Brown eggs turning white?

[greggy]

My hens are all brown egg layers, but lately I've noticed that the shell color is bleaching out almost white on most of the eggs. I changed feed a few weeks ago, and started offering oyster shell. could this be the reason(s)?

 

[ghulst]

With age all brown eggs layers will lay lighter eggs.

 

[greggy]

Yes, but this came on rather suddenly. the shell thickness seems OK. I'm planning to set some eggs late next week, and was thinking they would be easier to candle being as white as they are.

 

[Akane]

Could they be considering a molt? Eggs will get lighter up until molting and then darken afterward to get lighter again. I noticed shell thickness impacts my EE eggs but that's because there are different layers of color in an EE egg. I don't know how much difference there is in the layers of a brown egg.

 

[greggy]

I wouldn't think so. They are not even a year old, and it's been pretty darn cold here for 4 months.