Brown and White eggs again....?

Question

I know, I know an egg is an egg and all that BUT I know brown are better, I just don't know why. Maybe because my grandfather's farm had chickens that laid brown eggs and every egg I saw up to the age of 13 or so was a BROWN egg.

OK this might account for it psychologically BUT WHY

are brown eggs more expensive than white eggs? And also are people sticking up for white eggs just so they can save a little money??

I know brown eggs are better because they cost more. White eggs probably come from scrawny chickens that don't eat good, expensive feed.

All this said and done, I still don't really know why they are better, so come on brown egg people let's hear some good solid reasons why we are right!!!

Please don't get bent out of shape over this, it is intended to be a little bit of fun and maybe someone will come up with something definitive.....thank you

Answer 1

Almost all eggs you find in the supermarket are white eggs from white leghorn chickens raised in cages.  Cage eggs have pale colored yokes and are inferior to free range chicken eggs.  Chances are that any brown eggs you find are from local flocks and raised free range.  The superiority of brown eggs that you are seeing is not due to the color of the egg itself but because of the way they were produced.  The white eggs produced free range would be as good as the brown ones.

Answer 2

It does make a difference in my opinion...Brown eggs are definitely better for baking an even frying....I'm not sure why though, we feed all our chickens the same kind of feed.

Answer 3

Egg colors are determined by genetics.  Brown chicken eggs is the original color, however, some hens were found to produce lighter eggs, and with time and breeding selection, white eggs became a reality.  During the 50's white bread (bleached flour) and white eggs, and "white" became the symbol for and was accepted as the determination of "purity".  It was not until the late 70's, that brown eggs were re-introduced into the market [widespread].  As far as the quality of the egg, it does not seem to be any difference.

Answer 4

There is no taste, food, nutricianal or psychic difference between white and brown eggs.    Birds which nest on the ground tend to have camoflaged eggs  like speckled and brown.   Nesters above the ground or hidden places, tend to have white eggs.    

They cost more because people who buy eggs are not all rocket scientists.

Answer 5

different breeds lay different colours, simple as.

maybe they charge more for brown eggs as the breeds that lay them are rarer.

i had 12 chickens, and only 3 of them layed brown eggs

Answer 6

OK this is the egg story:  Brown eggs are more expensive because the chickens that lay them are generally more costly to maintain.  The white egg layers are souped up hybrids that pop eggs out at the rate of one or more a day.  They don't require as much food to do it either.  Their mortality rate is high and they drop dead before they stop laying.  Then they go into soup (those tough little chunks in chicken noodle).  

That said;  it would be a no brainer to conclude that better eggs come from healthy chickens.

As far as who lays the healthiest eggs, the prize goes to the Amaraconna.  The chicken that lays colored eggs.  The blue and green and pink actually have less cholesterol.

Answer 7

OK the color of the egg is determined by the species of chicken. We typical eat one species of chicken. The species that are sold in supermarkets are usually one species, that grows fast, reaches maturity early and lays good eggs longer. Brown eggs are layed by a different species of chicken. They grow slower and have a smaller window for laying good eggs. That's why white eggs are cheaper because the process of producing them is less expansive.

The chickens raised by huge companies usually lay the white eggs, while the chickens that most Amish farm are the variety  that lay brown eggs. Now with the organic food craze people believe that Amish food is better so they buy brown eggs more. this allows people to charge more for the eggs all though the quality is the same.

Answer 8

Along with what everyone else has said, I think it depends on what area of the country you live in as far as white eggs being more common. Obviously chickens are raised in all states but where demand is more, white eggs are cheaper to produce for some farmers. Brown eggs are the normal for my area. A man down the road from us had 8000 chickens and gets about 7000 eggs a day, all brown, from Rhode Island Red chickens. He distributes them to the local restaurants and mom and pop stores. His price is based on whole sale price in the market bulletin for our state. We raise chickens ourselves and get both colors and I don't care what I eat. Fresh eggs all taste the same.

Answer 9

Brown eggs tend to be more expensive because they usually are from free-range chickens, who are fed organic feed and are kept free from hormones. It is more expensive to treat chickens well than it is to cram them into tiny cages and force layings night and day while they are sitting on the carcass of other chickens that didn't survive the extremely crammed and traumatic living quarters. Whhooo, that took some breath!

I was raised on a farm with chickens who laid brown eggs, also. I can't say whether they taste different or not, I'm not that much of an egg eater, but I can definitely say that our chickens were much happier than the ones that make the white store-bought eggs.

Wait, did I digress???

Answer 10

white eggs are generally mass produced, which lowers cost.  the chickens are specially bred to lay the max quantity of eggs per yr w/ artificial light w/in minimum space.  those chickens also go to market so profit is made from their meat as well as eggs.  who's to say if the chickens are happy or not...

brown eggs are generally more expensive because they are not mass produced on the enormous scale of  white eggs.  simply put:  supply & demand

the type of food eaten by the bird determines color of its egg yolk.  mass production demands all chickens eat the same product for max efficiency of yield & profit.  mass produced eggs always have pale yellow yolk.  

free ranging chickens eat grass, bugs, etc which makes the yolk a vibrant yellow - orange color & the egg shell color has nothing to do w/ yolk color or health issue.  i don't know if feed impacts nutritional value of eggs, but i like the think the birds are happier!!  blood in the egg indicates the egg is fertilized by chicken s*x --rooster w/ hens -- which i like to think makes the birds happier even tho usa people don't want to see blood in their eggs.

Answer 11

Well, I learned a lot more about eggs, thank you all. One thing , though, I did know, is that chickens are generally poorly treated at best, so when I buy eggs at the market i buy cage free, ranging eggs and happily pay more. They are always brown here in New England, as most eggs are. By far, though, I prefer the ones I get at the little corner house up the road. Until you have had a nice fresh egg (most of what you buy are very old when you get them) you haven't had an egg. Once you have tried a farm fresh egg, you'll wonder how it took so long to figure it out. Farmers and chicken folks know what I mean.

Answer 12

Well; you have plenty of stuff to read, good.

Brown eggs are "not Kosher" as per the Jewish standards, since almost 25% of the eggs have small blood clot in them. Although they are on the Israeli supermarket and sold very well! Lot of Israelies just don't bother about it!

Blood eating is allowed in rest of the world; so it is okay to say all eggs are same.

Answer 13

I think it's to do with the breed of chickens, some lay white eggs and some brown.

The place I buy my eggs gets them from a breed that lays blue eggs.  They are very pretty.

The flavour depends on the food and kind of rearing the chickens get

I vote for BLUE eggs from chickens fed on green stuffs and allowed to scratch about outside

Answer 14

There is no difference.

it is just a manner for the farmer to make more money

Answer 15

the only difference between brown eggs and regular white eggs is the breed of chicken that layed them.

psychologically, i think people prefer brown eggs because they're more "earthy".  they appear to be organic and we've all had the "organic is better" pounded into our heads.  they also have give that fresh from the farm  feeling.

personally, brown eggs bring me back to my childhood, therefore my like of them.  we had chickens and most of them layed brown eggs.  i have fond memories of helping my grandparents collect eggs.  yeah it sounds dorky but i thought i was really being a big girl and helping.  

whatever the reason,  those brown eggs rule!

Answer 16

As you've been told many times already, brown eggs come from a different breed of hen than white eggs. They are usually larger, slower to mature, and often considered 'dual purpose' breeds, meaning they're good layers and also good eating. :-) I raised a farm flock for many years, consisting mostly of varied bantams (small chickens) as well as Buff Orpingtons and Barred Rocks. Most of the eggs I got were brown, a few white and a few of the greenish or bluish eggs. They all tasted the same since the hens got corn, wheat, oats, screenings, scraps, and anything else they could scrounge up. (including raiding the dog and cat food!) They'd also raid my garden and would jump up and peck at the apples on my dwarf trees. The corn makes for a nice yellow/golden yolk and the freshness makes that same yolk firm and not as apt to break when you want one over easy!

So in the end, there probably is no difference between the store-bought white egg and the brown egg from down the road except the brown one is probably much fresher and the hen was fed a different diet. I personally though, like the looks of brown eggs, too! Except for coloring at Easter!

PS Whoever made the comment about blood spots being in the brown eggs - they will be in white eggs, too, if you keep a rooster with the hens.

Answer 17

The color difference is due to the specific breed of hen, according to the Egg Nutrition Center. Hens with white feathers and white earlobes will lay white eggs, whereas hens with red feathers and matching-colored earlobes give us brown eggs.  They also come in blue or even a nice speckled finish (though you may have to make a special request at your local supermarket for these).

Answer 18

farm fresh eggs taste better because the birds can eat some thing other than the bland corn based diet the commercial grower feed them

Answer 19

Some breeds of chickens lay white eggs some lay brown. We had both. California Whites laid brown eggs. White rocks laid white. We used to raise Aracaunas. They laid blue and green eggs. Some people would only buy the Aracauna eggs because they said they were lower in cholesterol. I don't know about that. They all cost the same. A lot of organic raisers use chickens that lay brown. That's why they cost more. Organics are usually free range too.

   We always used white eggs for dying at Easter because the brown eggs came out to be some pretty unappetizing colors.

   Once you crack them I think you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. For that matter you could eat duck eggs and not know the difference. Our chickens were free range so the yolks were yellower.