My barred rock hens were laying brown eggs. Just before Easter they started laying white eggs and have been ever since. WHY? I asked everyone I know who has kept chickens and noone has ever heard of this.

-- Sherry Cookson (ladybug_picnic_12@yahoo.com), April 23, 2001

Answers

Could be a dietary imbalance. All eggs are white until just before being laid when the outer color is applied. Take a brown egg just laid (within minutes or less) and you can rub the wet "paint" right off and end up with a white egg. Perhaps the hens are not getting the right minerals in their feed to be able to produce the right pigments. What are you feeding?

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), April 24, 2001.

If the hens are over a year old, the color of the egg will begin to fade naturally

-- Catharine D Hancock (cathysposter@aol.com), April 27, 2001.