Historically in the U.S. the two largest egg markets were the New York area and the Boston area. New York had a preference for white eggs and Boston a preference for brown. But there was also the broiler market to be considered. Up until about the nineteen fifties or so chicken meat was mostly a byproduct of the egg industry. They had to have something to do with all those cockerels and spent laying hens. A plucked Leghorn is the original rubber chicken. Real egg laying machines, but not much to them when it comes time to eat them. This was a major reason why many of the great American breeds were developed. They laid well (brown eggs though) and they grew large enough to dress out to something when slaughtered.
But that was all fifty years ago or more so things have been steadily evolving since. Now broilers are their own dedicated breeds and have nothing to do with the commercial egg industry which in the U.S. has mostly gone over to Leghorns because they are simply more efficient and thus eggs can be produced more cheaply. Unless you're eating the shells it's what is inside the egg that matters so folks gradually went over to buying white eggs because they were cheaper. The spent hens went into soup cans though even that has now largely come to an end so the birds are mostly just composted now. These last ten or twenty years brown eggs have made something of a comeback as the sex-links were developed so that they didn't have to waste feed on unwanted cockerels and the hens became more efficient layers. White eggs still predominate though.
I'm not as familiar with the U.K. and the European markets. If you were to go into a typical supermarket in those areas do they have more white eggs or brown eggs?
But that was all fifty years ago or more so things have been steadily evolving since. Now broilers are their own dedicated breeds and have nothing to do with the commercial egg industry which in the U.S. has mostly gone over to Leghorns because they are simply more efficient and thus eggs can be produced more cheaply. Unless you're eating the shells it's what is inside the egg that matters so folks gradually went over to buying white eggs because they were cheaper. The spent hens went into soup cans though even that has now largely come to an end so the birds are mostly just composted now. These last ten or twenty years brown eggs have made something of a comeback as the sex-links were developed so that they didn't have to waste feed on unwanted cockerels and the hens became more efficient layers. White eggs still predominate though.
I'm not as familiar with the U.K. and the European markets. If you were to go into a typical supermarket in those areas do they have more white eggs or brown eggs?
