Hens eggs are getting lighter and lighter...

[534EBC]

Similar concern on this end. I have 4 hens (3 RIR's and 1 Plymouth Rock). My "girls" are mature: 3+ years old. I too have noticed their brown eggs getting lighter this summer (+ egg production is down). Getting about 1 egg a day for the past few weeks, when usually it was 2-3. Hmmm, is this normal or should I be concerned? Everything else seems fine. No change in their routine or diet (I feed a "complete formula" poultry layer feed, w/ oyster shell). They have access to clean water all day. Free-range within a fenced area all day.

 

[enola]

Brown eggs are white eggs with a brown coating. The supply of brown coating gets smaller as each egg laying cycle progresses. When your hens take a break to molt, the supply of brown coating builds backup again.

When their molt is over and they start laying again, their eggs will be dark again.

 

[534EBC]

Wow... didn't know any of that. Thanks for the information. Love this forum.

 

[Fun Chicken]

Hello everyone, I too am glad I found this post as I was about to post something similar. My chickens are 10 months old as well, and their eggs were anywhere from a light brown to a light chocolate. But now all of a sudden they are mostly a cream color and a few light browns. I also have 1 white leghorn and 2 EE's and those eggs are of course not affected. But I should mention that first they stopped eating their crumbles almost completly. I thought maybe they had gotten tired of the crumbles so I tried giving them pellets. Nope, didn't help. Then I tried a different brand. Again, didn't help. All this time I was feeding them greens and mealworms and they had no interestin their food at all. Then I read in a post about giving it to them wet instead of dry, so I tried it (I even put some mealworms in it to make sure they ate it) and sure enough, they went to town on it! But little by little they started loosing interest on it as well, except for the mealworms. The little stinkers would pick out the worms (and even get in and scratch through the mush to find the last one) and leave the food. They then only pick at it a little bit here and there. Then something happened which made me realized that they were not getting the right nutrition. One of them started limping and I thought maybe she had bumblefoot, but after checking her carefully, I realize that was not the case. So I took her to a vet, but not an avian vet. Still she saw that by this time she was walking on her elbows(?) and her toes were curled downwards. So she told me she felt it was a neurological problem probably brought on by a vitamin deficiency. So she went to check on a book and came back and said that B2 deficiency causes this problem and that I needed to give her a good dose (100mcg) daily. So, I started giving her polyvisol, but I had added selenium and vit E to it for another chicken and I didn't want to overdose her on the selenium. So instead, I started feeding her a hard boiled egg a day and some spinach. She seems to be improving. We also gave some vitamins to the other chickens, thinking that they too might be deficient in something. But we stopped before too long because the vitamins I bought had electrolytes and I read you're not supposed to give them electrolytes unless they really need them an not for very long. So... after this whole epistle, I wonder if any if what we did might have caused the change in egg color? Btw, they are also plucking each other. Every day I see another plucked chicken, some are pretty bad and some just barely noticable. And they keep their moths open. (I'm a new chicken mama) I don't know for sure what that means. HELP!!!

 

[Stephine]

Hello everyone, I too am glad I found this post as I was about to post something similar. My chickens are 10 months old as well, and their eggs were anywhere from a light brown to a light chocolate. But now all of a sudden they are mostly a cream color and a few light browns. I also have 1 white leghorn and 2 EE's and those eggs are of course not affected. But I should mention that first they stopped eating their crumbles almost completly. I thought maybe they had gotten tired of the crumbles so I tried giving them pellets. Nope, didn't help. Then I tried a different brand. Again, didn't help. All this time I was feeding them greens and mealworms and they had no interestin their food at all. Then I read in a post about giving it to them wet instead of dry, so I tried it (I even put some mealworms in it to make sure they ate it) and sure enough, they went to town on it! But little by little they started loosing interest on it as well, except for the mealworms. The little stinkers would pick out the worms (and even get in and scratch through the mush to find the last one) and leave the food. They then only pick at it a little bit here and there. Then something happened which made me realized that they were not getting the right nutrition. One of them started limping and I thought maybe she had bumblefoot, but after checking her carefully, I realize that was not the case. So I took her to a vet, but not an avian vet. Still she saw that by this time she was walking on her elbows(?) and her toes were curled downwards. So she told me she felt it was a neurological problem probably brought on by a vitamin deficiency. So she went to check on a book and came back and said that B2 deficiency causes this problem and that I needed to give her a good dose (100mcg) daily. So, I started giving her polyvisol, but I had added selenium and vit E to it for another chicken and I didn't want to overdose her on the selenium. So instead, I started feeding her a hard boiled egg a day and some spinach. She seems to be improving. We also gave some vitamins to the other chickens, thinking that they too might be deficient in something. But we stopped before too long because the vitamins I bought had electrolytes and I read you're not supposed to give them electrolytes unless they really need them an not for very long. So... after this whole epistle, I wonder if any if what we did might have caused the change in egg color? Btw, they are also plucking each other. Every day I see another plucked chicken, some are pretty bad and some just barely noticable. And they keep their moths open. (I'm a new chicken mama) I don't know for sure what that means. HELP!!!

They keep their beaks open? all the time? Are they panting? How warm is it where you are?
If it was me, I would get a good fresh feed (make sure to look at the date on the bag - the typical crumble, pellet style feeds that are ground and pressed expire within weeks, you want to get feed that's at max 2 weeks old and use it all up in the next three, max 4 weeks) - and stop feeding treats entirely for a few weeks - unless you need treats to lure them back to their pen at times and the just use a tiny bit. If they just pick out the treats they are not getting adequate nutrition. They also can get spoiled and just wait for you to bring them something better.

 

[Fun Chicken]

It is not all that warm. I'm in northern MI. They do seem too keep their beaks open all the time, although it's not all the chickens but several of them. As for panting, I have seen some of them do, but then, some were running; my lame chicken, however, she keeps her beak open and she does pant, but she barely moves. Still, it is difficult for her to move at all, so even a little might be making her pant, I guess. The food I give them is fresh, and I do use it up pretty quick because I've been giving them mush. So it doesn't sit there for long. The strangest thing happened. My husband made their mush for a few days, and he didn't add the meal worms, and the silly chickens ate the whole thing up. So now I don't give them worms anymore. I do, however, give them veggies and fruit.

 

[Stephine]

Running or not, I don't think chickens normally pant unless they are too hot - depending on what temperatures they are acclimated to, at somewhere between 80 and 90 degrees F.
So that puzzles me.
Regarding fruits and veggies: I would cut it all out until everyone seems just peachy and eats their feed. (seems like with your husband they knew mush was all there was for the day, so they didn't hold out ) ) Then add some back in but not give more than 10% of their feed. It is not normal for them to get a vitamin or mineral deficiency while on fresh quality feed, so the next suspect would be giving them too much extra stuff...

 

[Fun Chicken]

Running or not, I don't think chickens normally pant unless they are too hot - depending on what temperatures they are acclimated to, at somewhere between 80 and 90 degrees F.
So that puzzles me.
Regarding fruits and veggies: I would cut it all out until everyone seems just peachy and eats their feed. (seems like with your husband they knew mush was all there was for the day, so they didn't hold out ) ) Then add some back in but not give more than 10% of their feed. It is not normal for them to get a vitamin or mineral deficiency while on fresh quality feed, so the next suspect would be giving them too much extra stuff...

Ok. I will try that, thank you for your advise. Like I said I'm a new chicken mama, so a lot of these things puzzle me. I read quite a bit before getting my chickens, but there's a lot you won't find in any book, forum, post or anywhere.

 

[Fairy Foul]

I've been having this issue with my 2 yr old EE. Her eggs have gone from green to almost white. I guess her age could play a role in this. Her food hasn't changed, but we did add 12 chicks this spring. Hasn't altered her laying pattern, just the color.
So, I am curious too