Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The color eggs your hen lays depends on her breed
. To quickly determine what color
egg a hen will lay, check out the color of her earlobes:
•
White earlobes mean white eggs.
•
Red earlobes mean brown eggs.
Eggshell color doesn't affect the nutritional value of the egg
in any way, but most
people are willing to pay more for a brown egg than a white egg so I recommend choosing
a brown-egg-laying variety if you plan to sell any eggs. (You
will
want to sell some eggs
during peak egg-laying seasons.)
Green and blue eggs are laid by Ameraucana chickens and a few other varieties. Adding
an Ameraucana to your flock can sometimes be a good idea when selling eggs for the nov-
elty effect, but the breed isn't a good choice for the majority of your working flock since
the hens don't lay that many eggs.
Although eggshell color doesn't affect the nutritional value of eggs, other factors do. An
ongoing study by
Mother Earth News
shows that
eggs from hens raised on grass not only
develop beautiful yellow yolks but are much better for you nutritionally.
Eggs from pastured poultry have been found to have as much as...
•
4 to 6 times as much vitamin D
•
1/3 less cholesterol
•
1/4 less saturated fat
•
2/3 more vitamin A
•
2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
•
3 times more vitamin E
•
7 times more beta carotene
...compared to supermarket eggs from hens raised in isolation.
Read more at www.motherearthnews.com/eggs.aspx.
