Chickens That Lay Blue and Green Eggs: Breeds for Your Garden

If you are planning a hen house in the garden, you will probably be thinking of brown or white eggs. Many backyard keepers are surprised when they later see photographs of turquoise or olive-green eggs and wonder whether they are internet fakes or genuinely real. In fact, several chicken breeds lay coloured eggs day after day – with no food colouring or Instagram filters involved.

Why some chickens lay blue and green eggs

An egg's shell colour is not random; it is the result of a fairly clear biological process. Each egg travels through the hen's oviduct, where the body deposits pigments into the still-soft shell. These colourants are genetically determined.

Two pigments are particularly important:

• Biliverdin (oocyanin): colours the entire shell blue, including beneath the surface
• Protoporphyrin: produces brown to rusty-red shades

When only biliverdin is present in the shell, the result is sky blue or pastel blue. If the body also applies protoporphyrin over an already blue shell, it creates a rich green to olive-green colour. Where pigments are applied more lightly, eggs can appear pinkish or cream-coloured.

The colour is almost entirely contained in the shell and does not affect yolk colour, flavour or nutritional value.

The actual contents of the egg – the yolk and white – remain the same whether a hen lays white, brown or mint-green eggs. Differences in flavour are more likely to depend on feed, keeping conditions and freshness than on shell colour.

Other factors that influence colour

Genes establish the base colour, although the exact shades can vary slightly. Three factors are especially relevant:

• Age of the hen: Young birds generally lay smaller, slightly paler eggs. As they age, both shell and colour become more pronounced, before often fading somewhat again later in life.
• Health and stress: Noise, pecking-order disputes, parasites or illness can disrupt shell formation. Colours may then look duller, while the calcium layer and egg shape can also suffer.
• Feed: The feed mix does not change the shell colour. However, a balanced diet rich in minerals helps pigments to be deposited properly and keeps the shell strong.

So, anyone hoping for a rainbow in their egg basket first needs suitable breeds – followed by calm, good-quality keeping conditions.

Popular breeds for blue eggs

Araucana: the “ancient bird” with turquoise eggs

Originally from South America, the Araucana is regarded as a classic among “colourful” chickens. Depending on the breeding line, it lays around 140 to 200 eggs per year, ranging from light sky blue to delicate green.

• Laying performance: moderate to good, suitable for backyard keepers
• Eggshell colour: blue to bluish-green
• Temperament: lively, hardy and inclined to roam

Beards and feather tufts around the head are typical features, while some lines lack a tail base. Keepers of pure Araucanas often find a particularly intense blue shade in the egg basket.

Ameraucana and similar breeding lines

Further lines, including the Ameraucana, were developed in North America from the Araucana and tend to lay more pastel-blue eggs. In Central Europe, similar breeding types are available under various names; all are intended to combine dependable blue eggs with solid laying performance.

Hybrid hens such as “Azur” and Cream Legbar

Many backyard keepers choose hybrids because they produce comparatively large numbers of eggs and are easier to obtain. Examples include commercially available types known as “Azur”, as well as the Cream Legbar.

• Laying performance: often more than 200 eggs per year
• Eggshell colour: light blue to vivid turquoise
• Advantage: combines colourful shells with high productivity

For beginners, these hybrids offer a straightforward introduction to the world of coloured eggs, provided they understand that they are often purpose-bred utility crosses rather than old-established breeds.

Green and olive-coloured eggs: crosses make them possible

Olive Egger: when blue and brown combine

Breeders usually turn to so-called Olive Eggers for olive-green eggs. This is not a single standardised breed but a breeding type: chickens carrying the blue-egg gene are crossed with brown-egg-laying breeds.

A typical pairing is an Araucana, or a similar blue egg layer, with a dark-laying breed such as the Marans. The resulting hens produce greenish to olive-coloured eggs, often with a somewhat more substantial shell texture.

Olive Eggers are genetic surprise packages: egg colour and pattern can vary slightly from bird to bird.

Some lines lay paler green eggs, while others produce shells that are almost khaki. This variety is precisely what makes them so appealing to backyard keepers.

Pink, cream and “chocolate eggs”

Alongside blue and green, some chickens lay eggs that resemble lightly tinted white, extending to shells that are almost pink. Typical examples include:

• Faverolles: large, placid chickens producing cream to pinkish eggs
• Barred Rock (barred Plymouth Rock): lays light-brown to cream-coloured eggs, often with a very even shell
• White Leghorn: produces snow-white eggs with high laying potential

The French Marans breed provides a strong colour contrast. Its eggs are large, and their shells range from deep rusty brown to almost “chocolate brown”, depending on the breeding line.

Planning your own rainbow egg basket

Even if you only want to keep three or four hens in the garden, careful selection can still create a visually spectacular egg basket. One possible combination is:

• One Araucana or blue-egg-laying hybrid hen for blue eggs
• One Olive Egger for olive-green shells
• One Marans for dark “chocolate eggs”
• One Faverolles or Barred Rock for cream to pinkish eggs

With a small group like this, a typical garden year can soon yield several hundred eggs – in colours otherwise mostly found in boxes from farm-gate sellers or specialist smallholdings.

Breed / type	Approximate eggshell colour	Annual output (guide)
Araucana	light blue to greenish	140–200 eggs
Cream Legbar / “Azur” type	light blue	200+ eggs
Olive Egger	green to olive	160–220 eggs
Marans	very dark brown	150–200 eggs
Faverolles	cream to pinkish	150–180 eggs
White Leghorn	pure white	220+ eggs

Keeping conditions: what coloured egg-laying hens need

Breeds that lay coloured eggs do not generally have any unusual specialist requirements. They need the same things as any healthy laying hen:

• a dry, well-ventilated coop with perches
• a secure run protected from foxes and hawks
• nesting boxes with clean bedding
• complete layers' mash or grain feed with a mineral supplement
• fresh water and access to sand or dust baths

Sources of noise, such as constantly running machinery, loud music or traffic directly alongside the garden, raise stress levels. Many keepers report that their hens lay more consistently in a quiet corner of the garden and that shell shades remain more even.

What coloured eggs mean for diet and everyday life

From a nutritional perspective, a blue egg differs very little from a brown supermarket egg. Laying hens with outdoor access and varied feed tend to show a slightly more favourable fat and cholesterol profile, whatever the shell colour. The yolk is usually a more intense yellow to orange when birds have access to green feed, herbs and maize.

In everyday life, coloured eggs mainly provide one thing: a talking point. Children take more interest in where their breakfast egg comes from, visitors ask about the breeds, and many people enjoy using coloured eggs for brunch buffets or as a natural highlight during holidays. They can be used for baking and cooking in exactly the same way as any other egg.

One final point: anyone planning deliberately with different breeds should understand the terms “pure breed” and “hybrid” before buying. Pure breeds pass on their traits relatively reliably. Hybrids often produce more eggs, but transfer their special characteristics to offspring only to a limited extent. That is perfectly adequate for a family garden, but for long-term breeding aims it is worth looking more closely.