Why the Hell Can't I Buy a White Hen's Egg in New Zealand?

As Easter approaches, New Zealanders prepare for another year of bunnies, liquor bans, and crème egg hunts. And for those of us nostalgic for primary-school projects and grandparents-house crafts, this is also the season for getting out the food colouring and painting of eggs.

I like white eggs. They’re good eggs. Some of my favourite films make use of them, like in Rocky when Sylvester Stallone begins his day by chugging five raw white eggs. But when I went in search of white eggs, I was left wandering empty-handed. Our supermarkets stock eggs of all sorts of variations, from free-range to caged but, if you have a thorough look around the egg section, it’s likely you won’t find any white-shelled specimens in the vast sea of options. So I went on a quest to discover where they’d gone, and why.

I started off rifling through cartons at Pak’nSave, but no luck. I asked members of the public whether they had a preference and most said they didn’t even think about the colour. That’s progressive I guess—but they may not know their own minds.

The numbers don’t lie, and industry experts say white eggs have stopped selling so well. The white shells used to be the majority, but started slipping off the commercial radar around 15 years ago, says Michel Brooks, Executive Director of the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand. It’s a simple case of supply and demand. New Zealanders stopped buying white eggs, therefore the industry stopped producing and selling the eggs commercially, opting instead for their brown-tinted relatives.

So what’s the material difference between white and brown eggs?

Essentially? Nothing. Some people believe brown eggs have harder shells, some believe they’re healthier…Both are myths. Turns out white eggs are the purview of white chickens. Or more precisely: white-feathered hens with white earlobes produce white eggs, and brown-feathered ones with brown or red earlobes lay brown eggs. There is no nutritional difference between the two—the hue is completely aesthetic.

Discouraged at Pak n Save, I decided to take my quest to Farro Fresh market. Farro has a rep for being a bit more upmarket, with a specific emphasis on small producers and quality ingredients. Of all places, I thought I could hit the jackpot here with some local boutique producer offering niche white eggs. But no—just more free-range brown eggs. Although there were some particularly light shades…

So why the culture-shift away from white eggs? In recent years brown rice, brown sugar and brown bread have grown in popularity as ‘healthier’ alternatives than their white counterparts. Now, it looks like many members of the public may believe that the same idea applies to eggs. The brown tone also gives people the notion that it’s somehow more natural and ‘rustic’—more Instagram friendly, perhaps—and therefore get perceived as healthier. Brooks states that “the egg industry naturally moved to accommodate consumer preference and the type of hen that produces brown eggs—the Brown Shaver—is now the principal breed of commercial laying hen in New Zealand. For our hatcheries here, given the relatively small size of the NZ market, it is also easier to standardise on having brown layer hens.”

My last stop was the local dairy. With four sad little cartons on the mostly empty shelf, I remained hopeful. As it turns out, just your standard farmer brown egg. Nevertheless quite a perfect one.

Not a single white egg in sight! I wonder briefly what had happened to all the white-earlobed chickens. Had they been culled? Were they still clucking round in retirement? Would they soon become extinct because of our shallow, health-food obsessed brown egg preferences? Or now that brown eggs have taken over, could we have an indie resurgence of white egg markets?

It doesn’t seem like white eggs are going to be reintroduced into our lives anytime soon, but if you’re desperate for whatever reason, you could always try obscure farmers markets or better yet, raise your own hens right in the comfort of your backyard.