Shop bought eggs

[beefandsleep]

The brown egg layers are a sex linked cross so cheap and easy to sex at hatch. I think white leghorns need vent sexing so more time consuming and skill required =£

 

[Netherfield]

Between 1980 to 2000 we supplied eggs to a market stallholder in Leeds, there was a large Jewish community in the area, largely I'm told because of the Burton's the Tailors factory once being there , believers in the Jewish faith will only eat white eggs. He always struggled to find a supplier to satisfy his trade.

We also supplied to a company in Lancashire who had stalls in markets across the north of England, they said that the least affluent areas bought the biggest sizes of eggs, thinking they were getting better value for money, where in fact as an egg gets bigger it's the percentage of white that grows.

 

[Netherfield]

Personally , I think Thornbers of Mytholmroyd had more to do with the fashion in egg colour in the past than anybody . They developed the hybrid 404 s, a white Leghorn type, which , in the right hands was an egg laying machine , and they laid white eggs , which could be produced under intensive conditions ie batteries , cheaper than anything seen before . They also produced the 606 hybrid , a RIR type that produced brown eggs but not as prolifically , and not as cheaply . In the days of "the packer " who simply bought eggs by grade , not colour , the 404 was the "go-to " for commercial producers . Latterly of course public perceptions have changed and brown eggs are the norm . However , one of my extended family works for a supermarket and tells me that white eggs are having a come back . "Plus ca change " an' all that .

You've got your numbers the wrong way round the 404 was the brown bird 606 the white.

In the end the biggest threat to the brown egg market in the UK came from the Canadian Shaver breeding company with the Shaver 288, supplied in the north By Maple Leaf Hatcheries in Chorley.

 

[Chasingmytail]

Clarence Court organic Leghorns are white shell with bright orange yolks fab eggs when Im desperate for eggs because my birds are too busy enjoying life!

 

[Netherfield]

Clarence Court organic Leghorns are white shell with bright orange yolks fab eggs when Im desperate for eggs because my birds are too busy enjoying life!

Number 15 on the yolk colour fan.

 

[Av Gorritt]

You've got your numbers the wrong way round the 404 was the brown bird 606 the white.

In the end the biggest threat to the brown egg market in the UK came from the Canadian Shaver breeding company with the Shaver 288, supplied in the north By Maple Leaf Hatcheries in Chorley.

Senior moment again . I think Charlie , your neighbour in Netherton (?) would have been instrumental in supplying many , if not most , of the pullets in this area anyway . Wasn't he said to be the biggest pullet rearer in the North ? Spare time orchid grower , and turkey rearer too , and well known "character ", and now his S in Law , Leslie is carrying on with the farm shop .

 

[henman]

As a poulty farmer we would all keep hens that produce white eggs because they produce 10% more eggs,
the hens eat less food
and are more docile less hen pecking
problem is the market in the uk is for brown eggs but they are trying to convert the british public because white eggs are cheeper to produce and the supermarkets like cheep egg
in europe white eggs are 80% of the market

 

[Av Gorritt]

And America.

 

[Alias]

I thought that there was now a move back to white birds because they are less prone to feather pecking, and with laser debeaking likely to be banned in the future, feather pecking is becoming a welfare issue with brown birds

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

white free range eggs can still be got in a few shops, think there is a certain religion that wants it but im not sure,

Americans?

 

[Courier]

FW had an article about immersing white eggs in Nescafe solution to dye them brown in the '60's

 

[Forkdriver]

We buy Ellis Eggs from our local supermarket, and they do 15 in a pack of mixed brown and white. All go down the same way very well.

 

[Exfarmer]

In the 50’s virtually all eggs sold in the UK were white. Then in the 60’s a gullible public were persauded white eggs were from battery birds and brown from little flocks of chickens roaming around farmyards.
Over the next ten years all flocks in the UK moved to brown egg and whites were a thing of the past

 

[Av Gorritt]

Re the coffee and egg colour posting . A few years back many of our local pubs had an egg show on a Sunday lunch time in the "top room " There was quite a good turnout usually and the contest was very keenly fought . The judge used to turn up in a white coat, and with a set of calipers to check rotundity and even-ness of ovality . Then of course there was a colour comparator , with deep brown eggs , often from Maran hens usually in the prize list . Sadly , even such an innocent occupation became tainted with cheating ! with deep brown eggs having been soaked in a strong coffee "dye" . Is nothing sacrosanct ? One of the troubles with dyeing eggs for show was that the eggs were all donated to a good cause afterwards , and the recipients didn't like coffee flavoured eggs . I think it was a bit of a wartime thing alongside allotment and garden grower' s vegetable displays and shows . It's all gone by the board now , with people having other interests and priorities .