Why is my 4-year old chicken changing her egg color?

[linguini]

We have a 4-year old female Turken, who is also the head chicken of our flock of 10, started reducing her egg laying frequency early this year (from 26 hour cycle to 48 hours) as she ages. And all of a sudden, her egg color changed from brown to very pale brown, almost white, the last two times she laid. It's as though she has lost her pigment. She is otherwise healthy looking. (head hen, always gets the first bite of treats, best roosting spot)
Should we be worried? Her egg size remains constant. Is this a normal aging process?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Normal for a 4 year old hen.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The pigment is made from dead red blood cells. Blood cells are always dying and being replaced as they wear out so there is a continuous supply of the raw materials. The later you get into a hen's laying cycle the lighter the eggs can become. I'm not sure why but it an established fact. Maybe due to a stored catalyst necessary for the process being used up. But this should be a gradual process, not happening overnight. I don't think this has anything to do with what you are seeing.

The pigment goes on the outside of the eggshell during the last half hour or so before the egg is laid. If the egg is laid a little early all the pigment doesn't get deposited on the egg so it can be very light in comparison to what it normally is. Different things can cause the egg to be laid early, usually some kind of disruption. I don't worry about that if it is a one-off, I feel we are all entitled to an occasional oops. If this is what is going on it is a bit unusual for it to happen two consecutive days but sometimes coincidences happen.

As long as the hen is otherwise acting normal and not acting sick I would not be concerned. Sometimes a disease can cause a change to laying but as long as she and the others are OK that is unlikely. Something to keep an eye on but most likely a change due to aging or a coincidence.

 

[Altairsky]

heat stress can make the eggs paler. happened to me. After the heat wave they returned back to the usual color.