Egg Colour Calculator
An egg colour calculator predicts the shell colour from the parents: an Ameraucana crossed with a Rhode Island Red mostly gives olive or green eggs. Pick both parent breeds below to see the likely colours, and read the chart for the common olive egger crosses.
Egg Colour Calculator
Planning estimate. Figures vary by breed, strain, climate and management — see the sources cited on this page.
Key facts
- Blue egg gene (O) is dominant. A blue-shell parent usually passes blue shells to most of its chicks.
- Olive = blue shell + brown pigment. Cross a blue layer with a brown layer and most chicks lay olive or green eggs.
- Brown × brown → brown; blue × blue → blue (mostly); white × any → white or tinted, and the result varies.
- Simplified model. Real egg colour genetics involve multiple genes — these are approximate predictions, never exact guarantees. Source: Poultry Extension
How the egg colour calculator works
Pick the two parent breeds and the calculator looks up each parent's egg colour — blue, brown, white or cream — then applies the cross rules: blue crossed with brown mostly gives olive or green eggs, blue with blue mostly gives blue, and brown with brown gives brown. The result is a likely colour, not a guarantee.
The model is deliberately simple: it treats egg colour as a blue shell gene plus a brown pigment layer, which is how the main colours are inherited. Real genetics involve more genes, so the calculator says most chicks, never all chicks, and flags crosses where the result genuinely varies.
What colour eggs will my chickens lay?
Pure breeds lay the colour in the breed table: Ameraucana and Araucana lay blue, Easter Eggers lay blue or green, Marans lay dark brown, most dual-purpose breeds lay brown, Leghorns lay white and Silkies lay cream or tinted eggs. A hen's egg colour never changes during her life, though the shade can fade slightly late in the laying season.
Crosses are where it gets interesting. An Ameraucana crossed with a Rhode Island Red gives olive eggers, a Marans crossed with an Ameraucana gives darker olive eggs, and an Easter Egger crossed with a brown layer gives a spread of green, olive and brown.
Olive egger egg colour chart
An olive egger is not a breed — it is any cross of a blue-egg bird with a dark brown-egg bird, and the olive shade depends on how dark the brown parent's eggs are. Marans, with the darkest brown eggs, give the deepest olive; a Rhode Island Red gives a lighter sage green.
The chart in the calculator covers the common crosses, but the only way to know a pullet's exact shade is to wait for her first egg. Even sisters from the same cross can lay noticeably different shades of green, because each hen inherits a slightly different mix of pigment genes.
What this calculator does not do
This calculator predicts shell colour only. It does not predict feather colour, laying rate, temperament or broodiness, and it does not work for sex-linked crosses — those are covered by the sex-linked calculator, which predicts chick colour at hatch instead.
It also cannot predict the exact shade, only the colour family. Two olive eggers can lay eggs that look quite different side by side, and that variation is normal genetics, not a fault in the cross.
Frequently asked questions
What colour eggs will my chickens lay?
It depends on the breed: Ameraucana and Araucana lay blue, Easter Eggers blue or green, Marans dark brown, most dual-purpose breeds brown, Leghorns white and Silkies cream. Use the calculator above for crosses.
What color eggs do olive eggers lay?
Olive or green eggs — a blue shell with a brown pigment layer. Marans crosses give the deepest olive; Rhode Island Red crosses give a lighter sage green.
Olive egger calculator — which cross makes olive eggers?
Cross a blue-egg breed (Ameraucana, Araucana or Easter Egger) with a brown-egg breed (Rhode Island Red, Marans or Orpington). Most chicks from that cross will lay olive or green eggs.
Chicken egg color calculator — can a hen change egg colour?
No. A hen lays the same colour all her life, though the shade can fade slightly late in the laying season. Only the breed — or the cross — sets the colour.
Is egg colour genetics exact?
No — this calculator uses a simplified model and gives approximate predictions (most chicks will lay…). Real egg colour genetics involve several genes, so individual hens can vary.
The Chicken Breeds That Lay Coloured Eggs guide covers this topic in more detail. Two related calculators worth checking next are the Egg Production Calculator and First Egg Calculator.