Why does my chicken lay brown and white eggs?

[tdmason]

I haev a mix hen that layed a brown egg yesterday and a white egg today. She has the red ear lobes and she is for the most part a rhode island red and cochen mix. She is my only hen so I know both of the eggs are hers. She is solid black with a large (for a hen) red crown and has feathers on her feet. The eggs were totally different in color and not just a shade. One is solid paper white and the other is a deep brown. I talked to a couple of people and they had never heard of it so I was just wondering how often it occured. Last year she did the same thing. She will lay normally one egg a day and stays on the same feed and stays in a large chicken coop with tons to eat. I have one rooster but he is in a seperate pen from her. Any ideas because it has me really curious.
Thanks!

 

[Billyj]

I had a similar situation. I have a hen that has been laying for about 3 months now. All of a sudden, she went from brown eggs to white eggs. I also asked and people said I crazy and chickens could not change the color of their eggs. All I know, is I used to get 4 brown eggs a day, and now I get 3 brown and 1 white so someone needs to tell her she can't do that. I don't think she knows.

 

[tdmason]

LOL! That's the same thing I told these people, they said I was crazy and that it belonged to another hen and she was sitting on them. I told them unless a wild hen dug into my pen, layed an egg, and then dug back out, that wasn't possible! LOL! She is really young but she just gets whatever comes out of the fridge, lettuce, cabbage, bread etc, laying crumples and scratch. Who knows! Maybe its a rare breed of Heinz 57! LOL! Do you know what breed your is?

 

[ArizonaNessa]

Well a brown egg is nothing more than a white egg with brown pigment. There is a pigmentation process toward the end of the egg cycle. I can't tell ya much more than that about it but maybe she has a glitch in the pigment department

There are only 2 colors of eggshells with chickens...white and blue that's it and that's all. All those other colors come from the pigmentation process.

Brown = white eggshell with pigment
Green = blue eggshell with pigment
White = white shell with absence of pigment
Blue = blue shell with absence of pigment

 

[snowflake]

interesting post, you learn something every day. Is she consistent, every other day? THat is cool!

 

[tdmason]

Yeah, she is keeping it up now and laying two a day one white and the other either creme or brown. It's different but at least I am getting some eggs out of it! LOL

 

[bigstack]

Well, This is a lil off topic but... I have argued with people for years! They all say an egg is an egg is an egg!!!! only the shell color is different! BULL!!!!!!!! My dad can eat a brown egg and have nothing happen. But if he eats a white egg he is sick in less than 5 minutes!!! We have experimented! We took 2 eggs 1 white and 1 brown. Both fried in the same pan same grease ( bacon) We even tried cooking them in the reverse order! Every single time he eats the white egg, He gets sick!!! We did not tell him which was which before he ate them! NO matter how they are cooked, every single time he eats a white egg he is sick in less than 5 minutes! Now of course we never tried them from the same chicken! LOL But this is very interesting. I hosetly don't know what the cause is or what the chemical difference is, but every one says there is NO difference in them except for the shell! Then you explain why they make him sick! even when he does not know which is which!

Sorry didn't mean to hijack but this just brought up an old arguement! LOL

God Bless!

 

[ArizonaNessa]

Quote:
It takes 26 to 32 hours for a chicken to lay an egg from the time it laid the last one. You must have something else laying. Chickens only lay one egg a day.

 

[mistyfeather]

Quote:
It takes 26 to 32 hours for a chicken to lay an egg from the time it laid the last one. You must have something else laying. Chickens only lay one egg a day.

some chickens are quite good at laying 2 eggs aday, it is usualy very rare but it does happen, my friend has a rir that consistantly lays 2 eggs a day, it took my friend quite awhile to figure out whitch hen it was but she will only miss one or two days when she does not lay 2. the second egg she lays is alway the lightes in color usual a light cream colorcompared to her dark teracota brown 1st egg. i think the second egg is usualy pased through quickly and does not have enough time in the pigment prosses to pick enough color

 

[LilPeeps]

Quote:
It takes 26 to 32 hours for a chicken to lay an egg from the time it laid the last one. You must have something else laying. Chickens only lay one egg a day.

I agree, you have two birds laying. What else do you have in your flock?