Brown eggs; molted; now white eggs??!!

[suburbanhomesteader]

OK, I have one for everybody!

My two game hens laid brown eggs all spring, and then began their molt and stopped laying. When they resumed laying a week ago, the eggs are now nearly white, or just barely tan.

I'm feeding them pellets from the same company I fed crumbles, and they also get oyster shells. They live in a tractor which is moved about 5 times a week to a new area of the yard. The shells are not weak at all; in fact, it takes quite a rap on the corner of a countertop to get them cracked.

Are they like flamingoes? Do they need more brown in their diet? More iron, perhaps? More of SOMEthing???

 

[Picco]

Egg shell color doesn't have much to do with diet, its genetic and changes throughout the season and as hens age. Typically shells are darker in the early spring and lighten a bit as the summer progresses. I have also noticed that my hens lay lighter eggs when the weather is hot.

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

Well, there ya go!

Thanks for responding so quickly. Maybe they lay paler eggs in the hot weather because darker eggs would absorb too much heat when they left the nest (if they were sitting on fertile eggs).

This hobby continues to amaze me!

 

[choidle]

Below is a link to an article from the Extension staff of the University of Florida concerning the subject matter. The article provides educated insight about the loss of shell pigment (color) in brown eggs. Hope this helps.



http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vm047