Egg Shell Shades

Have you ever wondered why eggs in the grocery store are usually white and farm eggs often differ in color? The color of a chicken egg shell is largely dependent on the breed of chicken. For example, at Blackberry, our Ameraucana chickens lay different shades of blue and green eggs, our Australorps lay different shades of brown eggs, and our Buff Orpingtons lay different shades of pinkish eggs. In the grocery store, the eggs you see predominantly come from certain breeds of chickens that lay white eggs, like Leghorns. The color of the eggshell doesn't change with the chickens' diets or time of year.

The color of the egg yolk, however, does vary with diet. The eggs from the chickens at Blackberry Farm tend to have a darker, firmer yolk. This is mainly due to two factors. The first is that our chickens are free-range, so they are able to forage for plants and bugs that add additional nutrients and pigment to the yolk. The second is that our eggs are usually consumed within a few days of when they are laid, if not the same day. Eggs in the grocery store can be up to two months old. That makes a big difference in freshness and the consistency of the yolk.

In the Summer when the days are longer, chickens lay an egg about every 24 hours, but in the Winter, their production drops considerably. Most of our chickens are heritage breeds, so each individual hen lays about 250 eggs per year. Heritage breeds may not produce as many eggs as some of the modern, commercial breeds, but they usually lay for a longer lifetime and have better foraging skills.

– Christen Waddell, Assistant Farmstead Manager