There are so many chicken breeds in the world, that it should come as no real surprise that there are chickens that lay green eggs.

Afterall, there are other colored egg layers, frizzle chickens, bantam chickens and all sorts of other fun types of chickens.  So, getting green chicken eggs is not too much of a stretch.

We have all kinds of different breeds in our layer flock, and when we started getting our flock together, we intentionally added in some chickens that lay green eggs.  We wanted to get all the different possible egg colors from our chickens.

Chickens That Lay Green Eggs – What Makes Green Eggs?

If you have read about how chickens make blue eggs, you may have a bit of an idea as to how green chicken eggs may come about.  All eggs start out white in color.

The egg color differences then come about by pigment being added to the shell during the time that the egg passes through the chickens oviduct.  When and what kind of pigment is added determines the ultimate color of the egg. (source)

Most chickens that lay green eggs have a blue egg base that then gets a brown egg tint put over top at the end of the egg formation process. (source) This results in green chicken eggs!

What Chickens Lay green Eggs?

1) Isbar

Isbar’s may be the one purebred chicken that lays green eggs.  They were developed in Sweden and lay varying colors of green eggs, sometimes with brown spots.  Isbar’s are considered a rare breed.

Another interesting fact about Isbars is that they are autosexing – this means that you can tell the sex of the chicks at hatch.

2) Easter Egger

Easter Eggers, while commonly referred to as a breed are not a purebred chicken.  They are simply a cross of a blue egg layer with a brown egg layer.

Easter Eggers are above average year round layers of medium sized green eggs.

3) Favaucana – Faverolles x Ameraucana

Favaucana’s are one of the types of chickens that lay green eggs which is also technically an Easter Egger.  You can make your own Favaucana’s by breeding faverolles and Ameraucanas.  Or, you can order them at some hatcheries like MyPetChicken.

4) Olive Egger

Technically speaking an olive egger is a type of Easter Egger.  Olive eggers are, as you can probably guess by their name one of the chickens that lays green eggs which are a dark olive green in color.

Olive Eggers are a cross of a chicken that lays blue eggs with a chicken that lays a dark brown egg.  The blue egg has the brown tint added on making the egg appear olive green.  To get darker olive colored eggs, simply mix in chickens that lay darker chocolate colored eggs.

Why Would you Want Chickens That Lay Green Eggs?

The main reason to get chickens that lay green eggs is just to add a little fun and color to your egg basket.  Also, if you are trying to make money raising chickens colored egg layers are always a popular choice for chicks to sell.

Another cool thing to having chickens that lay green (or other colored) eggs in your flock is it can help you tell which chickens are and are not laying.

Are Green Eggs different than other eggs?

Green chicken eggs are obviously different than other eggs in color.  That’s the whole point, right?  But in terms of taste, nutrition and all of the actual egg components, no, green eggs are no different than other eggs.