who laid the white one? And should I be concerned?

greenfeathers · Jul 21, 2016

I have pullets I raised from chicks purchased from Mcmurry. They are 22 weeks and just over this past weekend some started laying.

They're all supposed to be brown layers but I have gotten two white eggs on different days. I can post pictures later if it helps.

I have:
3 Dark Cornish
1 Light Bramha
2 Buff Orps
4 Buff Rocks
1 White Jersey giant
1 SLW

They're all the same age. I've gotten 7 eggs so far. While small, all have been properly shaped and good shells. Two have been white while the others are the brown I expected.

It really doesn't matter to me but I just want to be sure that it's not an issue I need to be aware of. They all eat the same feed and are all housed together along with my two Roos which were their hatch mates.

I Love Layers · Jul 21, 2016

They may have sent the wrong breed which would explain why you are getting white eggs.
You can tell what color of eggs your hens will lay by looking at their earlobes.
Red Earlobe = Brown
White Earlobe = White
There are exceptions to certain breeds like Easter Eggers to name one.
The eggs may be very light brown though, I get some from my pullets sometimes that look white.

ChickenCanoe · Jul 21, 2016

Likely the Cornish or you didn't get all the breeds you listed.
Cornish don't lay brown eggs, they're what is called tinted.

ChickenCanoe · Jul 21, 2016

Earlobe color is mostly accurate but there are a few exceptions. There are some red lobe breeds that lay white eggs.
Among the darkest egg breeds are Penedesenca and Empordanesa that both are supposed to have white earlobes.

Ridgerunner · Jul 21, 2016

Give it a couple of weeks. The pullet’s internal egg making factory is fairly complex, occasionally it takes them a while to get all the kinks out. The last half hour or so of that manufacturing process is that the egg stays in the shell gland where the hen puts a brown coating on it, if she lays brown eggs. It may be that a pullet is just laying them a bit early. Or maybe the part that makes the brown pigment isn’t up to full speed.

Another potential cause is that there is a belief that all hens of a certain breed all lay exactly the same shade of brown. Not even close to true. You can get a pretty good range of colors from hens of the same breed from the same hatchery. I suspect it is a glitch in the process if they are that white, but I don’t see any reason to be concerned.

Good luck!