We have two beautiful chickens in our tiny backyard: Shauna, the Ameraucana, and Ruby, the Rhode Island Red. They’re over a year old now, and have been living quite happily in their coop in the backyard since late last Spring. Ruby lays lovely, caramel-colored eggs, and Shauna, who should lay beautiful, light blue eggs with a touch of green, lays greenish eggs that are a color somewhere between army and olive. They’ve started making lots of noise as soon as the sun comes up every morning, so my husband has been jumping out of bed at 5:30 every day to open their door and let them out. They’re quieter if they can roam the yard, eating grubs out of the lawn and pecking at the vegetable seeds the girls planted Easter weekend. My husband wants to send them down to the farm with the rest of the chickens, but I–who gets to murmur “go let the chickens out” before rolling over and going back to sleep–I like them right where they are.
Lesson #9 in Backyard Farming: Araucanas and Ameraucanas lay the pretty blue/green eggs. There are lots of mutt chickens that lay pretty blue/green eggs too. They fall into the “Easter Egger” category. In addition to Rhode Island Reds, lots of other breeds lay eggs in varying shades of brown. On the farm, we have more Rhode Island Reds, and a whole bunch of Buff Orpingtons, Lavender Orpingtons, Speckled Sussex, and Partridge Rocks. And we have one lone, white egg-laying Leghorn.
The colors are amazing. If only I wanted to have chickens…
Haha, yeah, you do have to put up with the chickens to have the eggs. I bet you can find some pretty ones at the farmers’ market.
What gorgeous photos of your eggs! If we ever get more space (we’d like to eventually live on an acerage), I want chickens! And the taste – so much better!
The taste is fantastic! And the yolks are a lovely, deep yellow-orange color. They’re just better in every way!
I love those eggs! My neighbor has 3 little chickens in her backyard (yes here in San Diego). They are so cute and sweet and lay the cutest little eggs. I want some…but I think Lucy would like them a little tooooo much š
Our 5 finally started laying again, almost a dozen eggs every two days is really nice š And the kids love playing with the chickens. Wish they didn’t poop so much though :/ Glad you got your HOA to let you keep a couple, they are so soothing to watch š
Yeah, they poop a lot. That’s one of the downsides to letting them roam the backyard all day: you have to watch your step!
Love the tips and story. My brother had chickens not too long ago and they were not only great fun, yet yielded tasty eggs. Now to encourage my parents to house them on the island…instant eggs for all! {A}
Yes, definitely get your parents to raise some layers! One of the benefits of having parents close by is that you can reap the rewards without having any of the aggravation!
They’re so beautiful! I’ve just realized that I like paint colors that look like chicken eggs. š Lovely.
Thanks, Joy! I think that light blue-green is one of the most popular paint colors in the whole world. It’s so pretty!
You told me the green eggs were ugly but my dear they are not. Those colours are absolutely gorgeous! You’re making me want chickens right now, but we’ll wait until we own rather than rent.
Hi Tan. I cheated a little and picked the prettiest of the blue-green eggs from the chickens down on the farm for the photos. Trust me, Shauna’s eggs are not a pretty color!
Obsessed with that first photo!
Thanks Ciera! I had that one all planned out in my head. š