Same hen lays a dk brown egg then white egg? (pic)

[goldielocks]

I sit in my new clean coop on a padded seat and watch my girls take turns laying eggs. They have just been laying for the last few weeks so i am so fascinated and wanting to know who lays what egg. My Black aussie had been laying these really dark brown eggs for a couple of days then no more dark brown eggs, so i thought she had quit laying. I see her jump in an empty nest box so i thought...yes, more dark eggs. She layed the egg right in front of me and it was the lightest egg that i am getting...here i thought my buff orpington had been laying that light egg. How can that be?

The center egg was her first egg.

This is the egg that she just layed

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

goldielocks - I can relate

I have six black australorps. I used to get 5-6 brown eggs a day...then summer hit and between 105 -115 temps, taking turns going broody and molting, I have been down to 0-2 eggs, with an occasional 4 if the temps drop for a week. All eggs have been light brown, except for a brief period when I had super soft and/or shelless eggs several months ago.

So, here's the weird thing, this week I got two pure white eggs that looked like the could have come from the grocers shelves. I am quite startled. At first we wondered if a neighbor was playing joke on us and put a white egg in our nests. However, I now think one of my girls laid them. So, based on my experience, yes, black australorps can go from laying brown to white eggs.

I would love to know more about this if anyone else out there has more wisdom.

Holly

 

[gritsar]

It happens with my girls on occasion. It's like they run low on paint in the paint booth. Yes, that's a simple way of explaining how eggs get their color.
It's happened often enough with my girls that I've learned not to worry about it.

 

[goldielocks]

Well thats good to know. They are 26 weeks old now and all of them are laying. The temps here have been in the 70's and 80's for weeks so i dont think it has to do with the weather. Weird how they can lay such a dark pretty egg and then poof...creamy white egg.

What is the usual color of an Aussie Egg? Im new to all of this.

 

[randomchick]

Your chicken may be from unpure stock, however many generations ago because white shelled eggs come from chickens of Mediterranean background and brown shelled eggs come from American breeds.

Also there is no evidence that I can find about this, but it makes sence that during high heat eggs would be lighter due to the similarities of the medditeranean weather.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Gristar - thank you for sharing your experience.

The heat hear is backing off ( in the 100's rather than 110's) so I don't think it is a heat thing. I do wonder why they run out of paint, but am glad to know that it isn't a red flag.


randomchick - thank you for your insight, I have at least one that is unpure in my flock as evidienced by here color, that leads me to suspect the others may be less than pure also. They are get hens though!

Goldilocks - thank you again for this thread!