Change in egg color

[fiberart57]

I have a one-year old Australorpe whose egg shell color has changed over the past three days from light brown to almost white. Of note is that I went on a short vacation and between my two house sitters the girls received considerably more scratch (oats, wheat, BOSS) than normal - enough that it was layered on the ground for two days after.

They get Flock Raiser, have free choice oyster shells, free range for part of the day and have grit available.

Is there something wrong with her?

Mary

 

[brendapa]

Most likely it was due to a change in their diet.
I always leave mine locked up when I'm away & get a chicken sitter to feed & water 2x a day.
The egg yolks turn paler also due to the lack of greens.
Things should return to normal now that you are home

Brenda

 

[detali]

I had that happen to me too. My hens lay lite brown eggs. I got some white fake eggs to put in the nest as I am wanting to encourage a hen to go broody. Nobody did so far but one hen is laying me white eggs now.

 

[emvickrey]

I also had one hen that normally has very large brown eggs turn white and got smaller. The only thing different was I removed their Rooster. I imagine I stressed them out because the rooster had flogged me for the last time and I was determined to catch him and remove him from the coop. Since he is faster than I am it took me a while to corner and catch him. The girls where frantic. She started laying smaller and white eggs after that but slowly turned back to normal.

I say it was stress that caused my girls eggs to change.

 

[chickens again]

I had a white egg today from one of my year-old six brown-layers but nothing in their little lives has changed - no stress, no change of diet etc. It will be interesting to see if it happens again.