Egg color

[Gordon Setter]

Are there any chicken nutritional supplements that may aid in darkening egg shell color ? Such as darker browns or more vivid blues or greens ?

 

[Southerlys]

Not that I'm aware of

 

[enola]

There is a guy named resolution that developed a product named Ultra Kibble that is supposed to do amazing things for chickens. TSC carries Ultra Kibble.

 

[Gordon Setter]

Great colors in your avatar Southerly !

 

[Gordon Setter]

Thank You Enola . I'll check that out.

 

[aart]

There is a guy named resolution that developed a product named Ultra Kibble that is supposed to do amazing things for chickens. TSC carries Ultra Kibble.

Any info on this in regards to shell color? ...or anything else?

Googled and didn't find any particulars...just that it was supplement, mainly corn gluten.

 

[enola]

Somewhere on this site there are a couple of different threads about the benefits of Ultra Kibble. I checked it out and decided that I can't afford to feed it to my flock. I may buy some and use it on my 10 or so breeders to see if it lives up to resolution's claims or not.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

I was reading on the net about egg color and various factors some you can control others not so much: Some advice I am unsure about all of it.

Variables You Can Control:
Nutrients
Sunlight the hen receives: To much lightens the egg produced: So more shade might help darken eggs.
Water Temperature: Cool water to drink is said to help darken eggs.
Mites and Disease can result in paler eggs. So keep 'em healthy.

Genetics:
Breed or Breed mix
How the egg rotates in the hen: slow rotation results in speckling, faster rotation no speckling. I do not know if there are any dietary things you can do that might effect rotation.

Since egg color is based on chemicals produced by the hen, then logic dictates the hens that produce darker eggs in the colours you want must genetically be hardwired to produce more of that "dye" or dye combination.

So with brown egg layers that is prophyrins which is derived from the hemoglobins in the chicken's blood and with the blue egg layers that is oocyanin produced in the bile. So logically you would want a diet that promotes the production of said "dyes".

Blue eggs are dyed early in the egg's travel, while the browning pigment is only applied in the last 4-6 hours of the laying process. Since green eggs are the result of the two colours being applied then you would need to support both "dyes" and keep genetic limitations of the hen into consideration.

So you could devise an experiment with your birds to see if you can effect the pigment.

White egg layers do not produce the dyes.

Interesting I thought.

 

[Gordon Setter]

Yes, that was very interesting . Thank You Lauravonsmurf !
I think, for now I will only set my darkest eggs and see what we get out of the next generation. I do get pretty good color out of my New Hampshires, so I'll work on my breeding .
In the short time, I think I'd like to start a small flock of Welsummers for my darker egg color viewing pleasure

 

[aart]

I was reading on the net about egg color and various factors some you can control others not so much: Some advice I am unsure about all of it.

Variables You Can Control:
Nutrients
Sunlight the hen receives: To much lightens the egg produced: So more shade might help darken eggs.
Water Temperature: Cool water to drink is said to help darken eggs.
Mites and Disease can result in paler eggs. So keep 'em healthy.

Genetics:
Breed or Breed mix
How the egg rotates in the hen: slow rotation results in speckling, faster rotation no speckling. I do not know if there are any dietary things you can do that might effect rotation.

Since egg color is based on chemicals produced by the hen, then logic dictates the hens that produce darker eggs in the colours you want must genetically be hardwired to produce more of that "dye" or dye combination.

So with brown egg layers that is prophyrins which is derived from the hemoglobins in the chicken's blood and with the blue egg layers that is oocyanin produced in the bile. So logically you would want a diet that promotes the production of said "dyes".

Blue eggs are dyed early in the egg's travel, while the browning pigment is only applied in the last 4-6 hours of the laying process. Since green eggs are the result of the two colours being applied then you would need to support both "dyes" and keep genetic limitations of the hen into consideration.

So you could devise an experiment with your birds to see if you can effect the pigment.

White egg layers do not produce the dyes.

Interesting I thought.

Fascinating.....where did you get this info...can you cite with a link?

I love your avatar....so that's how they 'scorch' the yard so quickly!