white earlobed chicken~named Bob
Adam and I have gone back and forth for a verrry long time about why egg shells vary in color. I kid you not…..that is what this post is about. Adam has vehemently sworn to the fact that it depends on the color of the chicken’s elbow. Well, we have this very nice patient that sells eggs to us at the clinic~antibiotic & hormone free, cage free too! I finally asked him last week and he looked at me like I had purple hair and orange eyes. Needless to say I told Adam he needed to check into his theory a little further.
Come to find out…he was close. It’s their earlobes that determine the color of the shell. Elbows…earlobes…elbows…earlobes. He says they sound the same to him and he just remembered wrong from the Discovery channel show he saw it on once upon a time.
So tonight we were boiling some eggs and there was a really speckly one and I asked Adam what color he thought that chicken’s earlobe was and his response was classic: his mama’s earlobe was white, his daddy’s was not~there are even biracial chickens, you see.
I think I understand why you guys think that the color of a chicken’s earlobe determines the color of the egg shell. Does the word “insane” mean anything to you? 🙂
Seriously tho, I’ve been keeping laying hens for over 20 years now and I have found absolutely no connection that would substantiate your theory.
We have had red/white chickens that lays brown eggs, white chickens that lay white eggs, white hens with black speckles that lay white eggs, entirely black hens that lay white eggs and multi-colored (red,white, yellow and green feathered) hens that lay cream colored eggs and red hens that lay a brown egg.
Based on my first-hand experience with laying hens I don’t find the “ear lobe” theory to be at all credible. But heck, anything is possible (I even found myself giving chicken ear lobes a closer look last evening while gathering the days egg production). If you could find any scientific research to back up this theory I’d love to see it.
-John
John…you crack me up!!! BUT. When I get time I AM going to do some more research into this. This is some serious stuff, you know! =0)