Why are eggs changing color??!! Does anyone have an answer?

[JaciesCoop]

I'm not sure I put this in the right area but lately my cochins and JG are laying very light almost white eggs. They have always layed deep to light brown.

The eggs are still very strong shelled but the color is getting lighter.

Can anyone tell me why?

Jacie

This pic will show the difference. This just started happening this past week.

 

[Emzyyy]

Very odd. How many hens do you have? Were ALL of them laying before? Are all the eggs becoming whiter? Maybe someone is playing a prank?

 

[JaciesCoop]

I have 10 hens. All at least 1.5 year old. Today there were 6 eggs and only one dark brown. Yesterday 2 out of 5 were almost white.

No one can get in to play pranks. Our coop is in our back yard. And we are rural so I don't think anyone would go to the trouble.

All the hens are laying.

 

[Emzyyy]

Odd, maybe someone else can help you out with this one because I am baffled.

 

[JaciesCoop]

Thank Emzyyy: Let's hope someone can give us both an answer. I don't think it really matters with the egg quality but I really would like to know why they're getting lighter.

Jacie

 

[JaciesCoop]

I hope someone can answer this question please. It is very puzzling.

Jacie

 

[Metanoia]

Generally hens will either lay white or brown eggs.

My only thought is that perhaps they are balancing slowly or maturing. I know I was getting very very speckled eggs, like someone had sprayed a brown egg with white paint. Now the speckles are evening out and more uniform all over. They look lighter unless you peer up close.

Perhaps it is something similar where a more mature hen has changed the colour she lays???

 

[Hardboiled]

Uh oh, be careful!! The chicken police may show up and tell you that you're mistaken and it can't happen.

My EE laid an olivish color today so I'm hoping that means she'll be returning to her usual color soon. That said, I have a SLW who laid an almost white egg when I got her and over the past week her eggs have been getting darker and darker. Todays was a khaki color with loads of darker speckling.

I'd love to hear theories from legitimate and qualified scientists about this.

 

[Metanoia]

I honestly don't know if this is applicable and I hope it isn't, but I found this while looking at info on eggs and what comprises them/how they are formed and had to come back and post it just incase:


http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS020

Another disease which may affect shell quality is Egg Drop Syndrome 76 (EDS 76). EDS 76 was first identified in Britain in 1976. A vaccine was quickly developed and the disease seemed to disappear. However, it has recently reappeared in the Netherlands. The disease is mainly characterized by a drop in egg production early in lay, or by a sudden fall in production at a later stage in the laying period. In the beginning the symptoms include shell-less eggs and thin-shelled eggs, deformed eggs, and, in the case of brown eggs, a loss of shell color. In addition, the whites of these eggs are very watery, and there is considerable variation in egg weight.​

 

[JaciesCoop]

Quote:

That is scary but the eggs are not shell-less or thin-shelled. They are very hardy. and the whites are not watery so I think I can rule that out.

It also says on that page that stress can effect egg color. We have had a deluge of skunks the last two weeks. Fortunately they cannot get to our chickens but have killed several neighbors chickens on both sides of us. It has all the animals skittish. Maybe this is affecting them.