Which Came First?

Shades of eggs...from left to right:Golden Sexlink, Welsummer, Ameraucana, and Speckled Sussex eggs

For the past few years I'd been playing around with the idea of getting some chickens once again. Years ago I raised a few chickens (Mille Fleurs, black and red sexlink, Rhode Island Red, and Barred Rock), but we had them for just a short time before we moved to our current location (sans chicken housing) and had to get rid of them when we moved.

Fast forward 18 years to the present, and the urge to get chickens once again has hit home. So last year I ordered some chicks from a hatchery...

I'm all about color. The more the better, the wilder the better, and the more outrageous the better! I was always envious of a girl in my elementary school that had one blue eye and one brown eye...I used to think, "how cool would that be?!" I like "different". Plain white eggs are boring. Plain brown eggs are only slightly less boring. In my opinion, of course. Though all eggs are truly beautiful if you ask me; some just have more pizazz than others.

So when I was deciding which breed of chickens to get get, I knew I had to get ones that would produce some truly colorful eggs. I also wanted "productive", but you can't always have both, can you? I got a few Golden Sexlink girls that would be "egg machines" and crank out a (slightly boring) large brown egg nearly every day. My Welsummer girls lay a nice dark brown (and sometimes speckled) egg about 5 times per week. The Ameraucanas lay shades of green and blue about 5 times a week as well, sometimes more. The Speckled Sussex lay a very, very light brown egg...kinda creamy looking, but they're very small and add a nice contrast to the other colors in the box. They're average layers as well.

The girls started laying last August (2009), only 4-1/2 months after they hatched. What follows is a short "photo essay" of some of the lovely eggs they've blessed me with. Enjoy.

A few of the eggs collected one morning recently. Who needs an egg coloring kit for Easter when you've got eggs like these?

A few bizarre eggs

Color! Color! Color! 12:00 and 2:00 = Ameraucana 4:00 = Welsummer

6:00 = Golden Sexlink, and 8:00 & 10:00 = Speckled Sussex

The most eggs I collected in one day was 24 from the 26 girls that were laying. Here they are in all their glory. Thanks, ladies!

A sampling of eggs and one butt-feather

Shades of Ameraucana eggs

That had to hurt! A Golden Sexlink egg dwarfs all the others. It weighed more than a "jumbo" egg by quite a bit! The rest of the eggs in this carton are considered a "large" size.

My Welsummer girls lay quite a variety of egg shades and patterns. Above are just a few.