Green Eggs

Yesterday I remembered a story that Lindsay tells of her time in Rwanda with the Peace Corps. She would often go to the local market for fresh eggs and such. Most of the time the kid/person selling her eggs would try to sell her green eggs. She thought they were trying to sell her funky or diseased eggs because she was an ignorant American. She insisted on buying only brown or white eggs.

As it turns out, she was an ignorant American indeed. Certain breeds or varieties of chickens do lay green eggs. Just as chickens have different feather colors, the pigment that they deposit on their eggs before laying can also be different. Chickens will lay eggs within the same color family. For example, a chicken that lays brown eggs will not lay green eggs, and vice versa.

Last year when we got chicks, we picked two of a variety that were known to lay colored eggs. They are a hybrid chicken that are commonly known as Easter Eggers. Depending on the individual chicken, Easter Eggers (EE) typically lay blue or green tinted eggs. Finally, in the last couple of weeks they both started laying eggs. Debbie, the white EE, lays a very light blue egg. Little Jerry Seinfeld , the brown EE, lays a dark olive green egg. Olive Eggers are highly sought out by the members in the chicken community. I guess we got lucky with our $3.00 chick! (As a side note, the pinkish-brown egg comes from Mesitos (yellow hen) and the darker brown egg comes from Bowser (black/white hen)
Each of the eggs above were laid by each of our four chickens. Right now we are averaging about 3 eggs per day. Not bad for the girls!

So, my fellow ignorant Americans, the moral of the story is that green eggs are not funky or diseased. So why don't we see more colored eggs in the store? Because most of us were raised on and/or still eat conventionally produced white eggs, colored eggs seem weird. Egg farmers know that most people would be weirded out by colored eggs. Secondly, colored egg layers are not bred for high egg production like the typical white, battery hens at egg farms. Farmers want chickens that will lay a huge egg every day. Our EEs lay 3-4 medium-large eggs per week each.

A pic to show their feather colors. I should also mention that the girls LOVE leftovers!