Eggs with white shells or brown shells?

Waitrose sell white eggs and they are much cheaper than the brown, although they seem to be smaller. I saw a programme on television where an egg supplier said that the British Public preferred brown eggs and that he had a hard time selling his white eggs, but was trying to get the message across that there is no difference. I think they have to feed the hens something specific to get brown eggs, but I'm not sure of that. Maybe it's something to do with the breed.

We had a lot of chickens when I was young, had to collect all the eggs in a bucket, white & brown, fell over with a whole bucket full once and got really told off. Think this is yet another supply & demand thing and probably stems from some so called expert implying brown eggs were better and it snowballed from there.

The eggs I bought this year were brown white and very pale green.

I buy them no matter what the colour is but I haven't seen white eggs in ages.

It is the breed of chicken which determines the colour of the eggs. Colour (color! it is from the US ) chart here www.backyardchickens.com/articles/egg-color-chart-find-out-what-egg-color-your-breed-lays.48143/

I’m starting to order eggs and fresh orange juice in a glass bottle with our milk delivery I’ll need to wait and see what colour the eggs come in

Listened to this on Radio 2 about this the other day.

Brown chickens (lay brown eggs) are more docile. White chicken not so. Can be vicious. No difference in the nutrition or taste.

So, it baffles me as to why people, in general, prefer brown eggs.

There was a farmer on the programme that sold all his white eggs to a company that produce 'egg liquid'. This went off to another company that used it in the M+S products they made.

My last 12 eggs from local lady in the village were a range of browns and there was one white one. They were slight variations on the normal egg shape too,

I heard recently that chicken laying brown eggs have their beaks clipped, but the white egg layers don’t. I f that is true I would prefer to buy white which is less cruel. Can anyone tell me if that’s right?

My sister in law keeps chickens who live the life of Reilly and the eggs are big, small, white, brown or greenish - dependant upon which breed laid them.

Sometime ago on Countryfile they were promoting the benefits of white eggs, the main benefit being they are smaller eggs therefore kinder to the hen that’s laying them.

silverlinng That sounds like fake news to me. In the photographs of eggs in my link above, the eggs are all different sizes, regardless of colour.

Beak clipping is done where poultry kept in crowded conditions are likely to get bored and aggressive and start pecking at each other's feathers (or their own) and even get into cannibalism. Hens who are busy searching the undergrowth for insects and seeds don't have time to spare for pecking each other.

I had not noticed the colour of eggs, just checked all are brown.

Why would there be a preference of colour?

Should have said 'this week' not 'this year' in post above.

I just bought my eggs from our local baker when buying(dare I admit it) an extra loaf. I needed eggs, DH usually gets them from the farm shop with the chickens in the yard, but these mixed colour eggs looked so pretty in the box.

Some of Waitrose's eggs have white shells, I seem to remember they were white when I was young. When we've been to the US there were always a propensity of white shelled eggs in Publix. Personally I have a preference for brown shells, somehow they are more pleasing to look at but doubt whether the makeup of the egg inside varies.

the size of eggs goes up as the hen gets older. When a pullet starts to lay her eggs are smaller than her older sisters, as she gets older they get bigger. Commercial hens are replaced as they reach 18 months, many people are rescuing them so they have a chance to live out their days in a happy place, some of the poor chickens are oven-ready, their feathers have been pecked out because hens need space and they are crammed in unacceptably. Some don't survive sadly but those that do often have a happy few years, and continue to lay eggs. Colour depends on breed. My little bantams lay creamy coloured eggs. Sometimes with brown freckles on. They are all different colour hens, all the same breed, some are black, some brown, buff,some golden, some lavender. popular IIRC because people thought they were better for you. Well TBH the shell colour is irrelevant, yes, look at their ears and their ears are the colour of their eggs generally. Some breeds lay green eggs some blue. All the same colour inside. I have different colour hens just because they are pretty. Hens spend hours every day pecking, they peck at little insects, at food, at plants, it's a natural behaviour and idf they can't peck for food they peck each other. Support your local chicken keeper and knnow that you are supporting happy hens whatever colour eggs they lay if you can! Or consider whether you could keep a few yourself, they are so soothing to watch as they scratch and peck, and cluck happily away to themselves

silverlining, I think the issue of beak chopping is in those huge indoor hen houses. The hens get stressed so are more likely to peck each other so beaks are removed.
That's one of the reasons I only buy free range from reliable sources, where the hens are outside all day. I had 3 garden hens for some years, fabulous creatures with individual personalities. They wrecked the garden in minutes if they got out of the pen and they bullied the dogs.

Thanks elegran and iam, i saw this on tv recently, either countryfile or another such programme, must have misheard.

Yes, Waitrose; they are just the same as brown eggs.

Does anyone remember when Delia started cookery from scratch and used white eggs when showing viewers how to boil an egg?
They was a rush to buy white eggs.

I only buy free range eggs, usually from the farm.
oodles we used to get bantam eggs from my auntie who had a farm; it was my job to collect the eggs when I went there.

For some years I have struggled to buy white eggs at Easter so I can colour them with the grandchildren. My mother used to dye them with onion skins wrapped round leaves to make a pretty pattern. Ill be glad if white ones come back but don’t think I’ll be seeing the grandchildren this year - they are staying away for obvious reasons although they were going to come! ?

I always understood brown chickens lay brown eggs and white chickens white eggs. However, the yolk of a brown egg is much more yellow and the yolk of a white egg is very pale. That is why people prefer brown eggs. The pale yolk doesn't look so good.

DD has some black chickens, not sure what colour their eggs are as they are all in together when not roaming around wrecking the garden.

hens, sorry, hens!!

I read an article this week that said brown eggs became more popular when brown bread was being promoted. People assumed that if brown bread was better for you, it must be the same for brown eggs. In fact, there’s no nutritional difference.

My daughter brought the issue of beak-trimming to my attention and the only way to guarantee 100% that the hens don’t undergo that is to buy organic eggs, so that’s what I buy now.