do dark yellow or orange yolks mean they are healthier.

[JerryR708]

I usually use fresh roots, chop em off, mix it with their food. they go for it right away, tastes like carrots... I think most of the yolk pigmentation is beta carotene, which kinda makes sense, hope I'm not extrapolating too much here.

I also feed them Lipitor to keep the wife happy. Kidding.

I'm gonna pick up fresh and try that. Now I can cheat a little when I sell eggs. Thanks for the tip.

 

[speedy2020]

My eggs are medium yellow and orange color from the same block. They are all White Bresse. To those that feed them 22% and treats, you may want to pickup the hens to see how heavy they are. If the hen getting too fat, it may not lay as well and produce smaller egg. I think high protein feed it is fine during molting or winter. The best layer usually medium weigh hen.

 

[Bald Bee Man]

I have not read every reply on this post so this may have already been mentioned. If you want darker yellow to Orange yokes then add 2% cayenne pepper. Some of the Purina feeds have a small percentage of Cayenne pepper for this reason. A lot of customers PERCEIVE darker yolks to a better quality and better tasting egg. A chicken's cannot taste the capsaicin of the Cayenne pepper. I have watched them eat cayenne pepper straight and it does not faze them.

 

[ShellyBlanco]

Just read this entire thread and can say that we have 14 layers, but I will stick to the production of our 10 RIRs. We feed organic layer pellets as their staple diet and supplement with garden waste and excess like zucchini, yellow squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, sweet potato etc. Our chickens have access to free range a minimum of 2 hours per day since October of this year due to hawk attacks. Prior to that, they ranged from 7:30 a.m. til they went up to bed. We date all of our egg cartons and noticed that the darkest eggs come hand in hand with free ranging because they are getting their "salad" as we call it. The greens make a biggest difference in egg color for our girls. As far as the lab report, it has so many factors that are not true to "free range" you cannot even use the data. We went from market chicken and eggs to organic chicken and eggs in this last year and plan to never buy another chicken or egg from the grocery...no matter what the label.

 

[Fluffy&Cutie]

lol, i didnt read all these posts due to lack of time, but iif i cant free range (which is always best, imo) i make sure i give them lots of fruit and veggie scraps. these often include beets, carrots, red/orange peppers,pumpkins, and cranberries. i also give marigold and dried bugs in addition to kale, chard, spinach, and herbs from the kitchen. i find our eggs are beautifully golden. i dont know if that means healthier-but they are what they eat...

 

[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

 

[BReeder!]

I do not necessarily "free range" my chickens. They are "cage free" and given access to my yard and my garden when I'm not growing fruits and vegetables (learned the hard way that chickens and garden plants don't mix - the chickens simply devour the plants). Our yard is fairly large, something like 55'x85'. With the 30'x35' garden carved out in a corner. The chickens are not just fed layer feed, but we add a mix of grain and seed to their feed as well. We also like to ferment their feed when it's not freezing outside - I'm not fermenting in my attached garage anymore after it attracted some mice. Lastly, we provide some kitchen scraps from time to time, often vegetable cuttings or left overs (we are careful what we offer in kitchen scraps and leftovers to avoid dangerous foods as well as tooo fatty or sugary items). The chickens eat what we provide and scrounge around for bugs and plants throughout the yard. All together, this seems to provide a quality diet. Our eggs are always a beautiful deep orange color. I my opinion, layer feed alone is not enough. You need to provide variety. You also need to take steps to ensure the chickens have access to the nutrients in their food - fermenting and cooking help with this.

 

[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.
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I don't know if darker yellow/orange yolks are healthier, but I can certainly tell you that my taste buds say my free range eggs taste better than store bought. Hard to explain the difference, but I guess I'd say they have a richer, eggier (is that even a word?) flavor.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I was disappointed last year when I bought a dozen of somewhat local organic pastured eggs for like $5 a dozen & found the yolks lighter than my chicken eggs that were left from my girls. Mine don't even free range, but their food variety must be OK.

 

[Bald Bee Man]

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..