AndyRoo Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Hello So, I was right: at least one of the Legbars was getting ready to lay, as per the pictures below. Unfortunately there were a couple of issues (you'll see one in the image below) - 1) The egg shell starts off a very pale blue, turns a deeper blue in the middle, and then turns a paler blue again. Any ideas? 2) The egg shell has a smear of blood or two on it, and there were a few small drops in the nesting box. I've tried to pick up the leg bars to check them, but they're both running away from me and flapping and squawking and they want nothing to do with the situation. I've watched them for a while, and they both seem perfectly fine - eating and playing with the others etc. Should I be worried? Or does that sometimes happen with new layers? Thanks, Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Its reasonably common, just keep an eye out. The pigmentation should also sort itself out, its common for first eggs to be a bit odd. Even mature birds can sometimes lay slightly odd coloured eggs when they come back into lay after the moult. Congratulations, a blue egg, how exciting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Yeah congratulations - lovely to get blue ones - I just have the normal brown ones but I love them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted December 7, 2016 Author Share Posted December 7, 2016 Its reasonably common, just keep an eye out. The pigmentation should also sort itself out, its common for first eggs to be a bit odd. Even mature birds can sometimes lay slightly odd coloured eggs when they come back into lay after the moult. Congratulations, a blue egg, how exciting Phew. I thought maybe the poor girl had given herself a permanent mischief because of the blood!! Unfortunately I can't tell which one of the two laid because I wasn't around at the time. The egg (as you can see) was quite small, but then they are both quite small birds - at least now. I'm hoping the blue colour will 'develop' a bit more with time. You can't really tell from the picture, but the bluest part of the shell is baby blue, so that'll be nice. I am quietly hoping that the other one might lay a mint green egg to compliment the blue, but I will have to wait and see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 I've never had anything other than a pale brown, white or cream coloured egg I look quite enviously at those of you with blue and green eggs, even more so if you are lucky enough to have a very dark brown egg laying marans. Quite a bit of me wants a croad langshan which should lay a pinkish tinged brown egg, which is called plum. I feel its probably a slight amount of poetic licence, a bit like so-called blue birds (eg blue orpington) which are more 50 shades of grey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 it's not usual for a bit of blood first time if the pullets a bit on the small side the egg probably took a while to finish off half way through the shell making process it more than likely stopped hence the dark band around the middle you might find the shell is a bit thin on the ends the colouring of blue eggs is a bit different to brown eggs and I find they are a bit more consistent than brown ones. as the colour goes all the way through the shell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted December 7, 2016 Author Share Posted December 7, 2016 Well I feel reassured that it's not something that is seriously wrong... thank God. Although I can't imagine it can be a particularly pleasant experience for the poor girlies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted December 8, 2016 Author Share Posted December 8, 2016 And we got another small blue one today - and much to my relief, other than a bit of dirt, all is well and good. I thought I'd do a side-by-side, as it were, comparison of the 4 types of egg we're now getting. Naturally the largest white egg comes from the smallest bird overall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 What a lovely mix of colours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 I deliberately chose the birds to get different coloured eggs. I was really hoping to find a cou cou maran for some darker eggs too, but sadly nowhere round here had them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 I have blue and off white from my bantams now - my next addition to the flock would be dark egg layers if I could find any bantams that do that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 I deliberately chose the birds to get different coloured eggs. I was really hoping to find a cou cou maran for some darker eggs too, but sadly nowhere round here had them! that dark one you've got in the photo isn't a bad shade through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 They are very pretty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 Assuming it's only the 1 Legbar laying we're getting a blue egg about every 3 days now. Hopefully they'll both be doing it soon. I guess the only way we're going to know for sure is if we get 2 eggs on the same day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Assuming it's only the 1 Legbar laying we're getting a blue egg about every 3 days now. Hopefully they'll both be doing it soon. I guess the only way we're going to know for sure is if we get 2 eggs on the same day. same problem I've got 6 pullets all look like they should be or are about to start laying but I'm only getting 1 egg a day or one every other day but they don't look the same( cream- light brown) when in the egg tray so I think I've got at least 2 laying but until I get more than one egg a day from that coop I'm stumped as to how many I've got laying at least I know for sure which one is deferentially laying as I saw her lay her first egg. on the plus side I've got 2 hens back in lay one in each coop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
