Which Came First? the Chicken or the Egg...

Just had to share a funny moment from today. I was making breakfast for Anna and Emma this morning. We decided on Cinnamon Streusal Swirl muffins (yum!) and bacon and eggs. So they were helping me make the muffins and we started gathering all the ingredients. Anna got a new carton of eggs out of the refrigerator and opened them up. I'm not sure why I did this, but yesterday at Walmart I decided to buy some brown eggs. When we lived up in the Boston area, most of the eggs you would find at the grocery store were brown, and that's what I bought all the time. Well, after I moved back down here, I realized that I was back in the 'land of the white eggs.' I have no idea why this is the way that it is, it just is. :-) ANYWAYS, Anna was a little surprised when she opened the carton because she is not used to seeing brown eggs!

So she said to me, "Mom, why are the eggs brown? Is it because they are wheat eggs?"

And yes, as far as I could tell, she was completely serious. :-) I just laughed (and laughed). It really was pretty funny -- but hey, why not, right? Wheat bread is brown.... white bread is white.... I think she was a little excited because she thought I had bought healthier eggs!!! ;-)

So we all laughed for a while about that.... until a little while later when things had died down, and she asked me, "So mom, why ARE the eggs brown?" I realized I didn't know the answer to that question, and thus had very little reason to be laughing at her earlier comment!! (pride comes before the fall!!)

So I did a little reading today about that and learned that it is a widespread myth that dark colored chickens produce brown eggs and light colored chickens produce white eggs. In fact, chickens of all colors produce not just brown and white egss, but also sometimes blue and green ones... It sounds like a fairly random thing that is just a matter of genetics... so there you have it. More than you'd ever want to know about eggs. :-)

Of course, from here on out, whenever I see a brown egg, I'll be thinking about "wheat eggs!" and will have to laugh. :-)