by Texas Homesteader ~
The most common colors of chicken eggs sold in the stores are white or brown. They taste the same and have the same nutritional content. But white or brown – how do I know what color eggs my Ideal 236 chickens will lay? Well read on for the surprising answer!
Buying Chicks
We decided one year it was time to get our feet wet raising chickens. We’d never raised chickens before so we bought our Ideal 236 chickens as day-old chicks in the spring. One was a banded female but we were just hoping the other two were female.
Another chicken-shopper at the feed store told us that although not 100% accurate, she’d heard you could test the gender by holding the chick upside down. If they struggled with their legs to upright themselves they had a higher probability of being a rooster. But if they were relatively still they had a higher probability of being a hen.
Aaaahhhh folklore.
But using their advice, whether or not an old wives tale, we picked up three of the cute fuzzy yellow chicks we hoped were female.
Laying Eggs @ 21 Weeks
As they grew and their feathers came in, the chicks gradually turned from fuzzy yellow to white. We had seen no indication that any of the Ideals were roosters so we were hopeful that they were all hens.
Then at 21 weeks they finally started to lay eggs. WOO-HOO – 3 females!! I wonder if that old wive’s tale of determining gender as chicks was true?
Newly-laying hens start out slow with tiny eggs laid in a sporadic timeframe. But finally, one by one they started laying those beautiful eggs we had been waiting for!
They apparently enjoy sharing a nesting box since for about a week we picked up 1-2 brown eggs per day out of the same nesting box. Awwww… they’re sharing. LOL.
Then came the day when we found two nesting boxes were being used & there was a white egg in the newly-used box. Hummm…. They’re the same breed of chicken but two were laying brown eggs and one white. Is that normal?
How Do You Know What Color Egg They Lay?
I just couldn’t figure it out. How do I know which hen is laying that white egg?
So I sent out a question to our Facebook Page followers. We were pretty new at raising chickens and I knew some of the veteran chicken raisers following us on FB would know the answer.
Then it happened. One reader came back with the question “what color are their lobes”?
I had read that the color of their ear lobes would show what color their eggs would be. But like so much that you read online sometimes I wondered if this too was just a wives tale, unproven theory or just plain made up.
Besides I’d never even considered a chicken as having ear lobes before!
So curious I went out to look. And sure enough, two of the girls have red lobes and one has white lobes.
So at last we know who is laying the white egg. Guess it’s not an old wives tale after all!
I imagine this isn’t true 100% of the time. I mean, what about Easter Egger chickens & such that lay neither white nor brown but any number of colors of eggs?
I’ve heard other chicken raisers say such things as: “Chickens that lay green eggs usually have subtle hints of green on their legs”
But I know with mine, the ear lobe color certainly proved true to find out who was laying which colored eggs. And it solved the hen-house mystery for me.
~TxH~
Chicken-Care Posts
- How To Teach Free-Range Chickens To Come HOME
- Keeping Chickens Safe From Predators: Automatic Coop Door
- Breaking The Broody Hen
- What Color Eggs Will My Chickens Lay?
- MYO Low-Waste Chicken Feeder
- Repurposed Coffee Can Chicken Feeder
- Keeping Wild Birds Away From Your Chicken Feeder
- Nutritional Difference Of Free-Range Eggs
- How To Protect Seedlings From Free-Range Hens
- Keeping Our Chickens Mite Free
- How To Get Free Chicken Food
All Posts About Chickens
C’mon by & sit a spell! Come hang out at our Facebook Page. It’s like sitting in a front porch rocker with a glass of cold iced tea – lots of good folks sharing! You can also follow along on Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram.
If you’d like to receive an email each time a new blog post goes live it’s EASY to
Subscribe to our blog!
That’s why I plan on dying my chickens Pink! I love PINK!
Well, I don’t have chickens AND of course I’m joking but so glad you did the research for when I finally do get my nice bushels of joy!
How neat! My silkies had blue ear lobes and laid off-white eggs.
I have one chicken that lays white eggs and I could never figure out which one it was. I was so surprised by the ear lobe thing I had to run out to the barn and look at all the chickens lobes…sure enough I had one chicken with white lobes. Amazing:)
I never knew this! Thanks for sharing, learn something new everyday!
That’s fascinating! I’ve been wanting to add chickens to our garden for a while but haven’t yet. I’d love free organic eggs, and some little fluffy friends to turn the veggie garden
So cool! Of course, chickens can hear, but I never thought of chickens having ear lobes. I love reading your homesteading posts; I learn so many new things.
What an interesting post! Your practical and helpful blog is wonderful to me…still thinking about getting a sun oven!
I am getting over a terrible food poisoning; always glad when you share at DRAH 🙂
Yep! It’s true! Easter Eggers and Ameracaunas also have red ear lobes and may lay a variety of different colored eggs….so the red ear lobes can indicate brown or ‘Easter Egg’ colors.