Brown or white eggs? Where does the different color come from? In the vernacular, the rumor persists that the color of the eggshell is related to the color of the plumage. But that is wrong. White hens also lay brown eggs – and vice versa.
It is true that eggshell color is genetically determined. The color depends on the individual breed of chickens. Every chicken has a shell gland in the oviduct. There, pigments are produced from the red blood pigment hemoglobin. These red pigments are deposited together with yellow pigments of the bile pigment during the decomposition process on the calcareous shell of the hen’s egg. If the red and yellow color pigments mix, the result is the brown color of the shell.
Can you tell chickens which eggs they will lay?
In fact, there is a small spot on a chicken’s body that indicates the color of the eggshell. The so-called ear disc is hidden behind the earlobe. If it is white, the hen lays white eggs. A red earlobe, on the other hand, is a sign of brown eggs. This rule only applies to chickens descended from parents of the same breed. Otherwise the ear disc does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the color of the eggs.