What’s the obsession over egg shell color?

[EmmaRainboe]

Yes! If they had an Australorp parent. I started with pinkish-brown egg laying Australorps from Dare-To-Dream Farms in SoCal in 2015. I added the blue egg gene into the flock with an EE cockerel and EE hens.

*The daughters that produced the most biggest green eggs had an Australorp parent and an EE parent.*

My understanding of the genetics:

Blue eggs=blue layer + blue layer.
Green eggs=blue layer+brown layer.
Maybe someone can post a chart if you want.
Hope that helps

 

[JCaseyHammond]

I am in the middle of town so no roosters allowed.

I do have a drake to help make baby duckies though.

Excellent on the drake! I love the fact that Muscovies are quieter than roosters.

If I didn’t have a place to stash my boys, I’d find someone in driving distance who has a EE or Ameraucana rooster and bring the hens there for a week or two “vacation”

 

[JCaseyHammond]

View attachment 2465224

Thanks Emma, that’s the chart! Although, I’m not lucky getting dark blue layers

 

[MykaMom]

I read somewhere that back in the day, grocers carried brown eggs. White egg layers were the exception and not the rule, so they became more highly desired by consumers.

Brown laying hens thus fell out of fashion and it's why so many species became endangered.

Fast forward 120 years and the pendulum has swung back the other way.

 

[tripletfeb]

My nephew is a picky eater and when he was little, he had failure to thrive. But anytime his mom made him green eggs and ham, he would eat it with gusto! He enjoyed the green eggs my EEs laid. Whatever works to make some kids eat

 

[MykaMom]

There's an older thread here dated to 2009 that addresses this question. Sorry, don't know how to repost someone else's thread. I did a search on 'white eggs vs brown' and it comes up.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

There's an older thread here dated to 2009 that addresses this question. Sorry, don't know how to repost someone else's thread. I did a search on 'white eggs vs brown' and it comes up.

This one? https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/white-vs-brown-eggs.395872/

 

[Fallenone05]

That is what I figure. It has to be something in their feed.

Whatever it is it is very unpleasant to be in extreme pain from eating a stupid egg.

I understand your pain! I have a reaction to salmon and some seasoning they use in McCormick that causes anaphylaxis. Food allergies are the *worst*

As for answering OPs question - I breed birds for their egg color and for their feathering. I've got easter egger and Wyandotte crosses - their eggs are greenish, and one is greyish. I *love* finding out what color they're going to lay when they're of age - I think that's the whole reason why I mixed my girls genes up. The egg color is fun to find and look at, but the surprise of them laying is my favorite part.

 

[MykaMom]

This one? https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/white-vs-brown-eggs.395872/

No. Let me see if I can find it again, maybe copy the link.

 

[MykaMom]

I copied the post, couldn't figure out how to copy the link.


[IMG alt="digitS'"]https://www.backyardchickens.com/data/avatars/m/5/5261.jpg?1494368177[/IMG]
digitS'
Songster
12 Years
In the early part of the 20th century, US egg production began to shift from brown-egg layers to white. By mid-century, consumer preference was strongly on the side of white, white, white.

Selective breeding has gone both ways with more efficient layers developed for either color. But, greater emphasis was placed on white egg shells.

We seem to now be in something of a change with an idea growing in the consumer's mind that brown eggs are more wholesome or fresh. The commercial flocks of brown-egg layers must be growing to meet that increasing interest.

It is interesting to see how breeds and hybrids have waxed and waned in their popularity. A lot of that has been a result of nothing more than the color of their egg shell.

I'm personally on a campaign for the creamegg shell layers

.

Steve