Why Is The Colour Of An Egg White ?

But not all eggs are white.

Bird (and animal eggs) come in all sorts of colours, as well as transluscent (think of frog spawn). Bird eggs are especially colourful, as a rule.

However, in the USA, most chicken eggs for sale are white. This is because... (ta da!) they come from white chickens. Or hens with white feathers and ear lobes, anyway. And it has become the expected norm / standard that chicken eggs sold in US stores should be white. This is entirely a cultural expectation, and there is no reliable evidence that white chicken eggs are any more or less nutritious than brown, grey, speckled, red, green or blue chicken eggs (yes, they really can naturally come in those other colours). Perhaps white eggs are seen as clean eggs, by US consumers.

There is evidence, however, that the hens that lay white eggs may themselves be less healthy and lead more unhappy lives. Because of the lack of pigment in their skin in feathers, which can indicate compromised neurlogical function. This is explained at greater length in Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin.

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