A friend recently asked how do they get egg shells to be brown?? I thought what a great question – truthfully I have no idea!!
So I thought I’d ask my local farmer. I get my eggs from Katie and Hans at PrairiErth Farms .
What makes an eggshell it’s color is the type of chicken that lays it!!
The Leghorn chicken is what lays your typical factory farm egg. Super white eggs, animals stacked high in cages, injected with hormones and antibiotics. Prairierth Farmer Dave Bishop said they lay eggs like crazy for about 18 months and then they die.
I don’t know beans about chickens but something about that statement bothered me.
When i first discovered, 18 years ago, the conditions in which mainstream eggs were produced I was absolutely horrified. Back then we sourced our information from articles or what people told us. Now there are documentaries like Food Inc and the haunting yet artful film Our Daily Bread, that share how our food is manufactured.
My eggs are from California Whites and Gold Star hens
( note: the links above re: the chickens are just links that show the type of hen. NOT the actual source!)
Lots of really good reasons to eat eggs:
* Eating eggs on a regular basis strengthens the immune system.
* Eggs are good for eyes and prevent macular degeneration.
* Including egg in our diets lowers the risk of developing cataracts.
* Eggs help in reducing the risk of breast cancer.
* Eggs foster healthy growth of hair and nails due to the high sulfur content, vitamins and minerals.
* naturally occurring vitamin D and are beneficial for eyes and skin.
* choline that is useful in the regulation of the nervous system, brain and cardiovascular system.
A good egg will be loaded with the nutrient lecithin, a natural fat emulsifier, offsetting the so called high cholesterol issues with egg
I think there is something absolutely positively eggy about that
photograph by Karen Hanrahan
I have been a backyard chicken fanatic for the past few years (however, to my great disappointment, I still haven’t actually gone and bought chickens yet!). Everything about chickens (and eggs) are fascinating to me. For instance, different types of chickens lay different types of eggs and nutritional value. “Rhode Island Chickens” as an example are an excellent “backyard chicken” to have because of their docile nature and abundant (4-6 a week! that’s ONE chicken!) egg-laying (and they’re brown)
It’s very sad to see the conditions of store-bought egg-laying chickens have to endure, for sure. On a brighter note, however, backyard chickens and local farms who sell eggs are on the rise. Great post and beautiful picture! 
Oh my gosh I too think about these things!! There is this wonderful film Roberta that I highly recommend – it’s silly chicken farming circa 1947, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Egg_and_I_%28film%29 or get the book, equally as amusng.