Suddenly getting white eggs

[darin367]

i've got a rhode island red that started laying white eggs a week ago.... still get 1 egg per day, havent noticed a difference in shell thickness but the wife and i have been wondering whats going on.... same feed, treats etc.....

 

[verity]

I have just discovered this thread -- and am relieved but as puzzled as some of the other posters --

we are getting really white eggs, too -- and it happened overnight -- ????

this is not the hens first laying cycle -- Barred Rock, Red Sex Link, and Buff Orpington all on the white-egg fad -- (Red Sex Link's eggs are just a shade darker than the others but still white)

and my BCM has decided to join the others and her eggs have gone from dark, dark bronze to pale beige --- (I do know that this happens with this particular breed -- so that didn't surprise me as much as the others changing colors)


global warming???? radiation from Japan???? visit from the Easter Bunny looking for pale eggs to dye??? broken 'oompa-loompahs'??? (I love that image! thanks for making me laugh!)

I'm not complaining as the hens are all laying as many eggs as usual -- same size, just different colors ---

 

[ChooksChick]

Seriously folks, anyone who has this happening, please let me know what you're feeding so I can try to find a link!

 

[KDbeads]

ChoockChick, the girl in question from my posts is back to regular brown eggs but she's been living with someone else since July. She laid the off color double yolk thin shelled eggs until she molted in the fall and then went back to normal. I called this morning and asked

I use Dumor Layer pellets from TSC and have since changed my oyster shell to whatever the feed store here in town uses, we buy by the lb, but I was using what TSC sold, smelled like mothballs last time I bought it. Since she's been at the other place she's been on scratch and whatever it is that most livestock can eat, All-Feed the lady called it.

I haven't had this problem with any other birds so I have no idea, but it is interesting that she went back to 'normal' after she molted.

 

[verity]

Dumor Layer Crumbles --

these 'new' eggs are a pearly-white and are very attractive -- just kind of a shock after the brown ones for the past three years --

the two EEs still lay the pretty blue eggs --

our hens do not free-range -- they have a very large pen and house -- 6 hens in all -- various breeds ---

we give fruit and veggies for treats -- once a week they have a head of cabbage for the ever-popular "Tether-Cabbage" -- also 'scratch' -- oyster shell --- they have playground sand and fireplace ashes with DE in their favorite dust-bath areas --

I have pulled lots of 'chickweed' for them --- I do this every year along with some dandelion greens growing in the meadow near the creek --

they get bread or crackers occasionally ---

nothing has changed here -- except the color of some of the eggs -- LOL ---

it is so interesting to read that others are experiencing the same thing --

 

[sheps4her]

This is also happening here. I have two brown egglayers that are now laying pale beige almost white colored eggs. I feed the Southern States brand. MY girls free range about 3 hours every afternoon. Nothing has changed here. I thought I was the only one! Makes me feel a little better, but still wondering why...

 

[ChooksChick]

How weird! I wonder if some of the feed companies have begun to use a different form or supplier for their calcium? I know several Marans breeders swear by using eggshells only for their calcium so that eggs are darker, and that if one uses oyster shell, they swear it lightens the egg. If it's the calcium source, it would be interesting to find out what the feed manufacturers are using.

 

[HHandbasket]

I have always fed my chickens grower food with oyster shell calcium to supplement. That has not changed, but our BR and EE/american game, who previously laid tan/blush eggs, are now laying very, very pale pink to nearly white eggs. Like others have said, there has been no change in the eggs' taste or the hens' ability to lay, just the outside color.

Of note, we did move a week ago, and I have attributed the alteration in color to the move. I was under the impression that moving stresses hens and decreases their ability to lay, so we did not sell any eggs the last week or two before the move so we would have plenty for ourselves. DUMB move. LOL. This move not only didn't decrease their laying ability, but one of them who had been broody (raised her chicks already) resumed laying as soon as we moved. It's gotta be all the fresh, green grass and the mountain air. We are getting 5-6 eggs a day with no break in laying, not even on moving day (one of them even laid an egg in the box during transport).

Since they didn't decrease their laying #'s, I was attributing the lighter eggs to the move, but not EVERYBODY's eggs are lighter, only the barred rock, the EE/game cross, and the light brahma's eggs are not as smooth/sheeny as they were. Oh, and one of my EEs eggs are bigger than they've ever been. Gotta be the mountain air.

 

[choidle]

Below is a link to an article from the Extension staff of the University of Florida concerning the subject matter. The article provides educated insight about the loss of shell pigment (color) in brown eggs. Hope this helps.



http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vm047

 

[sharol]

First of all, I know this is a very old thread, but since it has been reopened.... That was a very interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

My girls (a glw and a Welsumer) had a light molt at the middle of the summer. It seemed to have been brought on by the death of another chicked (internal layer, I think). The dead chicken was the best friend of the Welsumer, and she didn't lay another egg for several months. I think she is laying again, but her eggs are light brown with darker brown speckles. She was the only one who laid speckled eggs, so I think these new lighter eggs are hers.

Only the Campine has had a hard molt (they are about 17 months old), and last years girls aren't laying many eggs these days. The 2 Delawares' eggs are also lots lighter in color. Before Misty died, I know exactly who was laying because the color was quite consistent. Now it is a crap shoot. I have no idea which Del is laying, and I'm not even sure the Welsumer and the GLW are laying at all. I'm getting lots of smaller green eggs (and one medium brown one) from this years' chicks -- sometimes all 5 of them lay on a single day, but I'm lucky to get 1 or two brown eggs from my 5 brown layers. My older EE lays 5 or 6 a week, and she is recovering from bumble foot (treated in August/September, spraying feet with Vetericyn (sp) when they go to the roost if it isn't too cold -- swelling down, scabs much smaller, not showing any other stress).

The other variable is that I'm gone all day. I started a VERY LONG substitute job at the high school for a teacher who is ill, and I don't get home until 4 or so to let them out for a while. They were used to being out most days for several hours prior to my sub assignment in September. Since the article says stress is an issue, maybe that effected them, too.

Thoughts to ponder.