4 Cooped up hen's yolks are all getting a little paler...what should I feed them?

[nuthatched]

Why avoid kale? I feed kale toy chickens all the time and get nice dark yolks andy chickens are healthy and happy.

it can block nutrition absorption, moderation is key.

 

[HowIsItDone]

it can block nutrition absorption, moderation is key.

Thanks for that reply.
Any chance you'd be willing to change your avatar to something that doesn't flash?
It's hard on poor eyes.

 

[nuthatched]

Thanks for that reply.
Any chance you'd be willing to change your avatar to something that doesn't flash?
It's hard on poor eyes.

I didn't realize it flashed at all. That's odd. Sorry about that.
I guess its time for my fall/winter pic.

 

[rosemarythyme]

this week fresh baby spinach was on sale. I was going to throw the whole package in.
Probably too much!
I think we'll eat it.
Thanks!

My birds LOVE the spinach stem ends (but aren't crazy about leaves). And I don't eat the ends of stems as I trim them off. So leaves for me, stems for them, win win.

 

[Ridgerunner]

To me the basic question is "Do dark yellow or orange yolks guarantee that the egg is more nutritious than an egg with a pale yellow yolk?" The answer is clearly "No".

The yolk is darker because of "dyes", whether natural or artificial. The cause is the dye, the effect is darker yolks.

If those dyes come from a source that also adds nutrition like carrots or dark green vegetables then they might be more nutritious than eggs with pale yellow yolks. That will depend on the rest of their diet. The chickens themselves could very well be healthier because of those supplements to their diet even if they don't make their way into the eggs. But that is a coincidence, not an established correlation. The darker yolks are an effect of the dyes, not better nutrition.

Anything given a high enough dose has the potential to cause bodily damage or even be lethal.

There is a phrase that covers this. "Balanced Diet". Too little or too much of certain things can have an unhealthy effect. That's why many of us suggest you feed additional things in moderation.

To me this does not mean that I need to feed a little bit of a lot of different things every day. When I harvest kale from the garden for my meal the chickens get the rejects. If they eat it (they usually eat most of it) they get a fair amount that day (kale can affect calcium absorption if you missed Stormcrow's post), But it may be a week before they get kale again. To me, that is moderation. I do not notice thinner eggshells because of that. I do offer oyster shell free choice.

For a lot of these things it is a long term effect. Their bodies can handle an occasional overload. It is a steady diet of overload that causes the problems.

 

[HowIsItDone]

I didn't realize it flashed at all. That's odd. Sorry about that.
I guess its time for my fall/winter pic.

I love that!
Thanks.

Edited to add that people with good vision don't understand how those flashing things bother those of us with poor vision, so I appreciate what you did.

 

[Chubbicthe2nd]

Thanks everyone, this thread has been very informative.

I gather that my chickens going from free range to cooped up, and slowly their eggs getting paler and paler over the course of a month, probably means their residual stores of beta carotene/phytonutrients/plant compounds or whatever it was in the greens they were eating while free ranging are being used up. I'm going to take that as a sign they need more greens again.

It's true when I open the coop door to go in and hustle them out of the way to keep them from coming out because then the free range Roosters from going crazy.... The hens will furtively peck at a few blades of grass outside of the coop door.

They probably do need it if they want it so much and it will also change the color of their yolks. I'll start trying to give them more greens.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thanks everyone, this thread has been very informative.

I gather that my chickens going from free range to cooped up, and slowly their eggs getting paler and paler over the course of a month, probably means their residual stores of beta carotene/phytonutrients/plant compounds or whatever it was in the greens they were eating while free ranging are being used up. I'm going to take that as a sign they need more greens again.

It's true when I open the coop door to go in and hustle them out of the way to keep them from coming out because then the free range Roosters from going crazy.... The hens will furtively peck at a few blades of grass outside of the coop door.

They probably do need it if they want it so much and it will also change the color of their yolks. I'll start trying to give them more greens.

If you watch their beaks and legs, you will see the same - at the start of lay, they can be almost orange (assuming you have yellow legged chickens), and as they lay eggs thru the season they will become increasingly pale till they stop laying, molt, put color back on, then start the process all over. Its even more pronounced in Pekin ducks.