 hours for a hen to produce an egg. Twenty of those hours are required to form a shell. The shell of all chicken eggs are made of calcium carbonate, which is naturally white in color, so all eggshells start as white.


As the shell forms inside the hen, colour pigments called porphyrins are secreted from cells within the hen’s uterus to add colour to the shell.


The color of the eggshell depends on the genetics of the hen and when the pigments are released during the shell formation process.

  • White eggshell - No pigments added - Less feed requirements.

  • Brown eggshell - Pigments added late - More feed requirements.

  • Blue eggshell - Pigments added early - Less feed requirements.

  • Green eggshells - Pigments added early - Less feed requirements.

Heritage Breed Hens lay less than commercial hybrid hens. Commercially it makes sense to use hybrid hens that are fast maturing egg machines. The Leghorn and the ISA Brown are superstar commercial layers. The Leghorn lays white eggs while the ISA Brown lays brown eggs.


So it raises the question, 'do coloured eggs taste different than white eggs?"

We’ve all heard people say "brown eggs taste better than white eggs" or "brown eggs are free range organic" and white eggs are not. But, do eggs taste any different based on the color of their shell? The short answer is no. Differences in taste and yolk color depend solely on the hen’s diet and how they are raised. A hen fed a diet rich with grasses, seeds, vegetables, gmo free grains and bugs will result in a better tasting egg. And of course, the fresher the egg the tastier and more nutritious, so consider supporting local farmers first.

Look beyond the grocery store and be dazzled by eggs in a rainbow of hues ranging from white to cream, green to blue and pink to dark chocolate brown.

Let's take a look at some amazing breeds of hens that lay colored eggs!


Blue Egg Layers

Blue Egg Layers

Ameraucanas, Araucanas, and Cream Legbars all lay blue eggs.

Araucana hen showing off her incredible cheek feathers!

Olive Egg Laying Hens

Green, Olive & Easter Egg Layers

Easter Eggers are considered a barnyard of mixed breed of chickens can lay a rainbow of egg colors.


Favaucanas are a cross between Faverolles and Ameraucanas which lay a pale sage green egg.


Olive Egger chickens are a cross between Marans Ameraucana. Isbars also lay a range of greenish-colored eggs from mossy to mint green.

Pink & Cream Egg Layers

Cream or pale pink eggs are produced by breeds such as the Light Sussex, Mottled Javas, Australorps, Buff Orpingtons, Silkies and Faverolles.




Australorp hens showing off their gorgeous black shimmery green feathers.

Chocolate Brown Egg Layers

Curious Cuckoo Marans black laced with white feather tips.

White Egg Layers

Leghorns are the most common breed of white egg layer, but other white egg layers include Andalusians, Anconas, Lakenvelders, Polish and Hamburg hens.

White Leghorn hen - a prolific layer of large white eggs.

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