do dark yellow or orange yolks mean they are healthier.

[RoosterML]

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.
View attachment 1635981

I think you can contribute that nice orange color to the amount of Marigold in the Purina Layer feed.

 

[Scotty from BI]

People are adding different spices and ingredients to the chicken feed to change the taste of the eggs or wondering if these various ingredients will change the taste. But there is another side that does not seem to be considered. If adding spices will have a positive or at least a noticable effect, why doesn't things not so palatable to people that chickens seem to love like bugs, rodents, dirt and other various yucky things make the eggs taste awful. I personally love my morning eggs, and I know that my hens are not exactly connoisseurs or even fussy about what they eat. So, I think in the end, I would just feed them the basics, including healthy bugs like the freeze dried grubs and healthy veggies that I throw out daily with their layer pellets and enjoy what I have been.

One other thing, as I write this comes to mind. I am an old geezer and have been eating eggs for decades, many decades and probably countless thousands of eggs. In my early lifetime there was very little fuss about what chickens ate or how well they lived. I grew up a city boy and ate piles of eggs every day in the military in the mess hall. I am so far as I can tell very healthy and have never had any medical issues beyond the minor occasional seasonal cold or flu. It's only been in the last 8 to 10 years that chickens and their eggs have become fashionable and the organic movement extended to them because they are in our food chain.

Just saying maybe we are overthinking this whole thing a bit.

 

[tomfromsc]

I just read the entire article and have one thing to add ,IMHO all things considered one of the biggest benefits of free ranging is the exercise the chickens get that helps them metabolize their food intake better thus healthier birds and healthier eggs.The main reason I free range is exercise I can,and do feed them a well balanced diet,it is the getting out and being chickens makes them healthy.

 

[Perris]

My reading of the paper's conclusions is rather different.
"The laboratory had a significant effect on the levels of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and β-carotene (Table 5)...the cause for the laboratory differences may be associated with differences in the methodologies used. Because total fatty acids varied among the laboratories, it was somewhat obvious that the percentages of saturated and monounsaturated fats would also vary among laboratories in a similar fashion, with highs of 2.84 and 4.16, and lows of 2.17 and 3.10, respectively."
Also, note "Although range production did not influence the cholesterol level in the egg, there was an increase in fat levels in eggs produced on the range."
As for the range, it was quite limited: "The rearing dietary program was the same for both the range and cage pullets, with the only difference being access to the range paddock. A general description of the range paddock would be a typical hay mixture for North Carolina consisting of both warm- and cool-season forages. These paddocks were an established bermudagrass and fescue mix and clover." Backyard chickens usually have access to a wider range of plants and the insects they attract.

 

[Kris5902]

As an aside... when I was a baby my parents freaked out and rushed me to hospital because I was “jaundiced”. My favorite food was carrots. Guess why I was turning yellowish orange?

I don’t think there is necessarily a direct link between yolk colour and “healthier” eggs... because you could still have a malnourished, poorly fed, chicken that happens to be eating a lot of things that yield a deeper orange colour. Just like some egg companies here like to promote chickens fed an “all vegetarian, no animal byproducts” diet. Poor, deprived chickens with no mice to eat!

Generally speaking though, farm fresh, or backyard fresh eggs with nice richly colored yolks are probably better for you, nutritionally, in flavor, and for your ethics than the $2.99 dozen at the store from battery hens.

Husbands 2nd cousin tried to stay at the farm for a bit (live rent free while studying her spiritual path and taking an online Buddhist course) it didn’t last long... vegetarian on a meat producing farm, and it wasn’t the quiet pastoral scene she idealized. Anyway, she refused to eat our eggs! Would only eat one specific brand from my former employer... WholeFoods. I don’t get people.

Also, my husband, a butcher, while employed at WholeFoods during the height of the gluten free fad (nothing against actual celiacs or gluten intolerance... just the fad) had to deal with people looking for gluten free meats. “Well, you see... if the cow ever ate any grains, then that will be in the meat, and it will kill me!” As they munch away on a “flourless” cookie produced in the bakery full of airborne gluten from the mixers.

“You are what you eat” only goes so far. Appearances can be deceiving. That said, eat and do what makes you happiest. “Studies show” (lol, no I won’t back this statement up with facts or scientific papers... this is the internet people!) that it is sometimes less about what you’re eating and more about how you feel about eating it that matters.

 

[WindingRoad]

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.

I'm feeding 22% protein, small amount of scratch for the winter to keep them warm and mealworms. Always have dark yolk closer to orange than yellow. Large to x-large eggs. BO, ISA and 2 SLW. The SLW just started laying. Cream colored egg. Nice colored yolk. Tasty. My birds won't eat anything mushy. No oatmeal, no scrambled eggs, no wet food. No watermelon, no banana, no tomatoes, they did limited free range this summer. Eggs have alway been up to par. IDK. What breeds do you have?

 

[Clairenh]

Here is a laboratory analysis of eggs produced by free range chickens and caged chickens. The conclusion was that there was no significant advantage to free range chicken eggs.

[https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/.../e3001d6a0e78b9e55c6f...]

In Michael Pollan's book "Omnivore's Dilemma" he went to a "free range" farm, and the chickens never left the barn. There was a door that was opened when they were about 4 weeks old (after danger of sickness, etc from being outside had passed) and only had 2 weeks left of life before slaughter. Since they had never been outside before, when that door was opened, none of them used it. A farm can label their meat, or eggs, "Free Range" as long as the birds have ACCESS to the outdoors. Whether or not they actually go out is another story, and according to the author, it doesn't happen. So the information in this report could be skewed by that fact. Someone would have to test the eggs from a true free range chicken (like most of the chickens of people on this forum) to get the real facts. Here is a link to a review of the book. See the 8th paragraph down. https://michaelpollan.com/reviews/what-we-eat-why-and-where-it-really-comes-from/

 

[GldnValleyHens]

In my opinion, dark yolks taste so much better than pale. From some years of eating free range organic eggs, I wrinkle my nose in distaste at sampling a restaurant omelette or a friend’s eggs from Walmart. The rich, tangy taste of an orange yolk is delicious. I know that the scientists say there is no nutritional difference between pale and orange yolks, but it is a sign of a healthy, happy hen, one who eats lots of greens and insects. So it must have a positive effect for us when we eat those eggs, am I right?

 

[Cindy in PA]

I know I feel darker yokes taste better BUUUUUTTTTTTTTT. I have done blind taste tests with my eggs and store bought. cooked the same in two skillets and I could not see the egg. I COULD NOT TELL A DIFFERENCE ... TRY IT !!! Since you have a 50% chance of guessing use this following rule. The person serving you will serve you 4 plates, might be different egg on each plate or same egg on each plate. This way you lose the 50 50 guessing option.... make sure both eggs are the same temp going into the skillet..

I never really tasted a difference in eggs, but I know what they eat & how they are treated & I am happy with that. I know the texture of my eggs are different, because you can see it!

 

[CindyinSD]

Ive been reading this thread and it’s made me think... so for what it’s worth (pretty much what you paid lol), my musings:

The color in the yolks probably actually is at least slightly healthier. The pigments are themselves often antioxidants and/or characteristic of vitamins or vitamin precursors (which become the vitamin in your body if your body needs and is calling for that vitamin.) I’m just extrapolating from general knowledge, but I would be surprised if I was wrong about this one.

As to the bagged foods... (excluding small manufacturers who may be free to be more dedicated to quality)... On the one hand the manufacturer is in the business to make money and also has an obligation to stockholders to turn the highest profits possible. OTOH, if their food isn’t of reasonable quality and flocks noticeably suffer, they’ll lose customers and market share and the stockholders will move on to fairer horizons. Just because “studies show” their foods are the best option for feeding poultry doesn’t mean we should take those studies uncritically as gospel truth.

Birds in the wild live shorter lives because of predators, scarcity, stress, predators, disease, predators... not necessarily simply because they lack manufactured feed. Our chickens are descended from long lines of chickens who lived productive lives mostly on whatever the family had left over from the table and the fields, and on their own free ranging.

A couple of problems with manufactured feeds... first, they typically contain corn and soy. So far not so bad, but soy and corn are big GMO products, altered so that they can survive large, repeated applications of glycosides (aka “Round-Up Ready” varieties). These herbicides are very durable in the environment and in the edible (and other) parts of the treated crops. Glycosides are (in addition to acting as antibiotics) extremely toxic, but not in an acute way... rather, in a chronic, accumulative way (like nicotine). Second, even though you pay for organic, non-GMO, you can’t know (nor even can the manufacturer truly know) that what is in that bag is really organic, non-GMO.

Bottom line, if it’s an option at all, I give my girls table scraps (including meats), hay and fresh veggies. I’m still feeding manufactured feed, but the goal is to find a way to cut it down as much as possible. Come summer, they’ll be on pasture, and I think/hope that’ll help a lot.