How to Get Pink Eggs - Silver Homestead

Are sweet, cotton candy pink chicken eggs the color you want to add to your egg basket next? Wondering how breeders are getting such awesome pastel shades that seem impossible? If you’re on the hunt for these rare hatching eggs or the secret breeding recipe to create pink hued Easter Egger eggs, you have found it! Here is how to get pink colored chicken eggs:

How to Get Pink Easter Egger Eggs

Pink eggs – whether they are called Pink Layers, Pink Eggers, Pink Easter Eggers or any other unique name – have a very simple recipe…that is a little tricky to breed for. They are simply whitish heavy blooms over a brown egg shell:

It’s An Optical Illusion!

Before you attempt to purchase hatching eggs or breed for Pink Easter Eggers, you need to know the truth: pink eggs are an optical illusion. There is NO pink pigment being deposited on the shell. What you’re seeing is a whitish colored heavy bloom being applied over a brown egg that gives the illusion of a pink colored egg. A heavy bloom Pink Egger egg will appear pinkish toned in real life to the naked eye. But in reality it’s a chalky white heavy bloom over a brown egg that is creating a pastel effect our eyes interpret as being a blush shade. Do the eggs look pink? Yes! Is there any pink shell coloring? No. If you get the egg wet, it is a shade of plain brown underneath.

New for 2025: Farmhouse of Blessings is now offering Blush & Dusty Rose heavy bloom hatching eggs and chicks. (Please read the note on her web page: “While our 2nd and 3rd generations are very consistent and the color and bloom is carrying over 75%+ to their daughters, it’s still not guaranteed from this project breed.”)

Pink Eggs Photograph MORE Pink Than They Really Are

Pink eggs photograph slightly more pink than how they appear in real life. Every camera seems to do this and there is little that can be done to help it. I have Photoshopped an image below to appear less pink.

a row of pink, peach and green easter egger eggs — The same image with yellow tones enhanced in Photoshop to try to show how the “pink” egg is simply a brown egg with a white heavy bloom that gives it a pastel appearance. It does look pink in real life but under the white bloom is a brown egg, NOT an egg with pink shell pigment.

How To Breed for “Pink” Easter Egger Eggs

If you’re wanting to breed for Pink Easter Eggers, you need to selectively breed for the heavy bloom over a brown egg. Heavy bloom refers to the cuticle, which is the outermost layer of the eggshell. It is the last layer applied and appears wet right as the egg is laid, quickly drying within seconds. Hens with heavy blooms have a thicker, generally whitish colored cuticle.

Mothers Can Pass On Heavy Bloom Genes

Luckily heavy bloom genes can be passed from mother to daughter! This means if you have a hen who lays a pinkish looking heavy bloom egg, you can expect a few of her offspring to lay a heavy bloom egg if you selectively breed for it. This makes the project slightly easier since you don’t need to fret about finding a “pink egger” rooster (who will never lay eggs so you have no way to check his genetics!)

Heavy Bloom Roosters

If you can find a breeder selling heavy bloom hatching eggs that appear pinkish, be sure to keep the males who hatch! Since you know these roos hatched from a heavy bloomed egg, you increase your chances of success by crossing them with their hatchmate sisters to have a higher likelihood of producing heavy bloom laying offspring. (Purchasing heavy bloom hatching eggs from a breeder is the easiest way to attempt to add this egg color to your rainbow basket!)

pink, blue and green easter egger eggs in a nest — Remember that pink eggs naturally photograph slightly MORE pink than how they look in real life. The hatching eggs you receive will be heavy bloom over brown. They will look pinkish or blush toned but NOT bubble gum pink.

Heavy Blooms Fade As the Season Progresses

Pink eggs are a novelty that generally does not last all year long. When a pullet first comes into lay, her bloom is often very heavy and eggs can appear a stunning shade of light ballerina pink. As she continues laying over several months, the bloom may be deposited more thinly, giving her eggs a dusty pink or even a non-pink appearance. It is important that breeders and hatching egg buyers alike know that in most hens, heavy blooms will wane as the season progresses. After molting, the hen will often resume laying heavy bloom eggs that appear pinkish.

heavy bloom pink eggs laid at different months of the year, light pink, blush and pinky brown in a row — Eggs laid by my heavy bloom RIR hen. She came into lay in September. Her December eggs looked mostly brown with only a hint of dusty pink.

Breeders Be Aware:

Egg color genetics are complex. While heavy blooms can be selectively bred for, some offspring will NOT inherit a heavy bloom and will lay a plain brown egg. Some offspring will have a heavy bloom but the egg will look heavy bloom cream or pastel peach colored. If you have one hen who lays a heavy bloom “pink” egg, do NOT sell her hatching eggs until you have bred her and can assure that at least 10% of her offspring also lays a heavy bloom egg that appears pink. (You will have a LOT of rightfully upset buyers to deal with if you sell her eggs fertilized by an untested rooster without checking to see what the offspring lays!)

Hatching Egg Buyers Need to Know:

Chicken egg genetics are complex. If you want the best chance of getting a heavy bloom “pink” egger, you should try to purchase heavy bloom, pinkish hued hatching eggs laid by F1 hens that will hatch second generation (F2) chicks. This means the breeder has been working on breeding for heavy blooms and the correct brown egg shell shade so there is a higher likelihood of the chicks who hatch from the eggs laying a heavy bloom egg that might appear pink. (Remember, even if a brown egg has a heavy bloom, it may appear light peach instead of pink.)

Want More In-Depth Help Breeding Pink Eggers?

Breeding for both the heavy bloom and the shade of brown egg required so the egg appears pink, instead of peaches-and-cream pastel, is tricky. A Pink Egger Breeding PDF eBook containing my best breeding notes, walking you through every step if you’re starting a Pink Egger breeding project from scratch, is available in my shop. Inside is a list of the 6 purebred breeds known for producing more heavy bloom “pink” eggers, tips for selecting a rooster, rooster breeds to avoid, the fastest test-breeding method to use if you only have one hen laying pinkish heavy bloom eggs, how to improve heavy bloom egg hatch rates, the egg shell undertone colors to avoid, and every other Pink Egger breeding tip I have collected!

Click the image to view this breeding guide in our shop!

Yes, You Can Get Pink Eggs!

If you have your heart set on pretty pink eggs and the space to dedicate to the breeding project, it is possible to get beautiful, pinky-toned eggs in a generation or two!

The Silver Homestead does NOT sell hatching eggs or chicks. A breeding guide on how to breed for Heavy Bloom Pink Eggers can be purchased in our shop.

You Might Also Enjoy Reading:

How to Breed for Heavy Bloom GRAY & PURPLE Eggs

How to Breed for EVERY Egg Color

Hatcheries Offering the BEST Colored Egg Layer Chicks

Pin for Later:

pink easter egger chicken eggs nestled among white and pink fresh carnations flowers with text that reads heavy bloom chickens that lay pink eggs

Comments

Monica says

February 28, 2024 at 9:10 pm

having fun reading through your sight. we have a light Brahma that lays pink eggs everytime, although some of hers are also half link half brown. so it’s interesting to learn about the heavy bloom, can that be in any chicken ? would she pass it on to an offspring? thanks

- Tay Silver says
  
  February 29, 2024 at 9:10 pm
  
  Hi Monica!
  
  Yes, heavy bloom layers can pop up among any breed of hen! If you breed your Light Brahma hen, there is a good chance that her offspring may lay an egg with some kind of bloom/light bloom.