Why does my chicken lay brown and white eggs?

[HHandbasket]

All my chickens' eggs turn slightly lighter in color when fall comes. They are their most vibrant in spring and summer. But when fall comes, their production goes down, and the eggs are paler in color.

 

[TomG]

I feed my chicken cheese and it lays omlets.

 

[choidle]

Below is a link to an article from the Extension staff of the University of Florida concerning the subject matter. The article provides educated insight about the loss of shell pigment (color) in brown eggs. Hope this helps.



http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vm047

 

[CentreStage]

I have a hybrid bird that has laid olive green eggs until this week.

Now she's laying blue eggs.

Thanks to this thread I now understand that she's just failing to pigment her egg at the end of the laying process.

I thought I was going quietly potty...

 

[SarahInAlaska]

I had a single hen (no other birds) in a pen in my garage. She laid an egg in the morning and one later that day. No way anything else laid in there. She hasn't done it since, but there was no question it happened that day. So people, pleaaaase stop saying its impossible. It may be unusual or rare, but not impossible. And she would also lay at 9 am and lay at 8am the next day and did it all the time, so the 25 hour thing is pretty bogus too.

 

[charliethezero]

I had a single hen (no other birds) in a pen in my garage. She laid an egg in the morning and one later that day. No way anything else laid in there. She hasn't done it since, but there was no question it happened that day. So people, pleaaaase stop saying its impossible. It may be unusual or rare, but not impossible. And she would also lay at 9 am and lay at 8am the next day and did it all the time, so the 25 hour thing is pretty bogus too.

Yeah, I agree with you. Once in a while you get a hen that doesn't want to follow the rules. Silkies are known for broodiness not eggs. But my first little hen layed every single day for almost a complete year after her pol and gave me two eggs 2-3 times a week during that time. Like you I only had that one hen. My husband can confirm that. when I got orpingtons he was confused that they only layed one and took a day or two off a week.

 

[frannymarie]

I am also responding to the chicken laying different color eggs. at this time i have one hen. and last season she layed brown eggs. i went out last week and noticed i had 4 brown eggs and 1 white egg. i was stunned. and each day after there is a variety of eggs. and they aren't just tan. they are brown eggs. she has always laid at least 2 a day. some days i get 4 from her. but i was confused to why she is laying different colors now. she is 2 years old now. and quite a happy little hen. but so confused... and i don't have a rogue hen sneaking in laying white eggs. everyone is telling me i am crazy too... but there ya have it...

 

[IB Smart]

I am new to chickens and so don't have any answers. But, we have a Boston Red. She started laying dark brown eggs. Then, after a few weeks her eggs got slightly lighter every day until she lay a crème colored egg. Since she just started laying, the eggs have been slightly larger each day as well. Then, this morning, she lay a striped egg! It's like she decorated it up for Easter in shades of brown and crème.

So, we went down to the local feed store to ask if anyone knew what might be wrong. We were told that probably nothing is wrong. I was just wondering if she is missing nutrients or if there is some other issue that needs to be addressed.

 

[lazy gardener]

It's normal for a chicken's eggs to lighten up over time. The closer she gets to a molt period, the lighter her eggs will be, then after a molt, when she starts laying again, her eggs will be darker. The striped egg... just an odd ball. One of my EE started out laying olive green eggs with white polka-dots. Over time, her eggs have become a solid aqua color.

 

[IB Smart]

Thank you for your knowledge and experience.