Best "Pet" white egg laying chicken

[racuda]

Patrick, I'm curious. Why do you only eat white eggs?

 

[JulieNKC]

Dokings are pretty calm beautiful birds I think, and lay white eggs.

 

[blitzcat]

Quote:
+1 to that.

 

[Hanh3197]

I have read that Dorkings are friendly and lay white eggs! But they tend to go broody...

I'm getting some california grays, which is a cross between a leghorn and a barred plymouth rock, and it lays
white eggs fairly well. Not as well as a leghorn but I've heard it's behavior is calmer and friendlier.
I can't wait!

 

[momma-hen]

I have both Brabanters and Polish and they lay white eggs. however, they are quite flighty.
Meanwhile, both my Ameraucanas (blue egg) and Marans (dark brown egg) are very mellow birds who
look at the other two like they are out of their minds

 

[pcartwright]

Reason for only eating white eggs:

Honestly I cant taste a difference between white eggs and brown. My mother in law didn't think I could and tried a test 6 times, I always picked the brown eggs (cooked) and out of shell from the white. To me brown eggs taste too rich, they yokes are darker, and the taste and texture is off. I cant stomach them, they make me sick...

Not sure why must have been the fact that my grandmother always said "we don't eat brown eggs"... lol

Thanks for everyone help, I got some real good ideas!

Patrick

 

[rhs7111]

Remember the old television commercial jingle "brown eggs are local eggs, and local eggs are fresh"? That's because brown eggs come from chickens who can best tolerate our colder winter weather.
Regarding the richness of the yolks, brown eggs truly do not have richer yolks than white eggs. The difference in color comes from pigment, and it doesn't affect the yolks. What does in fact affect the flavor or richness of the yolks (and the darker color of the yolks) is the diet of the hens who lay the eggs. Often, better feed that includes fresh vegetables results in richer egg yolk flavor. This is considered a good thing by most people, and it is a big plus for those who use the eggs for baking. If you find the yolk flavor to be too rich or otherwise unappetizing, you should look at methods of diet control rather than restrict yourself to white egg layers.

That said, it's true that the white egg layers tend to be more high strung and less likely to be fun for your kids. The white egg layers will also have a hard time during our harsh winters. Two of the most affectionate, friendy and calm breeds are the Buff Orpington and the Speckled Sussex. Both are kid-friendly, pretty, good layers, and both lay very light brown eggs (almost cream colored)---so the color would be close enough to white but again, yolk flavor is about diet, not the color of the egg shell. I would heartily recommend these two breeds for your family.

To make a milder egg yolk flavor, feed your chickens blander foods---avoid strong tasting vegetables and stick with greens, watermelon, etc. Commercial layer pellet feed is an ideal base feed---bland but relatively complete, nutritionally. Do some research on the topic of diet affecting egg flavor for more information. But again, I cannot recommend the Buff Orpington and Speckled Sussex enough! ALSO, "Easter Eggers" (called EEs, they are also sold as Araucanas or Ameraucanas at feed stores), lay pretty blue, blue/green and green eggs that often delight kids. Here again, the color of the egg shell doesn't affect the taste of the egg---they are simply pretty eggs to look at in a basket...plus EEs are friendly birds, very pretty, cold hardy and super layers. I love EEs!

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

rhs - that is really interesting! Would you mind if I borrowed this information for a post on my chicken blog? I'm happy to credit you

 

[pcartwright]

Thank you to everyone who replied. I have decided to get three different breeds. The Leghorn, Golden Campine, and Easter Egg Bantam. I am building three large areas where they will live. Each will be ten foot long, eight foot wide, and eight foot tall.

Thanks again everyone for your help!

Patrick

 

[rhs7111]

Quote:
Sure, but it isn't original information, so no need to credit me. As an experiment, try feeding mint or another strongly flavored herb to your hens; the eggs will taste different. It makes sense, really; just as it is ill advised to eat the eggs of hens who've been on antibiotic (or other medication) treatment because those substances leak into the egg, the same theory appies to ingested food affecting the egg. The egg is made by the body, after all, so what goes into the body inevitably affects the egg.