supermarket brown eggs

[ARose4Heaven]

Not sure which hen lays these...the red or the Orp. I just feed em Purena Layena feed and freechoice oystershell.

 

[felidaet]

I hope that mine never lay a triple yoker. I am guessing this would be hard on the chicken. We got a few double yokes the first few weeks but these have stopped now.

 

[Mahonri]

The eggs laid for the brown eggs for our costco are Rhode Island Reds... at least that's what it says on the cartons.

BIG dark brown eggs.

 

[Ariel301]

I'm sure a variety of breed and crossbreeds are used to produce grocery store eggs. Whatever produces the most and is most feed efficient, I would guess.

I used to have Barred Rocks and got a lot of double yolkers from them. Out of 40-50 hens, I had several double yolk eggs a day. All they ate was scratch feed and free-ranging stuff.

 

[Maidservant]

I know here in NC and in SC too all of the brown eggs come from Golden Comets. I've rescued and rehomed nearly a hundred of them, and after they learn you aren't going to hurt them, they are the sweetest girls, and they outlaid my RIR's! Just don't wear gloves when you're messing with them, they absolutely freak out. The workers use gloves to handle them, and lets just say, they aren't gentle at all.

Emily in NC

 

[GraceAK]

I'm almost certain that they use Production Red or some variety of Rhode Island red, because they are hardy and can hold their own against a great amount of other chickens, and because they are famous for their large, abundant eggs.

EDIT: Golden Comets would also be used I s'pose, because they are so easy to sex as chickies!

 

[JimWWhite]

Quote:
Most any breed will lay double yokers when they first get started laying. It's just something that young pullets do early on. In a few weeks their system usually settles down and they start laying normal eggs. That being said, there are always exceptions. Some hens are just prone to it because their system is out of whack. I suppose some breeder could take advantage of that and interbreed his flock until he got a bunch of hens that only lay doubles. I wouldn't want it because a hen only has so many ovas and when they're gone that's it. No more eggs and I guess they go to the camp out in the freezer

 

[cactus-hen]

I have two BO that lay these beautiful dark brown eggs.

 

[smarsh2]

I would be surprised if anything other than sex-link (includes golden comets, isa browns, red stars, black stars, etc) or production reds (a non sex-link cross for production purposes) are used for brown egg production in the commercial market. I don't suspect any Rhode Island Reds are used, although they are used in a great many of the crosses making up the sex-link breeds.

Many people call their red hens RIRs but are really one of the above. They simply out preform standard breeds in the commercial arena. It is the sole reason they exist.

 

[TurtleFeathers]

I've got hens that lay eggs that are a nice, pretty medium brown - but a month ago, when I wasn't getting any eggs at all, I was forced to buy a dozen from the grocery store (ugggghhhh). When I opened the cartons to check for cracked eggs, I was taken aback by the "brown-ness" - they were SO brown, they almost didn't look real!!! This was at a local Safeway store, and the brand was Lucerne.

I still had a couple of the Lucerne eggs left when my hens finally started to lay again - and when I put a fresh one in the fridge with them, it made the Lucerne eggs look like they were brick red! Seriously, they looked like they might have been dyed! I was thinking maybe they were from Welsummers, but I heard they're not reliable enough to be considered a "production layer"?

ETA: I don't have any hens that lay double yolkers, but years ago, I got an entire dozen of double yolked white eggs from the grocery store!