What the Heck?! My Buff Orpington laid a WHITE egg!!! UPDATE With PICS

KSue

In the Brooder
9 Years
Jun 24, 2010
43
3
22
Old Fort
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Ok, I have owned this adult flock of Buff Orpingtons for 2 months now. I have six hens and a roo. Up until today I was getting on average 10-12 eggs per week and all were pretty brown eggs. Today I went to check the nest and I had 2 unexpected surprises! The first surprise was there were four eggs! I usually get 1 or 2, so that was great! The other surprise was there was a WHITE egg in the mix! I kid you not! WHITE!!! Other than the color, it is perfectly normal looking in every way. Shape, size, hardness of shell....yup, its a chicken egg! I took it inside and put it next to my other BO's eggs, then put a store-bought white egg next to it....(Just to check my eyesight) Yup, it's still an albino egg! As soon as I can find my camera I will take a pic and post it.

Is this normal/common....?Maybe it's a silly topic to post, but these are my first chickens and I have been absorbing knowledge from y'all like a sponge for the past few months! LOL! It's probably a non-issue, but I was just curious.

You know, the day before yesterday, my Lab/Dalmation cross got away from me. He went after a hen that was hiding under the crawl space under the coop. I tried to call him off but he wouldn't listen and it was obvious by the squawking that he had her in his jaws. I dove under the coop and low crawled on my belly to where they were. I had to dig my nails into his gum line to get him to turn loose and he was bear hugging the hen with his front paws. Thank goodness I got her free and she took off for the poke weed to go hide. After I secured the dog I went looking for her. When I finally caught the hen, I looked her over, up and down.......Not a scratch on her. Thank Goodness!

Do you suppose that she was the one who laid the egg and the encounter with the dog scared the color out of her???
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Oh, and yes, I am absolutely positive all the hens are 100% purebred BOs.

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Pic of the white egg with our normal eggs

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White egg next to a store bought egg

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Our flock. Not sure who laid the egg.
 
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Yeah...the spray guy was just taking a break. I can easily identify each of my girls' eggs (diff. breeds), but about two weeks ago, they were all very washed out...not quite white, but almost. I couldn't tell whose egg was whose
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I thought maybe it was the heat affecting their equipment, but who knows???
 
How old are your hens? I know that the eggs tend to lose color as they get toward the end of a laying cycle (nearer to molting). I have been getting some very light eggs from my bo's lately. They're not grocery store white, but they're VERY light.

And it's also possible that she had a paint factory fluke. You never know.
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Thanks! Glad to know that it's not really unusual. The girls are a mixed age flock 1-2 years old. The heat has been terrible here of late, but it is breaking a bit. I was just happy to get 4 eggs today!
 
Hey I just got back from the hen house and noticed a bright pure white egg added to a few regular colored Lav. Orp. eggs my only broody hens nest.She has been totally separated from all the other birds.Stuck with her Lav. Orp. manchild.ABSOLUTELY
NO chance of any other bird sitting in her nest box.She is not even a year old yet and the weather is still quite cool here in Western NY.
So......I guess its not all that uncommon
 

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