Whats the difference between Brown and White eggs?

Answer 1

Here's the logic, as I understand it: Most commercial egg producers with "production line" plants, captive birds that never leave their cages, artificial hormones, lights on 24-7 etc. produce white eggs, because the hybrids that can stand those conditions and lay the best, lay white eggs. These egg factories ship all over the country, and eggs can easily be 2-4 weeks old before you ever see them in the stores.

Conversely, folks that raise their own birds under more traditional home-flock conditions, let them range to supplement their regular feed, and get plenty of fresh air and sunshine tend to raise varieties that produce brown eggs. Frequently these are dual-purpose birds (meat as well as eggs) tend not to be as efficient (more pounds of feed per bird per year) and therefore not cost effective for the big factories. Brown egg producers tend to be local, so the eggs in the store are fresher.

Also, varieties that lay brown eggs tend to lay larger eggs.

If I were to take two eggs out of my coop, one brown and one white, fry 'em up and set 'em in front of ya, I seriously doubt ANYONE could tell me which is which, outside the statistics of random chance.

Answer 2

Well, the people who said ha ha actually are pretty close to the truth, but you have to look at the earlobe for the best predictor of egg color. Raed the last paragraph for the nutritional difference (there is none).
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From "Mr. Breakfast":

White eggs come from white chickens and brown eggs come from brown-ish chickens. Most of the eggs in your supermarket come from the following breeds of chickens: the White Leghorn, the Rhode Island Red, the New Hampshire, and the Plymouth Rock.

White Leghorn chickens are white and lay white eggs. Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire and Plymouth Rock chickens are all reddish brown and lay brown or brown-speckled eggs.

Let's get weird for a second and pretend you have a chicken sitting beside you. Imagine this crazy chicken is kind of an off-white brownish yellow. You're no chicken expert and you have no idea what breed you're looking at. Here's the secret to predicting the color of eggs a chicken will lay: look at their earlobes. This is true stuff. The pigments in the outer layer of the eggshell will always approximate the color of the earlobe of the chicken that laid the egg.

A natural follow-up question would be "Is one color of egg healthier than the other?" According to the Egg Nutrition Center in Washington, D.C., the answer is a pretty firm "no". The color of the shell has nothing to do with egg quality, nutritional value or flavor. They say the reason brown eggs cost more is because the brown-egg variety of chickens are bigger eaters and cost more to feed. The cost is then pushed forward to the consumer. I happen to believe the real reason is that the health food industry is perpetuating the myth that brown eggs are healthier. There, I said it.

Answer 3

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." But were there any other differences, we wondered?

Returning to our search results, we clicked another link and visited the web site of the Rochester Hatchery in Canada. While we didn't find any pertinent information, we did enjoy the colorful illustrations of brown-egg-laying chickens, and yes, they all had reddish-brown feathers, though we couldn't vouch for their earlobes.

At Owl Kids Online, a fun science site for kids, we learned chicken eggs aren't limited to just brown or white. 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).

After exhausting the Yahoo! search results, we jumped over to Epicurious.com for their thoughts on the matter. We searched their food dictionary and came across the egg entry. It also assured us that the color of the eggshell had nothing to do with the taste of the egg.

So, there you have it: The difference between brown eggs and white eggs is purely cosmetic; it's just a matter of a baby taking after its mom.

Answer 4

there really is no difference. some people just like one or the other. Martha Stewart once had a show on blue eggs. The color of the egg is just on the shell, it's got nothing to do with the taste or texture of the stuff inside.

Answer 5

In Rhode Island - brown eggs are local eggs and local eggs are fresh.

Answer 6

The only difference is the color of the shell. There are different regional preferences and they breed chickens to lay one kind or the other.

Answer 7

ones brown and ones white

Answer 8

The shell colour, that's all. There is no difference in nutritional value. The thing that does affect flavour is the diet the hens are fed on .

Answer 9

There is no difference in taste or texture... the only difference is they are layed by two different kinds of chicken. Hope that helps.

Answer 10

nothing really except brown chickens and white chickens LOL