"John Savage" wrote in message
om...
I've been puzzled by the uniformly-toned eggs we buy from the supermarket,
and am left wondering whether these are the product of brown/black hens,
or are the product of white hens but dipped in a brown dye bath to satisfy
'changing consumer demands'.

i believe people really do prefer brown eggs & think they are "healthier".

The eggs, not the hens. :-)

To assist in solving this, I'd like to hear from people who raise
their own chooks: after you empty the shell and peel off its translucent
white membraneous liner, is the revealed inside surface of the shell the
same brown tone as the outside, or is it white even when the shell's
outside is brown?

my chooks' eggs, same all the way through.

you raise an interesting point. because i haven't had my chickens for long,
i am (firstly) minutely interested in all their habits; and (secondly)
haven't had time yet to work some things out while i am observing them. for
example, i have 7 game hens, which all but one look identical, yet lay eggs
which vary in colour from white to very pale brown. they all eat the same
stuff (i assume). i have 3 isa browns in 2 colours, which lay 3 colours of
egg. again, they eat the same stuff etc. (the smallest isa brown lays
WHOPPER eggs too, which is interesting).

so i'm quite intrigued about how the level of colour of the shells are
decided. and much of the time i'd be guessing about who laid which egg
(except i can obviously tell which breed did it ;-), so i don't know if the
colour varies at times, or if the same individual just has its particular
egg shell colour & sticks with it. i always thought the latter. does anyone
know?
kylie