All About Langshan Chicken Eggs (They're Not Purple!)

If you’re looking for Langshan chicken eggs, whether it’s hatching eggs to hatch your own Langshan chicks or to eat, you’re not alone.

Langshan chickens are a rare and endangered breed. Therefore, their eggs are in strong demand, and it’s hard to find them.

There is also a belief that Langhans lay purple eggs. Unfortunately, if you’re looking for a chicken that lays a strong, purple-colored egg, you’ll be disappointed.

Langshans lay brown eggs. There are some varieties of Langshan, however, like the Croad Langshan, that lay a paler, almost pink-colored egg.

This is also referred to as plum, brown-purple, or having a purple bloom. But looking at their eggs, it’s hard to call them ‘purple’!

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Are Langshan Chickens Good Layers?

Langshans are moderate layers. I’ve taken into account a few different sources, and it’s generally estimated that they lay around 3-4 eggs per week or 150-200 eggs per year.

That’s not as prolific as an ISA brown or a leghorn, but for a backyard breed that’s a decent amount of eggs I’m sure you will agree.

If you have 5 Langshans in your flock, for example, you can expect anywhere up to 20 eggs per week. That’s a lot of eggs!

What Color Eggs Do Langshans Lay?

The reason a lot of people are interested in Langhan eggs is that they’ve either seen or heard that they lay purple eggs, - maybe you’ve heard that?

I hate to be the one to break this to you, but Langshans do not lay purple eggs. In fact, there are no breeds of chicken that are capable of laying purple eggs.

Langshans typically lay brown eggs, a darker brown than you expect to see on your supermarket shelves, but shades of brown.

There is a line of Langshans called Croad Langshans, which were developed by a Miss Croad and this breed does lay much paler color eggs.

Sometimes, they look pinkish in color and are often referred to as being purple-brown or plum-colored.

Personally, I think these descriptions have taken on a bit of a life of their own and I’ve never seen a Croad Langshan lay an egg that I could call purple or plum, even at a stretch.

Related - Looking for a breed of chicken that lays black eggs? You'll want to read this post.

Where to Buy Langshan Chickens?

I had a good look online at some of the largest hatcheries to see if they had any Langshans for sale, but none of the hatcheries I checked had any hatching eggs due.

I was able to find some on eBay for around $40/ea, and there are plenty of local hatcheries (depending on where you’re located) that were selling Langshan hatching eggs.

My best suggestion is to go to my Hatchery Listings Category Page and type your state in the search bar.

You’ll then see a page for your state listing all the hatcheries selling hatching eggs, pullets, and chickens.

I recommend calling around and seeing if you can find a hatchery selling Langshans. If you really want some of this breed, it’s worth the effort.

Something to keep in mind when looking for Langshans is that there are three varieties recognized by The American Poultry Association, these are:

Black
White
Blue

All three varieties lay the same color eggs; a mid to dark brown color with what is often described as a pale purple bloom.

NB - to dispel another myth, blue Langshan chicken eggs are not blue! They also lay dark brown to plum-colored eggs, the same as the other varieties.

Are Langshan Chickens Good Backyard Pets?

Before taking on any chickens as backyard pets it’s important to know that each breed of chicken has its own personality and comes with its own challenges and plus points.

The good thing about Langshans is that as far as I can see, everyone who has raised them in a backyard setting says they’re calm, docile, friendly, and social chickens.

They’re also large birds, fully grown hens weigh around 7-8 lbs and do well in the winter months or colder climates.

Langshans are also said to be very tolerable to being confined. Obviously, you’ll have a good deal of space for them to roam around, this just means they’re less likely to have stress-related issues.

Combine their friendly nature with all of those delicious eggs they lay, and you have yourself a delightful and enjoyable breed of chicken (if you can find some near you!).

In Summary

Contrary to popular belief or the rumors surrounding the color of Langshan eggs, this breed of chicken does not lay purple eggs.

At least not purple in the true sense of the word (and color). Some varieties are capable of laying pale purple to pink colored eggs, which is where they get their reputation from.

But, if you were banking on finding a breed of chicken that laid the mythical bright purple eggs, I’m sorry to disappoint you!