do dark yellow or orange yolks mean they are healthier.

[Scotty from BI]

I have been raising chickens for about 8 years. I have 10 hens now about 1.5 years old. They are confined to a partially covered dirt run and very spacious coop. The run is quite large about 90 feet by about 6-8 feet with plenty of perches and ladders for them to move around in and on. I clean inside and out twice a day and their food is organic layer pellets from Modesto Mills mixed with Scratch and Peck organic whole seed Layer with corn. I also throw out about a cup of dried grubs from Scratch and Peck daily along with about 2 cups of mixed green and yellow vegetables like carrots, kale, spinach, etc. that are mixed in a blender to make them easy to digest every other day or so. I can not let them free range due to circumstances but they are healthy and produce many eggs.

So having said all that... Are my hens egg yolks as healthy as those free range chickens which have such dark orange yolks. I have read that the darkness or lightness doesn't really reflect how much omega 3 or nutrients are in the egg, but I have also heard that the darker the yolk the better. I am not sure what else I can do. My egg yolks are bright yellow not pale but definitely not dark or orange. I have tried feeding them marigolds, dandelions, kelp and more but can not seem to get that orange color.

How much vegetables and bugs does it take to effect the color of the yolk? I don't want to over feed them bugs and cut vegetables and have them short on the balanced feed they need.

comments and suggestions appreciated.

 

[imnukensc]

Mine free range daily nearly all day, but are fed Purina layer pellets with occasional treats of mealworms, sunflower seeds, leftover veggies, etc. I think you can figure out which egg is store bought and which egg one of my chickens laid.

 

[FluffTheDuck]

Usually, you get a bright-yellow egg yolk in markets unless it's local. Bright yellow egg yolks mean that all the person give them is food- they stay in little crates, and all they eat is food. So they're really fat. And if they only eat food, they aren't healthy, right? That's what I thought . Anyway, to get to the point, a darker yellow or even orange means your feeding the right diet to them and you should keep it like that.

 

[GreenMountainEric]

@GreenMountainEric quick question for you. At what point/time frame do you consider poultry feed to be past it's freshness period? Not liking the dates I've been seeing on the bags recently. Let me add and this is NOT in regards to your products.

That’s definitely not the easiest question to answer definitively...... the time from harvest is probably 20% of the answer, the days since manufacture is probably 30%, and the other 50% is entirely dependent on storage conditions.

For instance, a bag of feed that is manufactured in July, has whole grains that were ground/mixed/pelletized/etc. about 8-10 months after harvest, and will also be stored in a warehouse that is hot and humid in the middle of summer. I’d say you’d want to use that feed within a window of 50-60 days from manufacture at the MAX. Within 30-45 days would be preferred.

On the other hand, you could have a bag of feed that was manufactured in November, with fresh, recently harvested whole grains, and a nice cool and dry warehouse to sit in. That bag of feed could remain nice and fresh for 3-4 months, without any major effect on nutrient viability.

You could also have a whole grain feed, with unprocessed grains in it........ in that feed, the nutrients in the grains remain viable for a much longer period of time. However, the added vitamins, probiotics, minerals, etc., will lose their viability much faster than they would in a pelletized, or ground mash feed. Those nutrients will oxidize much faster in a whole grain feed.


So..... to answer your question, I can’t really answer your question!!

Our standard answer is 90 days, but there is a ton of factors that can change the actual nutrient viability in any one bag of feed.

 

[Scotty from BI]

So after reading your responses and others discussing chicken nutrition, I have come to a conclusion. The best premium chicken feeds are evolved to be the most nutritious and healthy formula for laying chickens. Free range is great, but leaves the decision of what to eat up to the chickens. I think chickens are very curious eaters and will eat what ever looks interesting to them. This may or may not be completely healthy. Logically, one might argue that chickens like most other species have evolved over the millennia to seek out a diet that maximizes health and reproduction based on anatomy, and resources available.

So for example carnivores have teeth that are designed to rip and shred while herbivores are better designed for mastication (chewing) such as cows and horses etc. and of course omnivores can do both. But, chickens may not always make the best choices. I have seen them eat things that are quite detrimental to their health or they may just eat what they like such as bugs and/or grasses and vegetation of different sorts which while good for them may not be balanced either in protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins or other nutrients.

So here's the interesting thing. Most animals (to my knowledge) in nature have not evolved to have longer or healthier lives, while domesticated animals which depend on people (and people) who have diets that are scientifically formulated for longevity and good health, live longer and healthier into old age than their ancestors.

Based on this line of logic, free range chickens may not really be healthier than chickens that live in closed runs and coops and forced to eat formulated food. This assumes that in both cases, the animals are given healthy environments and access to sunshine and are able to exercise. My comparison is between healthy environment free range and healthy environment confined chickens only, not factory chickens who eat formulated feed. Also, I question that free range chickens only eat healthy bugs and veggies. I have seen them eat rotten food and food that is definitely not healthy like unhealthy or sick mice and other yucky stuff, which might have a negative effect on the egg you eat.

And as far as all the additives to make the yolks more orange or darker are not especially healthy additives. They are not unhealthy, but do not add to optimum health, they only have the goal of effecting the color of the yolk, Such as Marigolds or corn. These are fine but not significantly adding to the health of the chicken or their eggs. Chickens are smart enough to only eat the amount of calories they need so more food dye foods equal less nutritious foods. I think my chickens with their average bright yellow yolks are probably healthier than most dark colored eggs where the chickens are eating carotenoids for color instead of the most balanced nutrition offered in their store bought feed.

 

[toredano]

this is what I did this morning... left are 2 eggs from the Organic line of a certain company.. expensive brown eggs, wont name a name yet.. right are 2 of mine... I think i read somewhere that darker yolk is healthier , has more of the good stuff in it.. Is it true? I dont know.. All I know is that my eggs from my free ranging birds taste much better, and have a shell that you actually have to bash a little harder to get open. And mine are bigger ...2 hens ,2 eggs a day.. perfect

 

[GreenMountainEric]

Darker yolks mean one thing...... your chickens diet is higher in Carotenoids. The healthiest chicken in the world could be eating a diet that makes them lay an egg with a yolk so light, that it is almost off-white.

If you want yellower yolks, you feed things like marigold, orange peels, corn, etc. If you want them more orange, you feed more alfalfa, lobster shells, Chile powder, paprika, or some other type of greens, etc..

In the US, yolks are A LOT darker than a lot of other places, because we feed diets that are high in yellow corn. Diets with more wheat, barley, rye, etc., will produce much lighter yolks, even with free range birds. This is why yolks are so much lighter in most parts of Europe, and other places that use a lot of small grains.

 

[Grits&Eggs]

i was able to darken the yolk by adding marigold buds to the chick treats.... and found an "egg enhancer" feed which has marigolds in it and other stuff.

https://www.thekitchn.com/what-does-egg-yolk-color-actually-mean-ingredient-intelligence-215672

 

[Grits&Eggs]

I read somewhere that some commerical growers add food dye to the chicken feed to get a darker yolk. Mine aren't fat, and their diet didn't change, except for the marigolds and just that one change made the yolk change to a nice dark orange!!

 

[RoosterML]

It is all based on what they eat, don't think one is healthier than the other.
For example I use to feed a layer feed that had alot of Marigold in it and got really orange color yolks, Marigold is normally found in layer feed. Now I feed an all flock product that does not contain nearly as much Marigold so the yolk color is lighter. Same thing some people feed starter/grower which most contain no Marigold in it. Which will produce much lighter yolks also. All birds are healthy and receiving healthy food but no additives that would change the yolk color so no I do not agree with someone who says healthier birds lay darker yolks.