At fair, I always answer questions people ask in the poultry barn, and for every 20 dumb questions, someone (sorta) restores my faith in humanity. A group of four people walked in (maybe 2 years ago?) and asked about egg color, as a pen of barred rocks had some brown eggs on top of the cage and some leghorns had white. I explained that it was basically like a paint color that is applied to the shell as it is being laid, and that the color played no part in nutrition, just as an identical red car and a yellow car were still the same inside. Anyway, someone asked how you could guess the color eggshell before they laid, and I showed them the earlobe as a general estimate but explained that the breed of chicken is also a good estimate. They thanked me and walked on to the bantams, and when they saw a silkie rooster's blue earlobe. They asked, to the bird's owner, "What color does this one lay? Blue?", and the stunned owner replied only with, "None, because it's a boy." A sensible answer, until the one lady remarked "Oh, so the boys all have BLUE earlobes, and the girls have red and white because they make pink!"
Thankfully, they were nicely set straight by the owner, but I couldn't tell if I wanted to laugh or cry after that. Of course, now it's a little funny.
My hens are going through a lull in production, as all but 2 of my hens are at least four or five years old and molting. We had to buy eggs from the store for holiday baking, and when I looked at the outside of the eggs, it seemed unnatural after having only one hen lay white. Plus, they were bright white and I of course knew they were older than I wanted to think about. My sister visited my coop and mounted a beanie baby chicken's head inside, with a post-it note that says "Unproductive hen of the day".
Thankfully, they were nicely set straight by the owner, but I couldn't tell if I wanted to laugh or cry after that. Of course, now it's a little funny.
My hens are going through a lull in production, as all but 2 of my hens are at least four or five years old and molting. We had to buy eggs from the store for holiday baking, and when I looked at the outside of the eggs, it seemed unnatural after having only one hen lay white. Plus, they were bright white and I of course knew they were older than I wanted to think about. My sister visited my coop and mounted a beanie baby chicken's head inside, with a post-it note that says "Unproductive hen of the day".
