You Can Dye Brown Eggs from Your Flock for Easter–and They Are Gorgeous

When we got our first backyard chickens some years ago, I remember wondering the first time Easter rolled around if I would have to buy white-shelled eggs from the grocery store for making colorful eggs. I am happy to report I did not. If you are new to backyard chickens, you may be wondering how well it will work if you try dyeing your brown eggs for your Easter festivities. I am here to tell you that, not only can you do it, you will be so impressed with how beautiful the dyed eggs are!

One of my favorite things about dyeing the brown eggs is that they actually come out in rich, jewel-like colors. Pictured here, you can see how lovely the brown eggs are when they are dyed. We don’t even use an egg-coloring kit. We just use food coloring. Here’s how we do it:

Supplies:

water (and pot for boiling)
boiled eggs*
food coloring
vinegar
jars or bowls for holding hot water and dying the eggs
egg carton or cartons for holding eggs while they dry (we used a plastic carton someone had given us)

*If your eggs are fresh from your flock. Follow this recipe for the method my husband discovered for boiling and peeling fresh eggs.

Directions:

1. Bring your water to a boil.

2. Fill your jars or bowls with enough water to cover your eggs if possible (if not, you can just rotate your eggs).

3. Add one Tablespoon of vinegar per jar.

4. Add enough food coloring to each jar to achieve your desired color (10 or so drops per jar).

5. Let your eggs sit in the jars (rotating as necessary) until they reach your desired color.

6. Use your darker brown eggs in the darker colors and your lighter brown eggs or cream eggs in the lighter colors.

7. Remove the dyed eggs and let sit in egg carton until completed dried.

Please note you can also use natural dyes; this is something I have tried when we had some beet juice in the fridge. Good natural dyes are beets, blueberries, tumeric, coffee, and red onion skins.

And, if you happen to be a chicken owner with Easter Egger hens in your flock, you may not even need to dye your eggs at all! This year, we have enough Easter Eggers and Olive Eggers that we are just decorating our eggs with stickers but leaving them their original pastel colors. The eggs in various shades of green and blue-green are little works of art to me.

No matter which way you go, just know the lovely eggs from your backyard flock are just perfect for your Easter decorating plans!