The Feed and Yolk Experiment: Chicken feed and dark orange yolk color

Bella54330 said:

I've had my chickens for about 6 months now. When my husband first heard that I wanted chickens in Chicago, he was more than a little confused, but after a trip to Europe, and having the fresh, rich, dark orange yolked eggs there, he changed his mind, and jumped onboard.

When we first got our chickens, we fed them laying pellets and the yolks were a pale, store bought looking yellow. We read up and found that with free ranging, they would get the darker orange yolks, so we started allowing them to free range in the backyard for several hours a day and they still had pale yellow yolks.

We heard that corn gives the yolks the dark yellow color and rich taste, so we started feeding them cracked corn along with their laying pellets, and the yolks did not change.

We were told that the feed might be the reason for the pale yellow yolks, and we should try organic, so we gradually switched them over to organic, soy free layer pellets (at $30 a bag), free ranging throughout most of the day, and plenty of cracked corn. We still had pale yellow eggs.

We read that the more green foods they get, the darker the yolk would be, so we started giving them lots of fresh greens, spinach, lettuce, grass clippings, anything that we could find that was green, fresh fruits and veggies, cracked corn, organic, non soy layer pellets (at $30 a bag), and free ranging most of the day and still the yolks were pale yellow.

A few days ago we drove 45 minutes out of the city to a Tractor Supply store. They had Purina Layena feed for $15 bag. There were only 2 bags left, so I bought them on a whim. I started feeding it to my chickens 4 days ago. My yolks are a nice, dark orange.

I've spent 6 months trying to figure this formula out, so for all of you newbies (like me!) who are trying to get that dark orange color to your yolks, just do the easy things and switch to the Purina Layena brand food and save yourself a world of headache and experiments.

I also don't believe it has much to do with the breed. I have 1 Red Star, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, and 1 Gold Laced Wyandotte.

I hope this helps and saves others the frustration that I went through. Bottom line is that in MY experience, NONE of the things that people said would make my chicken have dark orange yolks worked. I will still give my hens treats, and they will ALWAYS be able to free range in our backyard because I want them to be happy chickens, but I'll be happy to FINALLY have my dark yolked, rich, delicious eggs that we missed so dearly.

Click to expand...

TheGeekySheep said:

The reason: Purina adds lots of xanthophyll, a yellow carotenoid pigment extraced from marigolds to the feed to make the yolks dark yellow. So it's not false that free ranging or feeding leafy greens and fresh veggies will produce dark yellow yolks, but they do need to eat the right *kind* of foods, namely, those rich in carotene. And even some kinds of carotene get completely absorbed and turned into Vitamin A by the hen and don't effect yolk color. It's a tricky business.

Click to expand...