Different coloured eggs!!!

EmBessie

Chirping
Sep 4, 2020
10
50
56
Advice please! I have two Plymouth Rock hens, both from same place and exactly the same age! One lays a brown egg and the other lays a white one? Does anyone know why?! Thank you in advance xx
 

Attachments

  • 213F95FD-9A23-4AB1-BF4F-38514EBC07D7.jpeg
    213F95FD-9A23-4AB1-BF4F-38514EBC07D7.jpeg
    616.7 KB · Views: 6
What does that mean? Do I need to give her anything? The white egg shell seems more fragile than the brown egg
 
No nothing you can do the hen determines color of the egg thats why some are brown some blue some green. Sometimes in older birds your blues and green get lighter in color also some almost turning white. I'm not sure if young birds have to do anything for the egg color to start though. Maybe that shell didn't get colored but the next one will. She may just lay white eggs.
 
Advice please! I have two Plymouth Rock hens, both from same place and exactly the same age! One lays a brown egg and the other lays a white one? Does anyone know why?! Thank you in advance xx
They are from the same mum , my friend bred them and I bought them at 7 weeks old, they look identical x
How many eggs have you seen from them? How long have they been laying? Do they have the same father?

Just for fun (we always like photos) can you post photos of the pullets? Not necessary, just for fun.

The white egg shell seems more fragile than the brown egg
That is interesting. Is there a difference in shell thickness and strength? This might help explain it.

Your answers could eliminate a few things so I'll wait a bit before I start what if's.
 
They have been laying now a couple of weeks , both are now laying daily , both eggs are similar in size, same father I guess but can’t be sure as it’s my friends chickens, they hatched at same time and they were all Plymouth rocks (apparently!) the were 4 hens and 3 cocks . We got them at 7 weeks and it was touch and go if we had two hens, I asked advice here and was told they were both hens and they are!!! I will definitely post pics of them I’ll look on camera roll and post now if I can but might have to wait until tomorrow, these pics are from Christmas and then hens are bigger now!! I’ll take a pic tomorrow .... thank you xx
 

Attachments

  • 688CC5DB-85B0-4AF2-B662-0544DE04FF9D.jpeg
    688CC5DB-85B0-4AF2-B662-0544DE04FF9D.jpeg
    821.8 KB · Views: 6
  • 495B89DB-80A3-4DD0-9480-8184E0987BC1.jpeg
    495B89DB-80A3-4DD0-9480-8184E0987BC1.jpeg
    616.7 KB · Views: 6
They have been laying now a couple of weeks
That eliminates several things since they are consistent. It is not a one off occurrence. Thanks for that info. I forgot to ask, do you know what color egg they hatched out of?

The color of an egg shell is determined by genetics. In your case the base color is white. The brown is a layer added during the last half hour or so in the shell gland just before the egg is laid. If you scratch or sandpaper that brown off you'll see it is white underneath. Or if you crack the brown egg and remove that membrane you'll see it is white underneath.

That brown pigment is made from recycled red blood cells. Red blood cells are dying all the time with new ones made all the time. So the raw material for the brown pigment is always available.

Genetics determines what shade of brown pigment is added or if any is added at all. Rocks are suppose to lay brown eggs but what shade or even if they do depends on the breeder. If the person breeding them doesn't pay much, if any, attention to egg shell color when picking breeders you can get some really inconsistent egg shell colors and shades from the flock.

There are a lot of different genes that affect shell color and shade. Some are dominant, some are recessive. Some only act if another gene is present. At least one is sex linked, which means the pullet can only get that gene from her father. There is even one that bleaches a brown egg white. These genes are passed down randomly so you can get a lot of different combinations even from the same parents.

Since it is consistent one of your pullets got the genetics for a white egg, one for brown. At least this is one explanation.

Another possibility is that one pullet has a defective shell gland. For whatever reason she just doesn't apply that brown pigment. If the white shell is consistently thin that might support that theory.

As you can see I don't know what is going on. It could be different things, maybe something I haven't thought of. Whatever it is the eggs are safe to eat and I don't know of anything you can do about it.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom