My brown egg layer is laying white eggs suddenly!! Any ideas?

[greenpocket]

My RIR hens recently came out of molt, and started to lay again. Today I found 2 very pale eggs in with a few brown eggs. Do you think that it's possible they are just the first since molt, and therefore a little off, or is there some other cause? They seem happy and healthy, and look beuatiful with all their new feathers.

 

[chickenshagg]

I don't have an answer for you but I had the same experience earlier this year. I'm not sure who it was but I got a few off colored or "colorless" brown eggs. Fortunately it did not last very long so I did not worry too much and have not seen it since.

 

[Spore]

I have heard with RIR that the eggs get more brown as the hen continues forward in her cycle.

 

[Tala]

My Redstar laid a second egg in a day's time and it wasn't very brown, but not white either.

It's the one in the center:

She went back to laying regular brown eggs after that, no more "trouble" since then. I think it was a fluke kindof thing. The brown coating is the last to be put on the egg and I guess she laid it too quickly

 

[cook_kaka_ook]

It sounds strange RIR are brown egglayers. Can you attached pics to compare the color of the eggs like that of Tala's?

 

[JakRat]

Mine do that sometimes... not sure why but I just figured that it had something to do with their egg making... they seem fine tho! and also they arent machines so they will have variences in thier eggs right???

 

[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

 

[bluebirdjohnson]

Thanks for the link choidle, I came on here to find out why my brown eggs are starting to look more white/cream. I think they are just old. Most of my laying hens are over 2 years old. Thanks again.

 

[Six Goldies]

I too was looking for a reason why my brown eggs are now looking pale. My Goldies started laying Nov 1st, and the first layer had deep brown eggs, (unfortunatly we lost her to a dog attack the beginning of this month) 4 of 5 were laying by the end of Nov. . The other three are pretty consistent layers with one skipping a couple days each week over the last few weeks. You can see the difference in the two cartons. The bottom one, first row, the three eggs are more brown then the eggs in the top carton. ( I date my eggs (hence the numbers on the eggs) to keep track of how many eggs each day and so the older eggs get used first) I read the article from choidle, thanks for posting it. I was also thinking that our weather has gotten colder, but then they started laying during a cold snap last month. If it is due to stressors, we added three new pullets 3 weeks ago and split the coop with a gate to separate them. And the other stressor was they were not let out of their covered 16' run to free range for three weeks until we got the new extended run fenced.

I liked the darker brown eggs color wise however the egg itself has not changed so I guess we will just enjoy the pale eggs.

 

[karenboden]

I too was looking for a reason why my brown eggs are now looking pale. My Goldies started laying Nov 1st, and the first layer had deep brown eggs, (unfortunatly we lost her to a dog attack the beginning of this month) 4 of 5 were laying by the end of Nov. . The other three are pretty consistent layers with one skipping a couple days each week over the last few weeks. You can see the difference in the two cartons. The bottom one, first row, the three eggs are more brown then the eggs in the top carton. ( I date my eggs (hence the numbers on the eggs) to keep track of how many eggs each day and so the older eggs get used first) I read the article from choidle, thanks for posting it. I was also thinking that our weather has gotten colder, but then they started laying during a cold snap last month. If it is due to stressors, we added three new pullets 3 weeks ago and split the coop with a gate to separate them. And the other stressor was they were not let out of their covered 16' run to free range for three weeks until we got the new extended run fenced.

I liked the darker brown eggs color wise however the egg itself has not changed so I guess we will just enjoy the pale eggs.