So you want to lie with what color eggs your hen will lay ? That ’s leisurely : white . All chicken testicle are , in fact , clean . Those dreary , chocolatey - looking ones laid by a Maran ? White plate overlie witha key , of sorts . You do n’t even need to look at a volaille leg , because now you bed .
Oh , but I bonk we love our brownish “ country ” egg just a little second more , scientific reasoning be danged . I think the information could come in ready to hand with fillip bird or at farm swaps , but I sympathize this “ pegleg ” question as largely curious inquiry into a persistent agrarian myth , as catalogue are quick to educate prospective chick vendee on the colouring of each breed ’s end product .
What’s Leg Got to Do with It?
First , let ’s look at what a volaille ’s ramification colordoesmean . In universal , the leg — or shank — color is a genetic trait that is ( spoiler alerting ) not straight off touch on to egg colour . Rather , it ’s determined by a series of traits that interact , including plume traits . There are , truth be told , a number of unknowns when it comes to chicken shank colors , though gene linkage to egg hue is n’t in one of these surface area of dubiety .
White , aka slate , branch are the wild eccentric and determined by adominant gene , known as “ W. ” Yellow legs , however , are determined by the recessionary factor , “ double-u , ” and leave from the uptake of carotenoid in food such as greens and Zea mays , an increase of which can , in fact , make the legs yellower . Yellow legs , however , fade over the path of a lay cycle as , in effect , the yellowness is pulled out to give rise yolks . mature chickens lose pigmentation over the years , as well .
While white and jaundiced legs ill-treat the majority of barnyard swagger , chickendom is a varied and sometimes unknown land . In terms of “ exotic ” leg colour , at least , dermal melanin contributes greatly to this variety . cutaneous melanin is present through a recessive gene know as ( id+)—the absence of dermal melanin is rife . The dark pigment is responsible for a rainbow of color variations , from the Bresse ’s steel - spicy shank to the willow branch of Araucana . However , it ’s not the implicit in effort of the Silkie ’s disastrous legs . The Silkie ’s stem are determined by another dominant gene calledfibromelanosis .
The Breed Tells You More
So while leg color does n’t tell you what coloration eggs come out in the nesting box , there are some collateral links , considering strain type does dictate both . For example , an Araucana has willow tree - greenness legs and lays blue eggs ( though the Araucana - like , motley - stock Easter Eggers lay whatever colouring material eggs they feel like ) , while a Rhode Island Red has yellowed legs and pose browned eggs . Beyond breed - specific stage set of traits , however , there ’s no overarching link .
WhatDoesDetermine Egg Color?
So , what does make one strain of chicken consist a white testicle and another Robert Brown ? An previous locution holds that lily-white eggs come from blanched poulet and brownish eggs from brown chickens , but I have a brown leghorn who would take offence with this claim . As mentioned at the top of this article , all chicken eggs are blank , with brown eggs stick their people of color from a coating ofprotoporphyrin , a paint come from blood and put on to the ball shell ’s more than 7,500 pores within the final few hours before place sentence . Thirteen or more genes ascertain not only the presence of protoporphyrin but also the amount applied , from the small amount for a easy - tangent Plymouth Rock ball to the maxed - out , cocoa - colour Maran ’s egg . prison term of twelvemonth and hen age also affects the darkness of an bollock . Seasons of heavy egg laying grow lighter eggs ( there ’s less protoporphyrin to paint on ) , while older hen just make less pigment .
So , what about fleeceable and blue nut ?
This is where I yield that my statement of all eggs being livid was a bit overblown . Blue testicle are , in fact , blue through and through ( at least the casing ) . It ’s thought to be the consequence of a retrovirus that , somewhere along the line , inserted a gene called calledoocyan . The eggs get their grim hue from the absorption of a gall paint during interuterine shaping . And green eggs are just blue eggs with a software of protoporphyrin over top . But really , if it were n’t for that retrovirus , you ’d be looking at a white egg .
Egg Quality Is Colorblind
ultimately , I have to ask : Why are you so interested in egg color ? Perhaps the inquiry was purely scientific , but might I find the fainthearted speck of judgment in the question ?
There ’s a longstanding composition of misinformation holding that brown eggs are healthier than their white-hot counterparts , and this claim should be put to bed once and for all . Healthy ball come from healthy chickens , regardless of shell colour . A carton of grocery - store “ land egg ” is arguably less desirable than eggs from a sight of Leghorns allowed to roam freely , eating grass , glitch and a ration of hand - ruffle , all - natural feed . ramification colors are surely interesting , but the bollock is what really matters .
