what is the deal with white eggs?

[EricaNernie]

i buy them from waitrose, purely for a novelty value
i did half catch a jeremy vine radio discussion about them but didnt learn much.

is it just waitrose? or are they making a come back
i know in some respect they are aesthetically pleasing > but didnt they go out of fashion in the 70s?

Plenty of rescue hens go on to have very happy lives, I have them myself and would in the future only get more of the same.

Bedraggled things they were when they arrived, but now they are all fit and healthy laying each day, and not one has had her beak clipped.

Find them very inquisitive and friendly hybrids, they all lay brown eggs, some a little darker than others, as up thread it was mentioned the earlobes indicate the colour of eggs to be laid by these little dinosaurs!

Double yolks happen to juvenile hens in spring, as they’re settling into the egg laying process.
That’s what my egg lady told me when i congratulated her on so many double yolks the week before.

I now want to keep rescue hens , I have hen ,

We keep hens and sell eggs at the garden gate. Over the years we've had lots of different breeds of hens, laying brown, white, blue and very dark brown eggs. We put boxes of mixed colours out, and have found over the years that people always leave buying the boxes with the white and blue eggs in till last. Each year a few birds die and we replace them with young birds and due to people not liking the white and blue eggs as much as the brown ones, we've stuck only to breeds that lay brown eggs. We have some Marans, and people go mad for their eggs. Their shells are tougher and they are massive eggs. What's inside the egg though is all the same, whatever the shell colour.

Chickens have ears?!

LaChatte, tiny tiny ones, their hearing is excellent, I was pestered last night as one of mine could hear a rustle in my pocket and thought it was a treat for them!

Huh, never knew that, obviously makes sense because they can hear, I did actually Google it after making that comment.

Like others on the thread, my usual brown Tesco free range eggs were white circa couple of weeks. Tasted the same, but the shells seemed much more fragile.

backinthebox, years ago I had some French Marans, their eggs were the most gorgeous colour, taste no different though, they were not the friendliest hens I have had.

I did see Maran eggs for sale in Waitrose a long time ago, you paid a huge premium for them

If anyone is seriously interested in rescue hens it's this organisation: www.bhwt.org.uk/

I had 3 hens from there a year ago. Nearly bald when I got them but the feathers grew back eventually. Only one left now but she's still laying! She's a feisty little thing!

The brown hens have their beaks clipped to stop them peckin each other, white hens are much more placid

That's why I always crack eggs into a cup first ChasingSquirrels!

I've noticed the white-shelled eggs recently too. They definitely crack more easily.

@Thesuzle sweeping generalisations there. There are many different breeds of white chicken. I don't snip the Beaks of any of mine and previous posters have said their ex bats haven't had snipped beaks.

None of my rescue hens have had their beaks clipped at all.

Just before lockdown I applied to the BHWT for 5 more all going well but as soon as lockdown started they could not do the drop offs so will have to wait.

My father used to raise hens for distribution to farmers' wives. He used to deliver them in his van. The breed of hen was Honegger and they laid white eggs. This was in the 1960s.

My mum kept chickens when we were growing up, we'd get a mix. She also kept bantums and as youngest I'd get the diddy eggs which were a treat. They all taste the same.