I’ll write an article about chickens that lay purple or lavender-colored eggs based on general knowledge, since I can’t extract specific details from the Facebook post.
Have you ever gone to collect eggs from your backyard flock and stumbled upon a stunning purple or lavender egg? I still remember the first time I discovered an unusual colored egg in my nesting boxes – it was like finding a little treasure! If you’re wondering what chicken breeds can produce these gorgeous purple-hued eggs you’ve come to the right place.
Purple or lavender eggs are among the rarest egg colors in the chicken world, and they never fail to amaze both beginners and experienced chicken keepers alike. Let’s dive into the fascinating world of purple egg layers!
Do Chickens Actually Lay Purple Eggs?
First things first – yes some chickens do lay eggs with a purplish or lavender tint though true purple eggs are extremely rare. What many chicken keepers refer to as “purple eggs” are typically more accurately described as lavender, mauve, or lilac-colored eggs. The coloration tends to be a soft pastel purple rather than a deep, vibrant purple.
These special colored eggs aren’t dyed or artificially colored – they’re 100% natural! The unusual coloration comes from specific genetics that affect how pigments are deposited on the eggshell.
Which Chicken Breeds Lay Purple-Tinted Eggs?
Several chicken breeds are known for laying eggs with various shades of purple or lavender. Here are the main contenders:
1. Cream Legbar
Cream Legbars are perhaps the most well-known lavender egg layers. These chickens are autosexing (meaning male and female chicks can be distinguished at hatch) and lay eggs ranging from sky blue to a light lavender color.
Characteristics:
- Medium-sized birds
- Friendly and active
- Good foragers
- Decent egg production (around 200 eggs yearly)
- Distinctive crest on their heads
2. Easter Eggers
Easter Eggers aren’t technically a breed but rather mixed-breed chickens with the blue egg gene. Some Easter Eggers can lay eggs with a lavender tint, though the exact color varies widely from bird to bird.
Characteristics:
- Vary in appearance
- Friendly and hardy
- Excellent foragers
- Good egg production
- May have muffs and beards
- Each hen lays only one color egg, but colors vary between hens
3. Ameraucana
Pure Ameraucanas typically lay blue eggs, but occasionally you’ll find one that lays a egg with a slight lavender tint.
Characteristics:
- Medium-sized birds
- Distinctive muffs and beard
- Pea comb
- Friendly but can be shy
- Good egg production
4. Isbar
The Swedish Isbar chicken is another breed known for occasionally laying purple-tinted eggs. Their eggs can range from green to a greenish-blue with a lavender overlay.
Characteristics:
- Rare breed
- Good egg layers
- Hardy in cold climates
- Active foragers
- Friendly disposition
5. Marans-Ameraucana Cross
When you cross a chocolate Marans (which lays dark brown eggs) with an Ameraucana (which lays blue eggs), you can sometimes get offspring that lay eggs with a purple hue. This is because the brown pigment overlays the blue shell, creating a purple effect.
The Science Behind Purple Eggs
So what actually makes an egg appear purple? It’s all about pigments and how they’re deposited on the eggshell.
All chicken eggs start out white in the hen’s oviduct. As the egg moves through the reproductive tract, pigments may be deposited on the shell:
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Oocyanin: This is the pigment that makes eggs blue. It penetrates the entire shell, so even the inside of the shell appears blue.
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Protoporphyrin: This creates brown pigments and is only deposited on the outside of the shell (which is why brown eggs are white on the inside).
When a chicken has the genetics to deposit both blue and brown pigments, you can get various shades of green, olive, and sometimes lavender or purple eggs. The exact shade depends on:
- The intensity of the blue pigment
- The intensity and shade of the brown pigment
- When in the egg formation process each pigment is deposited
- The thickness and texture of the bloom (the protective coating on fresh eggs)
Are Purple Eggs Different Nutritionally?
Despite their unusual color, purple or lavender eggs aren’t nutritionally different from eggs of other colors. The nutrition of an egg is determined by the chicken’s diet and health, not by the shell color.
However, I’ve found that serving these gorgeous eggs to guests always makes for great conversation starters! And let’s be honest, there’s something special about collecting a rainbow of colors from your backyard flock.
Tips for Getting Purple Eggs in Your Flock
If you’re hoping to add some purple egg layers to your backyard flock, here are my top tips:
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Buy from reputable breeders: Find breeders who specifically advertise lavender or purple egg layers and have proof of their birds’ egg colors.
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Consider crossing breeds: Experimenting with crossing brown egg layers with blue egg layers might eventually produce chickens that lay purple-tinted eggs.
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Be patient: Remember that egg color can vary significantly within breeds, and even chickens sold as purple egg layers might produce eggs that are more blue or green than purple.
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Check age of chickens: Young pullets often lay eggs with more intense coloration that may fade as they age.
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Maintain healthy chickens: Good nutrition and health care ensure the best egg quality and most vibrant shell colors.
Factors That Can Affect Egg Color
Several factors can influence the intensity of purple coloration in eggs:
1. Chicken’s Age
As a hen ages, her eggs may become larger but typically with lighter colored shells. A young pullet might lay more vibrant purple eggs than she will later in life.
2. Diet
While diet won’t change a chicken from laying one color to another, certain dietary elements can enhance shell quality and color intensity. A diet rich in:
- Calcium
- Vitamin D
- Marigold (enhances yellow/orange pigments)
- Quality protein
3. Health Status
Stressed or ill chickens might temporarily lay eggs with lighter or uneven coloration. Diseases affecting the reproductive tract can particularly impact egg color.
4. Environmental Factors
Extreme heat can cause hens to lay lighter colored eggs, while certain medications can also affect egg coloration.
Caring for Your Purple Egg Layers
Chickens that lay purple eggs don’t require any special care compared to other chickens. However, to maintain optimal egg production and quality:
- Provide a nutritionally balanced layer feed
- Ensure access to clean, fresh water
- Offer calcium supplements like oyster shell
- Maintain clean, comfortable nesting boxes
- Protect from extreme weather conditions
- Implement good parasite control
- Allow adequate space and enrichment
The Rarity Factor
If you’ve found a truly purple egg, consider yourself lucky! These eggs are quite rare, and even breeds known for purple eggs don’t consistently produce them. The genetics behind egg coloration are complex, and the perfect combination needed for a truly purple egg doesn’t happen often.
Some chicken keepers spend years building flocks specifically bred for unusual egg colors, selecting birds that produce the most vibrant purple eggs to breed. It’s become something of a hobby for many enthusiasts who enjoy the challenge and the beautiful results.
My Experience with Purple Egg Layers
I’ve kept several Easter Eggers over the years, and while most laid blue or green eggs, I once had a special hen named Lilac who laid the most beautiful lavender eggs. They weren’t deeply purple, but they had a distinctive mauve tint that made them stand out in my egg basket.
What I noticed was that her eggs seemed to have the most purple coloration in early spring, and they would become slightly more blue-tinted during the hottest months of summer. The variation throughout the year made collecting her eggs even more exciting – I never quite knew what shade I’d find!
Final Thoughts
While finding chickens that consistently lay purple eggs might be challenging, the journey of discovering unusual egg colors is part of what makes keeping backyard chickens so rewarding. Whether you’re an experienced chicken keeper or just starting out, the surprise of finding a uniquely colored egg never gets old.
If you’re specifically looking for purple egg layers, your best bet is to seek out Easter Eggers, Cream Legbars, or experiment with crosses between blue and dark brown egg layers. Just remember that even with these breeds, true purple eggs are special and not guaranteed.
Have you ever found a purple egg in your nesting box? Or are you planning to add some potential purple egg layers to your flock? The hunt for the perfect purple egg is a fun adventure that connects chicken keepers across the world in their appreciation for these amazing birds and the colorful gifts they provide.
Will all my hens lay purple eggs? Can you give me all hens that will lay a 9?
Nope and nope. This line carries the genetic propensity for richly pigmented eggs, with a particular burgundy red to plum undertone to the pigment. (Some lines of Marans have an orangish terracotta or milk chocolate undertone to their Marans eggs, we select away from the brown tones and toward the reds which tend to have more drama.)
This line also carries the genetic tendency towards heavy bloom, which is what makes our eggs appear purple, periwinkle, and mauve. More on that below.
We are running 8 separate pens of Purple Coppers in 2025, which is our very best males over our very best females. The hens and males in our program hatched from our darkest and most bloom-worthy eggs, and as the next generation grows out from our late Winter hatches we select our ‘keepers’ by their type and conformation across their first molts. Males and females are then paired to complement each other through a spiral or clan mating breeding scheme.
Some of the offspring will lay as dark and as bloomy as their parents, but not all offspring from the same pairing will lay as dark as their parents. There are many genes and modifiers that play a role in egg pigmentation, and bloom isn’t totally understood. Each chick is a new combination of genetics, each chick is a genetic roll of the dice.
Pro tips: You can lose egg color faster than you can maintain it. Breeding is a seasonal cycle, with ebbs and flows, gains and losses. You have to be willing to cull the dull layers, and keep and breed only your darkest or most heavily bloomed layers forward. From there, you have to choose birds that conform to the standard of perfection for Black Copper Marans, or they are just interesting layers and not Marans at all. Do not plan to sell birds in your first year, after one purchase of foundation stock. Be selfish and hatch chick for yourself: Plan to build your line over 1 to 3 years, breeding only your best forward. I send you my best from a highly selective closed line— some you will keep, some you will cull.
Advanced pro-tip! Don’t outcross this line of Marans with another line, or you just may lose the benefit of ten years of selection pressure! We have enough genetic diversity across our pens that you can successfully do a first pairing of your best male and females together to secure your genetic foundation. From there, the sky is the limit. Once you pair a male and female with intent and raise that offspring for breeding, the resulting birds are your line!
Sourcing genetics is an investment. Before you invest, it’s good to understand some things about egg color genetics so that you can ask good questions and get real answers. Please read on…
Pigmentation—Dark Egg Genetics in a Nutshell
Genetically speaking, all brown eggs are best understood as a white egg shell coated in a brown pigment (protoporphyrin) that is deposited on top of the egg shell. In the rainbow egg community, some breeds have gained popularity for being excellent brown ‘pigment depositors’, such as Marans. The darker the brown pigment deposited, the darker your brown egg. This is a trait that is selected for over many generations in a closed line. (If you outcross or breed a lighter pigment depositing bird into your flock, you can lose color as quick as you can gain it through selection pressure.)
Note that all heavy pigment depositing breeds including Marans will lay their most interesting eggs after a pause in laying. Marans will often start laying their darkest eggs in Spring with speckles and high variation. Often you will see their eggs lighten over the course of the laying year. (Many breeders, us included, watch for those magical hens that retain their color well over the season, these are often better breeders than those that lay a couple Very Dark Eggs at the beginning of spring.) Marans and their olive egger crosses will also typcally show high variation in one given week— biologically speaking, hens can only produce so much pigment to coat their eggs. It sounds cliche, but the more they lay, the less ‘ink’ they have available for each egg. Bloom, on the other hand, tends to come on later in the season. We track hens that lay three ‘normal’ deeply pigmented eggs, take two days off, then lay a very heavy bloom periwinkle egg on the sixth day.
Marans eggs can be chocolate brown that lighten to show a bit of an orange undertone (a cull in our flocks), or almost red and shiny, or even sort of mauve tinted. Some will hold on to their color better through the laying season than others. Some will have malfunctions in the pigmentation deposit, resulting in wonderful speckling and wide variability, where you will see darker pigmentation speckles on top of base pigmentation. This is all part of the fun of collecting Marans eggs.
Purple chicken eggs, mix breed chickens
FAQ
What breed of chickens lay purple eggs?
‘Purple Copper’ is the affectionate name our family gave to our pure or standard bred Black Copper Marans that lay eggs with a deep burgundy-purple-red pigmentation and sometimes a heavy bloom that makes the eggs appear lavender, bright periwinkle, deep grape purple, and mauve.
What is the rarest color chicken egg?
One of the most sought-after breeds for their striking dark green eggs is the Moss Egger These chickens are prized for their beautiful feathers and their ability to produce eggs with a deep green hue.
What chickens lay pink or purple eggs?
Now that you know what chickens lay pink eggs, consider adding one of these seven pink egg layers — Speckled Sussex, Java, Salmon Faverolles, Australorp, Silkie, Orpington or Easter Egger — to add color to your egg basket. This is a pretty, easy and fun way to add variety to your backyard chicken flock and eggs.
Why is my egg kind of purple?
for purple and pink eggs, really, that is just a brown egg layer. or a shade of brown that has a deep bloom on the egg. so with something like a blue cap of merans, you could have one that lays just a super dark, shiny egg, and the other one could look purple. because of the blue.