Chickens that lay blue eggs are few and far between.
As we shall see, getting blue eggs is a bit more complex than getting a brown or white egg.
It is a genetic trait and one that has become very popular over the last few years!
Almost everyone enjoys a variety of colors in the egg carton – brown, white, blue, green even pink!
In this article, we are going to take a look at the top 8 breeds which lay blue eggs.
But first…
How Are Blue Eggs Formed?
Before we look at breeds which lay blue eggs, let’s first look at why they lay blue eggs.
What makes a blue egg so very different from any other egg?
It all begins in the reproductive tract.
All eggs are ‘born’ white. Some will stay white/cream or off white, up to the laying point because they have no pigment overlay.
Brown eggs start to become brown in the uterus. Brown eggs are made by the application of a dye onto the eggshell.
The dye is called protoporphyrin and is made from the bloods’ hemoglobin.
The shade of brown is controlled by the genetic blueprint of the hen.
Other factors can affect the dyeing process too, for example – if the egg goes slowly through the tract, it will have speckles.
The hen only makes a certain amount of dye for each egg, so an extra-large egg may appear paler than a regular sized egg. Or if there is a hiccup an egg can be partially colored leaving a two tone look, much as your printer ‘running out of ink!’
As you probably know, if you have to clean a brown egg the coloring will rub off leaving paler patches.
Blue eggs, however, are quite different.
The oocyanin (a liver pigment derived from biliverdin) starts to get laid into the calcium carbonate base of the shell at the beginning of the process.
The color, therefore, becomes part of the egg and cannot be ‘rubbed off’. The blue color is carried all the way through the shell to the inside.
White and blue are the two ‘true’ egg colors. Brown, olive and green can all be removed from the shell since the pigments are laid over the shell.
Recent studies into the blue egg coloring suggest that it is caused by a retrovirus which altered the chicken DNA and caused blue eggs way back in history.
It is a harmless virus that gives us pretty blue eggs!
Which Breeds Lay Blue Eggs?
Breeds that lay blue eggs are few and far between.
For your convenience, we have produced a list of 8 breeds that lay blue eggs, some breeds lay more than 200 eggs a year!
Needless to say, almost all of the breeds mentioned here are expensive to buy – except the Easter Egger!
Araucana
The Araucana is originally from South America – Chile to be exact.
The Araucana is actually a combination of Colloncas and Quetros chickens of Chile – the first chicken inhabitants of the continent.
The Colloncas laid blue eggs and were rumpless – no tail feathers and no tailbone. The Quetros had tufted ears, pea comb, full tail and laid brown eggs.
These two breeds were bred together by Dr Ruben Bustos back in the 1880s’ and he created the Araucana as we know it today.
This breed is quite rare, partly because of the lethal tufting gene. If both parents have the gene for tufting, at least twenty five per cent of the chicks will die in the shell.
They can usually only be purchased from a breeder as much work goes into producing these unusual birds. They aren’t known to be friendly or ‘cuddly’ chickens, so really are not suitable for most backyard chicken keepers.
The Araucana comes in bantam and standard size fowl. As a breed it was admitted to the American Poultry Association in 1976.
You should expect around 200-250 eggs a year.
Cream Legbar
The cream Legbar is a twentieth century creation.
Two professors at Cambridge University in England were working with chicken genetics to try and create an auto-sexing chicken.
At the time these birds were created, blue eggs were not popular and the breed almost became extinct. The Legbar is a mix of Leghorn, barred Plymouth Rock and Araucana.
The Araucana blood is reflected in the crest and, of course the blue eggs.
The breed is still relatively rare, but becoming more popular with backyard enthusiasts. They are friendly birds, great foragers, quite muscular and very predator savvy.
The hen weighs about five and a half pounds with the cock weighing in at about six and a half pounds. The hens will lay around 200 eggs per year.
Easter Egger
The beloved Easter Egger is not in fact a recognized breed but a hybrid or ‘mutt’ chicken.
Somewhere in its ancestry it had either Araucana or Ameraucana blood and so possesses the blue egg gene.
Although not all Easter Eggers will lay blue eggs.
Easter eggers may lay anything from pale pink through to a dark brown, olive, green or blue colored egg.
It is also called the Rainbow layer because of the variety of egg colors possible, they can lay around 250 eggs per year – not too shabby!
It is said to be an excellent bird for a family flock, being friendly and docile, reacting well to small children.
It should have a pea comb and muffs. Feather coloring is widely variable from bird to bird – as is egg color.
They make great mothers and can go broody quickly. They are good for hatching any eggs you care to put under them.
They are good foragers and quite predator aware.
They are considered to be one of the best free-range breeds due to their love for foraging and their own predator-like appearance.
It has been said that the Easter Egger has a hawk-like appearance, thus, it is thought that they deter hawk attacks, as well as other small animal attacks.
Dongxiang and Lushi
These two varieties of chicken come from the provinces of China.
I have found scant information about them except that the Lushi chicken appears to lay either pink or blue eggs. Perhaps this is the Chinese equivalent of an Easter Egger.
The Lushi is a small bird, the cock weighing less than four pounds and the hen less than three pounds. They are a single comb breed.
The Dongxiang chicken is a fibromelanistic bird, meaning its’ skin, muscles and organs are black – much as the Ayam Cemani. They lay blue eggs only. As far as I know, no birds exist outside of China.
Whiting True Blue
This breed was created by Dr Tom Whiting of Colorado. He had dual interests in mind – blue eggs and superb hackle feathers.
The hackle feathers on superior birds are used for fly tying and are exceptional in quality. The plumage of ‘true blues’ can vary from a ‘chipmunk’ pattern to easter egger variety.
The birds are said to be fast growing, good flyers, alert and active. They are also friendly and curious.
If you feel the need to add them to your flock, be prepared for a little ‘sticker shock’ – these beauties will cost you around twenty four dollars per bird.
You should expect upwards of 200 eggs per year.
Arkansas Blue Chicken
An experimental breed possibly created by Dr R. Keith Bramwell at the University of Arkansas.
The bird is apparently a cross between an Araucana and a commercial strain of white Leghorn. An exceptional layer of around 250-350 eggs per year!
The appearance is close to a Sumatra hen, with clean face, pea comb and yellow skin and legs.
I owned two of these at one time. I found them flighty and not at all friendly to humans, needless to say they did not stay very long!
Ameraucana
Prior to 1976, Araucana breeders had their own visions of what was the perfect Araucana.
Some breeders cross bred with other breeds looking for the best of everything.
The American Araucana at that time could look very different from flock to flock.
The purists bred for tufts and rumpless, yet others bred for tails and muffs.
The birds weigh in at around five and a half pounds for both sexes.
They lay somewhere around 180-200 eggs per year.
They have a mild, friendly disposition and are docile.
The true Ameraucana is still relatively rare. Many other birds (usually Easter Eggers) are sold by hatcheries under the name Americana (note spelling) or some similar sounding name, so it’s a case of buyer beware!
True Ameraucana chicks sell for around eighteen dollars each, so if you are offered Ameraucanas at two dollars each – be very cautious.
When you are looking to purchase your first blue-egg-laying bird, you will see some confusion (and some deliberate misspellings) between the Ameraucana and Americana.
The true name for the blue egg-laying bird is Ameraucana.
An Americana is most likely an Easter Egger. So when browsing hatcheries, watch for this error so you know what you are purchasing.
Blue Egg Laying Chicken Breeds: Summary
Mans’ tinkering with genetics will no doubt continue and perhaps we will see more blue egg layers in the future, who knows?
Hopefully it will not be at the expense of the hen.
Many of the birds mentioned here are not particularly ‘human friendly’, possibly because they are relatively new breeds and retain much of the wild jungle fowl genetic pattern.
So, if you want blue eggs, be prepared to pay premium price for these birds.
My recommendations based on the research presented here would be the cream Legbar – they seem to be relatively friendly and would fit well with an existing flock.
Do you have blue egg layers?
If so what breed and do you find them sociable?
You know we love to hear from you…
Some years ago bought an egg box of fertilised aracuna eggs to supplement my yard of free range Japnese bantums, rescue battery hens, etc. The Aracunas proved to be poultry hooligans. Kept to themselves, refused to join others in roosting, took themselves off to who knows where to lay multitudes of eggs, that only my border collies knew where. when eggs hatched, collie told me where and in no time at all I had 20plus extra Aracunas!
20, That’s amazing Penny! Just let me know if you ever need someone to help take care of them 🙂
Claire
I Know exactly how you feel! I used to have some and one day when we were gathering chicken eggs from the coop I didn’t see any Americana eggs and began to get a little consonerd until I found my dog laying over a whole bunch of BLUE eggs the ladies had laid in a completely different area.
My comment doesn’t concern the color of eggs but is VERY important to me. I have a bully. I’m so sad because I’m afraid I’ll have to get rid of her. We’ve tried taking her from the coop away from the others for several days and within 10 minutes she’s mean to the one RIR, chasing her all over. She doesn’t bother any other girls, just that one, biting at and pulling feathers. I don’t think she’s ever drawn blood, at least I’ve never seen any. I’ve tried throwing water on her but I hit others with it and that’s not fair! I can’t remember their breed, I have two, but was told that they lay even more than RIR’s or Barred Rocks which is what the others are. I’m at my wits end and don’t know what to try next. PLEASE, any one out there with a suggestion, let me have it!! Thank you, Peggy
I’m sorry to hear about this Peggy. I will leave the comment here to see if anyone has any suggestions for you.
Claire
I have a Cinnamon Queen who was fine until I tried to introduce new pullets to the flock. She changed overnight into a territorial bully. She is normally a very sweet girl and my best layer so I really wanted t keep her. I contacted my breeder who suggested I isolate her for 2-3 weeks and then reintroduce her. This did help. Her original flock mates decided to not take any of her bad behavior and stood up to her and even protected the younger birds when she tried to go after then. I also spent a lot of time in the coop being their “rooster” and making sure everyone behaved well. It’s been a week since the reintroduction and everyone seems to be working it all out. It just takes time and a change of circumstance I guess to get an attitude readjustment. Also, my breeder told me that although Cinnamon Queens are basically a very sweet bird, they do come from the RIR gene pool so the chance of a recessive RIR gene (i.e. territorial bully) is a possibility. My breeder is not a fan of the RIR for this reason, but she says she has had great luck with the Cinnamon Queen. Will think twice before I get another one; even though she is a champion layer (300+ a year). Interesting that it was a RIR being bullied in your story. It’s usually the other way around.
insert a rooster and her together for awhile. don`t know why but this usually works
Great article!! I have an “Americana,” Lucy, and she lays a beautiful blue egg everyday! Great personality to boot. 🙂
I also have a Ameraucana named Lucy and I have one named Ethal!
We were sold 4 chicks from our local farm store. Two are Buff Orpingtons and two were sold as Ameraucanas. One of them lays blue eggs which are beautiful. She has what we call ear muffs and a little fluffy beard. We are guessing that the other hen is actually an easter egger as she lays dark speckled brown eggs. We love that all four of our hens lay different colored eggs. They are so much fun.
Thanks for sharing the information about blue eggs. I gave a demonstration on chickens to some 5th grade students, and one of the hens brought by the owner laid blue eggs – the first I had ever seen, so was at a loss to explain the differences. This helps a whole lot. Thanks!
Glad this helps to explain Ralph 🙂
I’m really not happy about engineering coloured eggs to satisfy an insatiable appetite for novelty in the behaviour of our own species. There are so many tragic issues facing us as a species, it’s a parody of our supposed intelligence and sensibility to waste resources on superficial nonsense like. Even eight year old children would regard it as foolish and utterly selfish.
Hi Peter,
Thank you for your comment.
Whilst I understand your point, as mentioned in the article the first ‘engineering’ of colored eggs occurred naturally through a virus strain, not human intervention.
From thereon in, breeds with this virus have been breed with other breeds to create breeds like the Easter Egger…
I would refer to it as selective breeding rather than engineering, and this has been fundamental with many breeds to ensure their survival by breeding out ‘faulty’ genes. So it’s not purely a negative thing 🙂
Claire
I have an Easter Egger and I get 1 blue egg every day!! She’s very friendly.
So happy I joined in. I’m learning a lot through the comments provided here and of course the replies from Claire. I’m in the Philippines and have joined a number of groups here re. free-range chickens. Your group is very educational. Thanks and God bless.
– larry j
Claire,
I am somewhat confused about which chickens lay blue eggs. When we were sold our two Ameracaunas we were told they would lay blue eggs. Like I said before, the one hen that is brown and gray and has what appears to be ear muffs and a fluffy beard is the one that lays blue eggs. The other who has a regular comb and waddles lays a dark brown egg. So after reading some of the comments I’m not sure which hen is the true Ameracauna and which is the Easter egger. I don’t guess it really matters, but I would like to know since I’m their owner! Thanks in advance for any comments that might clear up this mystery.
Hi Pam,
They could very well both be Easter Eggers. As Easter Eggers are ‘mutts’ they can look significantly different and lay different colored eggs…
Claire
Hi, thanks so much for this site. It’s great! Two questions. If I wanted to add to my flock, how would you go about introducing the new ones and do they need to be the same age, etc.? My Roosters are starting to bully the hens, now what?
Happy to help Dawn 🙂
Please read our article on how to introduce new chickens to your flock. That will answer all your questions!
Claire
Thanks for the information in the article and especially for the reply about “engineering”. I get my eggs from a local free range owner who has recently introduced blue eggs into the eggs we get. My husband refused to eat them saying that was not right. Now I can show him that it wasn’t a bad thing at all.
whenever the bully acts out …imitate a roosters response…be loud and quick …agitated…as though youre the alpha and are not going to tolerate for this….it qill require you to observe qhen you place her near others.. addded with you advancing will quickly get her attn….qish i could imitate the sound . lol . unfortunately translation would be lost in text ..lol…bur im rather good at it….after a few occurances of getting your feathers ‘fluffed” at her yoy should notice her reaction…and her aggression subside
Hi,
Is there ANY way to tell the difference between a Whiting True Blue and the 5 Varieties of Plymouth Rocks at 1 day old??
I just bought an assortment of Rocks and the Blues, and I am selling some of the Rocks, but I want to make sure that I keep the Whiting True Blues!
Any help would be greatly appreciated ASAP!
Bought a Whiting True Blue and a Cream Legbar among others. Mostly for their blue eggs but also because I have an Olive Egger that is half Cream Legbar and she is such a great hen and lays the most beautiful extra large olive eggs. They are not cuddly but they are also never a problem in the henhouse and get along well with others mostly because they keep to themselves. I’ve never had a blue layer and I am anxious to see the eggs which should come in about 3 weeks now. I feel silly I should be so excited about a colored egg, but us chicken owners are all afflicted like that so I assume you all understand. Here’s to a colorful egg basket.
I have a white silkie that lays blue eggs. She’s very friendly.
Can you purchase the Akansas Blue Chicken?