Browns and Blue

     The other day we were pleased to find our first bluish-green-shelled egg in the hen house since Ms. Ara began molting six or seven weeks ago.  As far as we know, Ms.  Ara is a “pure bred.” She has the distinctive looks of an araucana and she lays light blue-green eggs.  They are getting lighter (almost white) as time goes by.  She now has recovered sufficiently from her molt that most of her feathers have grown in again and she appears back to normal.
     Still, it’s hard to tell with hens.  Our two youngest ‘girls’ should be just about ready to begin laying.   They both came from bluish-green araucana eggs given to us by a neighbor.  He has a large number of hens and several roosters.  It’s a colorful flock and represents many varieties but, as far as I know, he doesn’t have an araucana rooster.
     These two almost-mature hens look like aracaunas… sort of.  They have tufts of feathers on either side of their beaks; they are more-or-less rump-less; they have a very much reduced comb.  On the other hand, their necks are uncommonly long and, in general, they are very large ladies.  They are not exactly like our Ms. Ara.
     So, here’s the question:  is it possible that these half-aracaunas will lay the distinctive bluish-green eggs?  Or will their eggs be brown?  Or white?  Or tan?  Or, might it be conceivable (so to speak) for them to lay some of each?  Where is Mendel when we need him?
     Unless and until we actually get three bluish-green eggs in a single day, we will never know the answer to this puzzler.  Right now, short of sitting down in the hen house from dawn till dusk to keep an eye on who’s doing what, the responsible egg-layer will remain unknown.  And that’s probably as it should be.  Even hens should be entitled to some privacy