This is the clutch of eggs we gathered today from our hens. Notice the color of the three eggs on top. They are ALL from my Black Aussie hens. No white egg layer here. Any reason we are getting white eggs?
This message was edited Apr 13, 2008 3:54 PM
Granny, I can't remember where I read it, but one of the reasons for bleaching out of eggs is nutritional deficiency and/or illness. The other reason of course is just prolonged laying and diet. Have these hens laid eggs before or is this their first year? Does it look like their eggs are lighter than they were previously? Are these pure white or "tinted"? Australorps don't always lay very brown eggs to begin with--"medium" or "light" depending on the source. A couple of other people have reported egg bleaching on this forum (which is why I noticed the explanation while I was reading)--did anyone find out what was happening with their own chickens--did the color ever return?
Catscan, this is their second year laying. Not all of them are bleaching out, and none is acting sick or otherwise not normal. It seems to be only one or two that are bleaching. It might be that they just want to be different. I really have no idea. We are giving them the proper amount of layer mash, but am going to change to crumble as they are, of course, wasting so much of the mash.
Actually, the eggs look tinted when they are wet, but white when they are dry. I am keeping them in the carton that we keep for ourselves as I don't want people saying I am passing store eggs off as farm eggs. They seem to think that no farm chickens lay white eggs.
Hopefully with good weather here (at least maybe) they should start laying the proper color.
GG
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keep in mind it couldalso be a genetic thing. a not completely pure BA could have some pigment genes that would lead it's egg color to eventaully naturally be lighter... i have a buckeye like that. she has very blonde/buff plumage on the front and look slike she has some buff Orp in her...
though i wouldn't use her in breeding stock, she appears to be laying regularly in her second year, so a keeper in my book! and i know you take good care of them. maybe she is lazy and doesn't like to forage LOL.
tf
I am thinking the same thing, TF. Like I said before, these Aussies aren't the size they should have been so I am thinking they are not pure Aussie. I am planning on getting some Buffs so am going to be diluting them anyway, so as long as she lays on a regular basis, she will not be going into the pot. Although when the young pullets get old enough to lay, I am going to replace some of my older hens with them, and seeing as I don't know which hen it is, we might be culling her then, anyway. Then next year we will be setting some again, and will have a mix then. (Hopefully).
Talked to our friend who works for TSC, and he said they will be getting the chicks in on Thursday or Friday. I am going to check with the vet supply who is sending an order to Townline to see if we need to get 25 chicks on her order. If I can get only the ones we want, I will send for them rather than go to TSC. But, we still have to go up to the town where TSC is, so told him to call us when the chicks get in. Am going to try to get them from him. I DON'T WANT TO WAIT TILL MAY 1st.
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well, i have to wait till April 30/May 1 for my next batch to hatch. and it is a SMALL batch, OEGs... LOL
you are welcome to some of my Aussie's hatching eggs, NEXT YEAR. Of course, they are half Black Giant...
A perfectly good thing to be:0)
sorry to be such and egg hog, LOL.
Let's wait until we find out what happens with the Buffs I am planning on getting. I also am planning on getting another RIR rooster to help the Aussie rooster I plan on keeping take care of the ladies. I think that will make DH happy about the size of the hens when they grow up.
And no, I don't want Aussie and Giant cross eggs. I remember when my father had the chickens when I was a kid. He got a mix of them and had a couple of JGs in the mix. They were almost as big as I was. They could actually walk up to the table and eat off of it. Of course they were tasty as we culled them when they were young. But, gosh, they were huge, to say the least.
I asked DH if he wanted a chicken that large and he said no, he didn't think so.
GG
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Granny, what do the inside of the eggs look like.. The yolk color? If it is paler than the rest then you know the hen that lays the lighter eggs is missing something in her diet.
now that is dwon rigth SCARY! mine aren't that big LOL
Nope, it's the same. Almost orange just like the others. I am leaning towards being heredity.
Judging from their size, and the various colors of their eggs, I am more and more thinking that these aren't pure Aussies. But that's not a bad thing. We are getting more eggs than we might get with other breeds, and we are satisfied with that.
What exactly is a buckeye?
MollyD
I don't know. Maybe it is a chicken from Ohio? After all they are buckeyes, I think.
GG ^_^
Buckeye:
American class, large fowl, dual purpose bird, accepted into APA Standard of Perfection 1904, developed by Ms Metcalf from Plymouth Rocks, Cochins, and Large Game birds. Lays a LG to XL light brown egg. Color is brownish red, that of a "Buckeye" bean or pea. The name came from when Ms. Metcalf showed her recently developed stock at the Ohio State Fair. Friendly personality, docile, great free-ranging, do poorly under confined situations. Known for going after mice like a cat would, and also for killing snakes. Make good mothers when allowed to go broody. Some plumage varies, with buff lacing and black tips acceptable. Roosters have a crow that some say resembles the cry of a dinosaur. A must-have for any heritage breed enthusiast.
that's just off the top of my head LOL.
here are some links with info:
http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/buckeye.html
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Buck/BRKBuckeye.html
[looks like they need some of my pictures!]
if you google them you will find people that have them LOVE them. that would include yours truly, in case you can't tell. i had 22 Buckeye hens, but only 7 left, and they have had a stressful life with to omuch confinement, but at 2 years of age i am getting three Buckeye eggs a day. we have hatched out three Buckeye chicks this year, and one "Buckhorn" cross from our prize winning SCBrownLeghorn. Last fall our muscovy duck hatched out a beautfiul Buckeye cockerel named Apricot. So by next year we hope to be back in the Organic Egg & Free Range Chicken business. As soon as we recover from lawyer feed ;-)
thanks for asking Molly! I love to get on my Buckeye soapbox! 7/8 of my ancestors came through Ohio at some point during their immigration, so i feel very connected to the state...
tf
this is Apricot & his first visit to the henhouse brooder. he is huge now. and carries the black tips his mother Apple has. her chicks always come out a bright yellow like she was. my son insists on naming all his pets after food...
LOL thanks TF. Glad to help promote your favorite breed!
MollyD
i have trouble with brief answers. in court i had to focus on "the sky is blue" theory so as to only answer what i was asked LOL
Rose Combed Brown Leghorns are also my favorite, as are now the Jersey Giants, Cochins, OEG, and many bantams i recently acquired.
how can anyone have one favorite ^_^
tf
LOL I have that problem with plants! People ask my favorite and I just don't have one favorite.
Molly
It's funny about the "white" egg. Technically, it's "tinted", not white. But, my red stars started doing that about a month ago, and then quit laying for about 2 weeks. They have started up again with light brown eggs, their normal color. I think the more eggs they lay, the lighter the color gets until they moult.
Well, she started laying light brown eggs again, so I don't know what happened. Maybe PMS? There were a couple who laid "tinted" eggs, but these were pure white. So even if they were technically "tinted" they were white in my book. And, we kept those as our customers are looking for brown eggs. We all know that the color of the eggs doesn't have anything to do with the taste, but people insist that they can taste the difference. Go figure.
GG
people have even dared to believe that certain colored eggs are healthier. i am quick to straighten out the facts for them LOL
It is funny how people think colored eggs are better. I am thinking it was more of an "anti-establishment" thing, meaning most "egg farms" had white eggs, so you knew you were getting "free range" if they were brown. That certainly isn't true any more!
I actually am raising up some Blue Andalusians now to see what their white eggs are like. I love the birds so far, but might have a heck of a time selling the eggs. ha ha! I guess they will be pets then and we will be eating a LOT of white eggs...Ohhhh......
Now, if you were to tell me that the yolk color has a different taste, I would agree with you. But, have you ever tried those "eggland's best" eggs? From what I heard, they are the most tasteless eggs you can eat.
If you need to eat egg whites, then eat egg whites. Don't pass them off as being healthy eggs. I have never eaten one, but have used "eggbeaters" in the past. I guess some people can eat them, but not me....LOL
GG
I tried the "Egglands Best" when I was visiting my Dad. Thought they might be better for him--but they were tasteless and the white was incredibly runny--almost watery. What gives? I was reading that feeding powdered kelp increases the omega 3's. Somebody has put in for a patent on a method of producing low cholesterol, high omega 3 eggs. I hate it when something as fundamental as feeding is patented.
Just another commercial brand of eggs being marketed to justify a high price!
MollyD
i agree!
Yep, especially when "Eggland's Best" now come in "organic brown". And of course they get top dollar for them. And, I wonder how organic they are.
even free range labels aren't what they sound...
I know. Ours are partly free range, but mostly they stay in their coop which is 40ft by 100ft. When we let them out of an evening, they only stay out for about 30 minutes and then go back into the coop on their own. Except for three of them who are determined to dust in my garden where I have plants heeled in in pots for the plant sale at our local library. I am going to have to move the pots to another spot so they can dust themselves there.
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according to USDA Organic standards, animals only need "access" to land or grass, even pavement. they don't necessarily EVER set foot on it...
i think 40x100 is plenty of fresh air, sunshine, dirt baths, the wind in their feathers, and negative ions under their feet...
Well, phooey to the USDA standards. What I consider "free range" are when we let them out in the evening to run all over, into the woods, in the garden, around the yard, and so on, and so on. As for "organic" that might be that they don't have any hormones fed to them. I can't say that because we do use commercial layer mash. I am changing to crumble as I think they won't waste so much of it. There still might be hormones or chemicals in the feed. But never the less, they are as much free range as I can get them without keeping them outside all the time. I am thinking of closing the access gate to the upper half of the pen so some grass (weeds) can grow up there. If we do, when we open it in a few weeks, they will eat all of the green stuff in a day.
I read somewhere where a guy took an old window and set it on some bricks or perhaps some wood pieces in a sunny area in his pen and planted grass seed under it. In two weeks, he had grass enough to give them a green treat. He set the mini greenhouse over a ways and did the same thing over and over for quite a while. I might try that in the next few days. If I can find the old storm windows and they aren't broken. I have grass seed from when I grew it for the kitties, so I might as well use it.
GG
No chickens, organic or not, can be fed hormones according to USDA standards. We used to raise organic chickens and sell eggs. It was a pain to keep up with standards, but I think that many of the standards should be practiced by all in general (no harsh chemicals, access to outdoors, no treated wood, no debeaking, non-medicated feeds, etc.). It just makes their lives and ours better :)
so, GG, has your hen been taling to my hens? i now have a Buckeye who used to lay creamy light brown eggs putting speckles all over them. and a Black AUstralorp who used to lay med brown eggs with flecks on top now lays almost white with flecks still on top???
is this a revolt???
tf
She must be. By telecommunications. Weird. Mine has started laying "tinted" eggs. Reminds me of when I had EEs. We had one who laid a pretty pinkish white egg. That's the color of the eggs we're getting now. So, who knows.
GG ♦^_^♦
