SO! What kind of chicken(s) should I get? Easter Egg Chickens of course! I want one chicken that lays brown eggs, one chicken that lays pale or pinkish eggs, and one chicken that lays blue or green eggs!
Believe it or not, the blue egger will be easier to find than a pink (actually
just light tan) Blue eggs are laid by Araucanas or Ameraucanas. The blue egg shell is a dominate trait, so crossed breeds will also lay blue eggs.Wikipedia has an excellent article on the blue egged chickens: Araucana
Here's another article: click here.
If you read a bit about the araucanas, you find out that this is a mutant breed to say the least. These chickens are missing the last vertebra on their spine and completely lack a tail! I like chickens with tails (not to mention all their vertebrae) so I will stick more to the Ameraucana type. Here is the history of that breed: ameraucana.org
For my brown egger, I think I like Marans the best. Welsumers also have brilliant colored eggs, but I think maran eggs are spectacular! Dark rich mahogany-colored! Just look at these pictures! Also, The most common feather color of the British maran is cuckoo, my favorite chicken color!
So, now for the light tan to pinkish eggs. For now, somewhere in the neighborhood of this color. (like the eggs in the left of the right picture above) This is a bit more unpredictable. I think it may be sort of trial and error with a few brown-egg chickens until I find one that lays light eggs. There are a couple of breeds that are known for lighter eggs, and I will look for one of these. Prehaps after some breeding efforts, I can develop a chicken that lays pink eggs. Wish me luck! :)
