What’s the obsession over egg shell color?

[humblehillsfarm]

If I had hens thst layed dark brown, blue, green, olive and pink, I could charge more.
At the farmers market, one lady puts are her fun colored eggs in one carton, she charges $6 a dozen and people buy it for the pretty colors. People are stupid.

They aren’t stupid! It’s hella expensive to have backyard chickens when you look at the cost efficiency of a commercial farm. Folks shopping at a farmers market usually do it for a few reasons: they want to support local farmers, they want an interesting variety of products, they want healthy, organic, sustainable options, and when it comes to meat and dairy, they often want to know the animals lived a good life. I under price my eggs and still have people try to give me $5 for a dozen just because they know the eggs are worth more than the $2 I charge for them. That $2 a dozen at best covers their feed costs and nothing more. People shopping at the farmers market are probably among the few who actually know there’s no different between a blue, brown, or white egg.

 

[nuthatched]

They aren’t stupid! It’s hella expensive to have backyard chickens when you look at the cost efficiency of a commercial farm. Folks shopping at a farmers market usually do it for a few reasons: they want to support local farmers, they want an interesting variety of products, they want healthy, organic, sustainable options, and when it comes to meat and dairy, they often want to know the animals lived a good life. I under price my eggs and still have people try to give me $5 for a dozen just because they know the eggs are worth more than the $2 I charge for them. That $2 a dozen at best covers their feed costs and nothing more. People shopping at the farmers market are probably among the few who actually know there’s no different between a blue, brown, or white egg.

I charge 2.50 a dozen,I break even on feedbills, it's not that expensive to have chickens. You're lucky, People shopping at my farmers market are tourists, city folk and morons.
Quotes from the moron sect I've overheard at the farmers market.
"White eggs are unatural, they're laid brown but bleached white so they're full of bleach."
"Healthy chickens lay brown eggs, sick chickens lay white, your chickens lay cream so they live in squalor."
"Blue eggs are from people feeding their helpless birds dyes."
All I'm saying is that people are willing to pay ridiculous money for colored eggs.

 

[annampet]

I'm still relatively new to having chickens but I've wanted blue layers SO BAD! I finally bought 2 "blue eggers", 2 "EE" and 4 mixed Orpingtons from TS this last July to get a variety......Well, guess what? They ALL lay BLUE eggs! I'm loving them! BUT, no variety now
I had a feeling the Orpingtons were mislabeled as they were growing...the egg laying confirmed it.

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

I'm still relatively new to having chickens but I've wanted blue layers SO BAD! I finally bought 2 "blue eggers", 2 "EE" and 4 mixed Orpingtons from TS this last July to get a variety......Well, guess what? They ALL lay BLUE eggs! I'm loving them! BUT, no variety now
I had a feeling the Orpingtons were mislabeled as they were growing...the egg laying confirmed it.

Do you have pics?

 

[annampet]

Do you have pics?

would any lover of colored eggs say no?
I have one OE and two buff Orpington from my “old” flock, so I do get a little variety. One “blush” color pictured here, one brown, one green and 8 blue.

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

would any lover of colored eggs say no?
I have one OE and two buff Orpington from my “old” flock, so I do get a little variety. One “blush” color pictured here, one brown, one green and 8 blue.

I have only one EE and I want more sooooo bad!

 

[Cazook]

"White eggs are unatural, they're laid brown but bleached white so they're full of bleach."
"Healthy chickens lay brown eggs, sick chickens lay white, your chickens lay cream so they live in squalor."
"Blue eggs are from people feeding their helpless birds dyes."
All I'm saying is that people are willing to pay ridiculous money for colored eggs.

Where do people come up with that crap?

 

[cluckingheck]

here’s my contribution

 

[nuthatched]

Where do people come up with that crap?

Their great aunt karen?

 

[The Angry Hen]

...don’t they all taste the same?

growing up...i am 41...we always had brown eggs and that was “weird” to my friends. they would question eating an egg that had a brown shell...now it’s common place in the grocery store as if it’s better than a white egg.

What’s the obsession over egg shell color?

My Grandmother refuses to accept my offering of fresh brown eggs, as her theory on it is... just say... bizarre and jokingly. She won't accept egg salad in the Summer, because the eggs I collect are different than the ones she insists to purchase at the store. At the same concern though, she won't question what's in a cake I bake...
Going to restaurants... does one really believe all the eggs/egg-involved meals they eat are white?

I often find that white egg layers are a bit on the excited/flighty side, being slightly more timid, as well as over-bred, in certain cases and heritage.
But there isn't any difference in what an egg is made of. Granted some shells are thicker than others (calcium balance), they all have the same nutrients & production process... it's just a different bird and a different color coating...
I've noticed some of my darker-brown-egg-layers will lay an egg that I collect fresh, and its brown coloring smudges off when the bloom isn't fully dry.
I don't believe the color to be a definite shell pigment, but instead a staining.

Even certain brown egg layers will produce a very pale, almost white in appearance, egg on occasion. For instance, my Australorp hen does the same.
It's said that birds with white earlobes tend to produce white-shelled eggs. The Australorp breed is a brown egg layer, with often black-feathered earlobes. My BA hen I'm speaking of is a hatchery Australorp, but with white earlobes... hmm.

There really isn't a difference when it comes to an egg color. Brown eggs aren't strange at all. It all depends on layer breeds that work for you. Aside from what someone is looking for in bird disposition and production, egg color shouldn't dissuade anyone from keeping brown-egg-producing hens, nor eating their eggs.