How can you tell what color egg a chicken will lay?

Recently someone asked me how I can tell what color egg a chicken will lay.  Did you know chickens lay many different colors of eggs?  We are used to the brown and white eggs we can buy at the grocery store, but eggs come in the colors of very dark brown, blue, and olive green.  Sorry, but I only have hens that lay white and brown eggs and you can see a sample of each days collection below:

So how can you tell what color egg a chicken will lay?  I wanted to introduce you to two of my hens to explain.  But first, did you know chickens have ears?  Yes, they have ears.  Their ears are covered with little, tiny feathers.  Below the ear is an ear lobe.  You can see both in this picture. Do you see the ear and the ear lobe?

A chicken with a white ear lobe will only lay white eggs.  Here is my little hen whose name is Fluffy. I named her Fluffy not only because she is cute and fluffy but also because she likes to eat dog food.  She's one of my favorite hens because each time I come out to the chicken field she comes running.  I think she wants to check if I have any dog food with me.

Can you see her ear?  Can you guess what color eggs she might lay?

If you guessed white, you are correct!  Here is one of Fluffy's eggs. She lays a very large, white egg almost everyday.

How about this hen?  Do you see her ear area?  What color eggs do you think she might lay?

A chicken with a red ear lobe will often lay a brown egg.


How about this one?

If you guessed brown or white, you are incorrect.  Because this is a rooster!  A male chicken.  He doesn't lay eggs.  Only hens lay eggs.  We'll talk about the difference between roosters and hens at another time.

The only certain way to tell what color eggs a chicken may lay is to know what breed of chicken you have.  Fluffy is a Leghorn.  Leghorns lay white eggs.  The black and white hen is a Barred Rock.  Barred Rocks lay a light brown egg.  Easter Eggers, Araucanas and Americaunas are the chickens that lay the blue, pink tinted or green eggs.

Want to know a secret?  We're getting some of these in the Spring.  Yay!

Thanks for visiting and we'll see you soon!  Next up:  How can you tell the difference between a hen and a rooster?