Until a few days ago, I have been complaining fairly regularly about the recalcitrant ways of our two Ameracauna hens. Though their same-age-coop-mates, two Wyandottes, have been presenting us with lovely brown eggs since last September, no blue Ameriacauna eggs have been in evidence.
Then, one day last week we got four brown eggs. Since hens are programmed to lay only one egg a day, and since we have four hens, it seemed reasonable to assume that the Ameacaunas are producing brown eggs, even though they are billed as blue egg layers. But then… day before yesterday we got three eggs – two brown and one blue! And, yesterday, another blue egg!
We are totally mystified. We accept that our own lips are likely to ‘turn blue’ with cold. And the temperature here in Oysterville has been dipping down into the twenties for the last few nights… But it’s hard to believe that hens’ eggs also turn blue when the thermometer drops.
We’ve investigatedmany possibilities. We have learned that it is extremely rare for hens to lay two eggs in a day and, if it happens, it’s likely to be a hen new to the laying business which our Wyandottes are not. We’ve also learned that egg color does change as hens approach molting time, but it’s a matter of a pigment change. Dark brown eggs become lighter; brown eggs do not change to blue. Or at least that’s what my research to date reveals.
So, the various daily combinations of late – four brown eggs; two browns and one blue; one brown and one blue – remain one of “Life’s Little Mysteries.” The older I get, the more I notice that things fall into that handy category. I used to blame our resident ghost, Mrs. Crouch, for unexplained occurrences around our house. But I truly think that changing our hens’ egg colors is beyond her purview!
Thank you for offering my theme for this cold and frosty Sunday in Northern California….”Life’s Little Mysteries”…already, only three short minutes, a conversation about the energies that exist in our homes….I like to imagine the spirits of your ancestors and the thousands of guests that have spent time in your home on Territory Road…Each time I stay a spell I am filled with a something “new”….