Eggs with Brown Shells

[Embrace]

I must say..... this is an egg-ceptional thread! :D

[GUT2407]

It is truly an egg-sample to be followed.

[jveevers]

Good Yolk

 

My brain is Scrambling for more

 

I'm egghausted

[GUT2407]

I find the whole thing very egg citing

 

Yes I poached that one.

[Kitekat]

Here in the UK we have a breed of hens called Legbar. Cream legbars produce eggs which are blue/green in colour. They still taste the same.

[TenerifeSharon]

brown shelled eggs are only for yolks

white shelled yolks for other blokes

 

whites from brown shells

should not be seen

even if served by

paula dean

 

cruise critic's miched is really serious

though some believe him quite delirious

but miched knows how eggs should be

so listen up, celebrity

 

 

 

EGG-tastic!! (since the discussion is about eggs, and not fans!) ROFLMAO!!

Edited November 9, 2014 by TenerifeSharon

[TenerifeSharon]

Keep it up....I love the yokes

Having had to cancel a 2 wk cruise last week that was leaving tomorrow, I need some humour

 

We're in the same situation -- except ours was a TA that left on Wednesday.:( Any humor right about now is very welcome!

[Blue Elephant]

The colour of the egg shells is determined by the breed of chook. In Australia, the most common breed of chook kept in back yards is called the ISA Brown and they lay brown eggs. Plymouth Rocks lay white eggs. And if you want blue or green eggs, you need to find yourself an Aracuana, which is a South American breed.

[iamkingofall]

Bawk Bawk Bawk

[Presto2]

Didn't I read somewhere they were updating "The Lawn" to a chicken coop for those who are willing to pay a surcharge for farm fresh eggs?

 

This made me laugh out loud.

 

I imagine they'll want to charge though for anyone who wants to visit the coop and feed the chickens. ;)

[Presto2]

What I'd like to know is if they have brown cows on board so I can get chocolate milk.;)

 

I like a nice milk shake - not sure what they'd have to do to the cows though. :eek:

[holula]

Nope! That is incorrect. It's the color of the hen that laid it. White hens = white eggs. Brown hens = brown eggs. Feed has nothing to do with the color. Do an internet search and you will see it has nothing to do with the feed.

 

 

It has nothing to do with the hen color either.

 

Underneath everything, a hen either has the genetics to lay blue eggs or white eggs. They then apply a certain amount of coating to the eggs, which is why you can also get brown, green, olive and chocolate colored eggs. The darker the egg the thicker the shell will be. More breeds lay brown eggs than white eggs, simply because most hens will apply at least a small amount of coating to the eggs. The most popular white egg layers are White Leghorns and the most popular brown layers are Production Reds or Rhode Island Reds (not the same). There are only a handful of chickens that lay blue eggs - Ameraucanas and Araucanas are the two main breeds. Green eggs are usually a crossbreed between a brown and blue egg layer. Marans lay a dark chocolate brown egg, and if you cross a Maran with a blue or green egg layer you will get offspring who lay olive colored eggs.

 

The feed can affect the color of the yolk inside. Chickens who free range and have more access to plants, bugs etc tend to have a darker yolk in their eggs than your normal caged chicken eggs.

 

My husband breeds chickens so I am well versed in genetics!

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Rob the Cruiser]

I think we had better walk around this thread on egg shells in case we offend someone. Brown shells for left foot and white shell for right foot

 

Would such attire be acceptable on formal nights?

 

:D

[dkjretired]

It has nothing to do with the hen color either.

 

Underneath everything, a hen either has the genetics to lay blue eggs or white eggs. They then apply a certain amount of coating to the eggs, which is why you can also get brown, green, olive and chocolate colored eggs. The darker the egg the thicker the shell will be. More breeds lay brown eggs than white eggs, simply because most hens will apply at least a small amount of coating to the eggs. The most popular white egg layers are White Leghorns and the most popular brown layers are Production Reds or Rhode Island Reds (not the same). There are only a handful of chickens that lay blue eggs - Ameraucanas and Araucanas are the two main breeds. Green eggs are usually a crossbreed between a brown and blue egg layer. Marans lay a dark chocolate brown egg, and if you cross a Maran with a blue or green egg layer you will get offspring who lay olive colored eggs.

 

The feed can affect the color of the yolk inside. Chickens who free range and have more access to plants, bugs etc tend to have a darker yolk in their eggs than your normal caged chicken eggs.

 

My husband breeds chickens so I am well versed in genetics!

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

So what you are saying is that if you have the right type of hens, you don't need to color Easter eggs.

[Wolfie469]

 

I like the yokes from eggs with brown shells and whites from eggs with white egg shells, pyschological hang up that just makes sense to me.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

I like yokes made from wood. More sturdy.

[ducklite]

I have a hard enough time explaining that I want my omelette to be egg whites, but then add in one whole egg. And that isn't such a difficult concept. :). I have gotten the whole egg cooked separately, the whole egg as an uncooked egg still in the shell, and two omelettes, one with whites only and one made out of a single whole egg. :eek:

[SC_Floaters]

Interesting Facts About Chicken Eggs

 

Hens and eggs

 

•Female chickens are called pullets for their first year or until they begin to lay eggs. For most breeds, around 20 weeks is a typical age for the first egg.

•Some breeds lay eggs daily, some every other day, some once or twice a week.

•Some individual hens never lay eggs, due to narrow pelvises or other anomalies.

•Normal laying routines can be interrupted by molting, winter daylight shortage, temperature extremes, illness, poor nutrition, stress, or lack of fresh water. Hens usually return to normal laying habits when the disruption-causing factor ends or is corrected.

•Most hens are productive layers for two years before declining in production, but some continue to lay eggs for several years.

•Hens will lay eggs whether or not they’ve ever seen a rooster. Roosters are necessary only for fertilization of eggs.

 

Egg development and laying process

 

•A female chick is born with thousands of tiny ova, which are undeveloped yolks. Once she reaches maturity, an ovum will be released into a canal called the oviduct and begin its journey of development.

•At any given time a productive hen will have eggs of several stages within her reproductive system. The eggs most recently discharged from the ovary are just tiny yolks, and the eggs farther down the oviduct are progressively larger and more developed.

•From the time an ovum leaves the ovary, it takes approximately 25 hours for the egg to reach the vent for laying. During that time period, the yolk will grow larger while being surrounded by albumen (egg white), wrapped in a membrane, and encased in a shell. Pigment is deposited on the shell as the last step of the egg production process.

•If sperm is present, the yolk will be fertilized before the albumen is deposited.

•As a chick embryo develops in a fertilized egg, the yolk provides nourishment and the albumen cushions the embryo.

•Although a hen has only one exterior opening (the cloaca or vent) for egg laying and elimination, eggs are not contaminated during the laying process. Two separate channels, the oviduct and the large intestine, open into the cloaca. As the egg nears the end of the oviduct, the intestinal opening is temporarily blocked off. The egg passes through the cloaca without contact with waste matter.

•The typical interval between eggs laid is about 25 hours, so a hen that lays an egg every day will lay a bit later each day.

•Hens don’t usually lay eggs in the dark, so once a hen’s laying cycle reaches dusk time, she will usually not lay till the following morning.

•Eggshell production drains calcium from the hen’s body. The comb, wattles, legs, and ear lobes will fade as the calcium leaches out. Calcium must be replenished through either feed containing calcium, supplements such as oyster shell, or high amounts of calcium in the soil of birds with outdoor access.

 

Egg variations

 

•Young pullets often lay malformed eggs before getting established in a normal laying routine. Older hens may occasionally lay abnormal eggs due to age, stress, or illness.

•Pullet eggs--the first ones produced by each pullet--are smaller than the eggs that the same hen will produce as an older hen.

•“Fart egg” and “oops egg” are terms for tiny eggs that quickly pass through the oviduct without reaching full size.

•Shell-less eggs are released before they have time to develop a shell. They may have membrane holding them together or just be loose yolk and white.

•Double eggs or “egg in an egg” are created when an egg with a shell is encased by the next egg in the oviduct and a shell is produced over the outer egg as well.

•Double yolkers may have a normal amount of egg white with two or more yolks. In the shell, the egg may be unusually large.

•Yolkless eggs, also called no-yolkers, dwarf eggs or wind eggs, consist of egg white alone.

•Occasionally an egg will come out with a wrinkly, misshapen, rough, bumpy, or unusually colored shell.

•Egg size is dependent on breed, age, and weight of the hen. Larger chicken breeds tend to lay larger eggs; banty breeds lay small eggs. Older hens tend to lay larger eggs than younger hens.

•The shell color is a breed characteristic. Most chicken breeds lay light-to-medium brown eggs. A few breeds lay white, dark brown, green, blue, or cream colored eggs.

•Shell color is only “skin deep”-- the eggs inside are the same as eggs of other colors.

•The shell color intensity of eggs laid by one hen can vary from time to time, with an occasional darker or lighter eggshell.

•While most eggs have a slight sheen to the shell, some breeds or individual hens tend to lay eggs with a chalkier texture.

 

Chicken-and-egg behavior

 

•Most hens will lay eggs in the same nest box as flockmates, so it’s not necessary to have a nest box for each hen.

•Some hens like to lay their eggs in private and others will join their sisters in the nest box. Often two or three hens will crowd into one box while another nest box remains empty.

•Sometimes a hen will sit on previously laid eggs and add her egg to the clutch. Another might prefer to sit in another area and deposit one egg by itself.

•Often a hen will sing “the egg song” before or after she lays an egg. Some will sing during the process of laying. It is a cheerful song that seems to be a proud announcement.

•Chickens learn by example, so a fake or real egg left in a designated nest box may encourage hens to lay there instead of on the floor or outdoors.

•Unconfined hens may lay eggs anywhere outdoors if they don’t want to return to the nest box. Sometimes a free-ranging hen will go missing and reappear weeks later with a parade of chicks.

•Chickens like to eat eggs, even their own. An egg that gets accidentally broken will likely be eaten by one of the chickens. If you occasionally find pieces of shell or egg yolk in the nest box, it’s usually nothing to be concerned about.

•Some chickens become habitual egg-eaters that break eggs open and eat them. An egg-eater should be culled from the flock if you wish to have eggs for the kitchen. Not only will that chicken continue to eat eggs, but others will learn from watching and you may end up with several egg-eaters.

•Holes in eggs and cracked eggs do not necessarily mean there is an egg-eater in the flock. A hen can accidentally crack an egg in the nest when she sits down or adjusts the nest to lay her own egg. Sometimes curiosity or boredom leads a chicken to peck at an egg without the intention of eating it.

•Chickens can be fed their own or other eggs either raw or cooked. Eggs provide protein and the calcium in the shell is beneficial for laying hens. A potato masher can be used to break boiled eggs into pieces of egg and shell.

•Empty eggshells from the kitchen can be fed back to chickens as a calcium supplement without concern for developing egg-eaters. However, to be safe, crushing the shells or running through a blender is a good idea.

 

In the kitchen

 

•A normal fresh egg has a yellow yolk, a layer of thick albumen (egg white) surrounding the yolk, and a thinner layer of albumen surrounding that.

•At opposite sides of the yolk are two chalazae, short white twisted strands of albumen that anchor the yolk to the white. A large chalaza does not indicate embryo development.

•Every egg yolk has a white disc called a blastoderm. It is usually visible but may be very pale. In an infertile egg, the blastoderm is solid white. In a fertile egg, the disc has a faint or distinct ring that makes it look like a donut or bulls-eye.

•Fertile eggs are completely edible. In fact, some people consider fertile eggs more nutritious than infertile eggs, but scientific research does not confirm this.

•Fresh fertile eggs collected daily will not have embryos in them. Embryos do not begin to develop unless the eggs are in a favorable warm environment under a broody hen or in an artificial incubator.

•The yolk of a chicken egg may be any shade from pale yellow to orange, depending on what the hen has eaten. The color is usually consistent if hens are fed only one type of feed, but foraging hens and those fed kitchen scraps will often produce a variety of yolk colors.

•The egg yolk or egg white may have red or brown specks in it. These “blood spots” and “meat spots” are harmless bits of tissue and are allowed in commercial Grade B eggs. If they look unappealing, the spots can be removed with a spoon or knife before cooking.

•An eggshell has a protective coating that prevents bacteria from entering the egg. To retain this coating, eggs should not be washed until just before use.

•Some eggs are soiled with blood from minor tissue damage or mud or feces from the nest box. This can be wiped off carefully; the shell should be thoroughly dried.

•If you aren’t sure how old an egg is, you can submerge it in water. The freshest eggs will remain at the bottom of the container, while old eggs will float. Floaters should either be discarded or opened far from your nose.

[miched]

Didn't I read somewhere they were updating "The Lawn" to a chicken coop for those who are willing to pay a surcharge for farm fresh eggs?

 

I am sure that they will be working for chicken feed, so they probably rely on tips.

 

Will we have to tip the chickens or will it be included in the prepaid gratuities?

 

Will they have to split their tips with the rooster?

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[iamkingofall]

" I am sure that they will be working for chicken feed, so they probably rely on tips. Will we have to tip the chickens or will it be included in the prepaid gratuities? Will they have to split their tips with the rooster? " Hats off to you

.There has been more said on this , ( some of it very interesting info ) than I can stand ,Yours still managed to make me laugh .;)

[Redtravel]

I grew up in Boston. Brown eggs were the norm.

I now live ion NJ. White eggs are the norm.

Taste the same. Brown eggs have thicker shells.

Why do you care?

[Nancyquilts]

All of us who enjoy this thread have absolutely too much time on their hands. But keep it up, I love it.:D

[Sloop-JohnB]

I am sure that they will be working for chicken feed, so they probably rely on tips.

 

Will we have to tip the chickens or will it be included in the prepaid gratuities?

 

Will they have to split their tips with the rooster?

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

Seriously ???

 

You expect us to "gobble" up this drivel ?

 

Daily Grats are high enough... I don't want to have to "comb" thru my spare change at the end of the cruise to add on more for a "few chicks" who went out of their way to be nice to me.

 

Sorry, but I think the idea of paying extra tips is a real turkey.

 

;)

 

Cheers!

[Presto2]

All of us who enjoy this thread have absolutely too much time on their hands. But keep it up, I love it.:D

 

A fabulous thread - love it. A much needed laugh on such a sombre day. :)

 

 

:)

[wwcruisers]

All of us who enjoy this thread have absolutely too much time on their hands. But keep it up, I love it.:D

 

But, it must be eggs-asperating to those with no sense of humor! :p

[CruisenLexie]

I appreciate my eggs much more now regardless of color.....