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Posted on 05/09/2026 5:28:47 PM PDT by Red Badger
If you've found yourself lingering over egg cartons at the grocery store, wondering about the difference between brown and white eggs, you are not alone. Despite the conventional wisdom about brown eggs being healthier or somehow more "natural" than white ones, the truth is simple. The difference between brown and white eggs comes down to one thing — the breed of chicken that lays the egg.
Brown eggs are laid by chicken breeds such as Rhode Island Red, Speckled Sussex, Black Australorp, Buff Orpington, and Cuckoo Maran, to name a few. These chickens lay eggs in varying shades of brown, ranging from a light brown (Speckled Sussex) to a dark chocolate brown (Cuckoo Maran). White eggs are laid by a variety of Leghorn species (including White Leghorn, Silver Leghorn, and the colorful Blue Breasted Brown Leghorn), as well as Ancona, Silver Lakenvelder, and California White.
Strangely, according to The Guardian, although brown eggs are now considered superior to white ones by many people, a century ago, that wasn't quite the case. In England, people were used to white eggs, which were much more abundant than brown eggs since they were laid by highly productive White Leghorn chickens. The relative scarcity and novelty of brown eggs was what raised their popularity in the mid-20th century.
An egg of any other color would taste the same
Nutritionally, brown and white eggs are the same, with the shell color not having any effect on the nutritional value or taste of what's inside the shell. The truth is, brown eggs (or white eggs) can vary in nutrition and taste depending on the food the chicken consumed, its environment, and the style in which it was raised, regardless of shell color. In general, free-range chickens who are free to roam around backyards tend to produce healthier and more natural eggs than chickens raised in cages or coops.
One reason for this difference is that free-range chickens are more likely to have access to a larger selection of vitamins and minerals. Another factor is sunshine, with chickens exposed to sunlight laying eggs that have 3 to 4 times the amount of vitamin D than caged chickens. The quality of the food consumed by the chickens also affects the nutritional value of the eggs they produce. For example, chickens that eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids lay eggs that contain a higher amount of omega-3 fatty acids. Regardless of whether such healthy supplements are present or not, eggs (or at least egg yolks) should still be consumed in moderation because of their high cholesterol content –one of the things that scientists know about cholesterol that you didn't (until now).
How eggs acquire color during development
Brown eggs acquire their color after ovulation, when the egg is released from the ovary into a tube called the oviduct, which is known as the fallopian tube in humans. At this stage of egg development in chickens, a shell forms over the egg and pigments are deposited in the shell. Brown and pink eggshell colors derive from a pigment called protoporphyrin IX, with the amount of this pigment determining the intensity of the brown color. The more protoporphyrin IX that gets deposited in the eggshell, the browner the egg. On the other hand, the less protoporphyrin IX, the pinker the egg. That's why different brown egg-laying chicken breeds lay different shades of brown eggs and why there is a range of colors even among chickens of the same breed.
Another eggshell color that is becoming increasingly prized is blue, which is caused by pigments called biliverdin IX and zinc biliverdin chelate. The amount of these pigments deposited in the shell determine the shade of blue, with more pigment resulting in a bluer egg. If no pigment is deposited during shell formation, the eggs will remain white.
According to a study in the journal Animal, eggshell color is passed down between generations and is controlled by multiple genes, with each gene contributing some effect. The way in which eggshell color is inherited in chickens is similar to how some human physical characteristics are passed down from parents to their children. Scientists have identified several genes that control the production of protoporphyrin IX on chromosome 20, as well as genes that control the production of other pigments. With that information, some day soon, farmers may be able to breed chickens that lay eggs of a specific color and shade.
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Egg Ping!.............
Brown Eggs Ma...oh nvr mind.
Wow, now I can finally sleep at night.
DEI?
DEI? it sounds racist
It is what you feed them, I have heard.
Yes, free-range chickens have eggs that are more nutritious, regardless of color..........
America’s Test Kitchen did bit on them. It’s on line someplace. Cuz there’s green blue, yellow eggs, too.
With brown eggs its easier to pick the little bits of shell out of your egg salad.
Imo, they do taste better, as long as they’re pasture raised. Perhaps the varieties that lay brown eggs create a different taste. Or maybe it’s just me.
I’ve heard that egg color is determined by what they eat and where they live,
A couple of books say that “cage free” means they have 14 feet to walk around on but that can be inside huge barns with thousands of birds eating birdseed tossed on the floor. I NEVER buy eggs from those poor little birds. Yolks are pale.
PASTURE RAISED birds can live in a small house that gets moved around a certain number of acres. They may or may not have some grain inside but birds seem to prefer eating food from yummy protein sources like bugs and worms. On a long-ago thread here someone said he even saw his birds eating frogs and lizards. Eggs are a bit more expensive depending on where you get them. Trader Joe in my neighborhood sells their house brand Pasture-Raised for 5.99 and $6.99.
Natural Grocer charges a little more, and Safeway a little more than that. Last carton I bought was Wilcox Family Farms Pasture Raised. They are in WA state, not all that far from me. My friend knows the Wilcox family, says they are very contientious about their birds. When it snows, birds stay inside and they are not labeled Pasture Raised.
Every brand I’ve mentioned has BROWN EGGS
The eggs from happy, free range chickens taste the best. 😊
If you can find eggs with a deep orange yolk color, you found the best, tastiest ones.
My girls lay brown, blue & green eggs, I could never detect a difference in taste.
Yes, it all depends on the breed of the chicken. We have one that lays blue eggs.
-SB
Yes our backyard chickens lay blue eggs but the yolks are bright orange because they have more nutients. And they taste better.
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"As a passionate chicken fancier, Martha likes attending the annual Northeastern Poultry Congress in Springfield, Massachusetts. The event is held every year in January at the Eastern States Exposition Center and features more than 3,000 birds, including large fowl, waterfowl, turkeys, pigeons, Guineas, and a variety of breed chickens."
Martha--along with others--made raising chickens mainstream suburban! (My neighbor has Buff Orphingtons!)
Yeah. One egg is brown. The other is white.
Can I get a government grant to study blue eggs? And another few million for the Somali “Eg Strudy Cener” to research the spotted eggs when I use to have quail...
Bless your heart. I’d be your customer forever if you lived nearby.
I grew up with a dad who almost starved when he was a kid. Smart, ran away and started working before finishing high school. I think his 3rd or 4th job was washing dishes for a little Kansas City restaurant called Buck and Gage.
He died in his mid-50s. President of B/G (Buck and Gage) Foods, a corporation that he grew into a chain restaurant. Had restaurants in several US cities, in business districts where employees needed quick lunches at low prices, but still quality stuff. “Cage Free” would have made him furious, he’d never inflict those on anyone.
I do not care what the color of the egg is. Free Range chicken eggs taste better due to what they eat. Pay a buck more for a dozen eggs and get superior taste is not a bad deal.
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