Egg Color Mystery

[BerrytangleFarm]

I have an established coop with 6 hens who have been laying for some time, though 2 are younger than the other 4. A month ago I added three hens from another coop who had been each laying an egg a day for many weeks. All shades of brown eggs.

Yesterday there was a full-size WHITE egg in the box. Whiter than the Seramas' eggs (they're in another coop).

Who Layed It?


Australorps, NH Reds, Buff Sussex, Barred Rock, Faverolle, Gold Wyandottes.......

 

[BerrytangleFarm]

Little white egg is a Serama egg. Brown eggs are the norm. Big white egg is the mystery. This egg came from the big bird coop, so it couldn't be a double yolk Serama egg.

 

[goldnchocolate]

Does it also have a very thin shell? The reason that I ask is because when my chickens lay an egg that has a thin and porous shell, it is usually lacking in color, also.

 

[BerrytangleFarm]

Hard and healthy.

 

[BerrytangleFarm]

No ideas?

 

[Den in Penn]

A chicken whose run down from laying. Really any brown egg chicken can lay a white egg. If she is near the end of a laying cycle or isn't getting enough raw materials for the brown pigment the eggs can be white. Some times stress or disease can also cause a white egg.

 

[BerrytangleFarm]

Hmmmm.....none of the hens are over 2 years old. Some of them have a bald spot on the back, but I figured that was the over-zealous rooster since they seem to fight him off. Haven't found another white egg yet.

 

[StarLover21]

Maybe a salmon faverolle running out of pigment? Usually they lay 'light brown to cream' eggs.

 

[ChicKat]

I agree that sometimes a brown layer will run short on pigment. Especially if the white egg was large. I suspect it was a temporary glitch for her pigment process---but over time you may get a lighter and lighter tan from one of your hens... You may even be able to determine which one.

I have 2 BPR and one lays a lighter egg than the other..... And sometimes it is very light -- then will vary back to a slightly darker color. IT is a mystery.

 

[BerrytangleFarm]

Thanks for the responses. I guess it's an early Easter present from one of the girls