egg yolks, is that normal ?

TreeTomato

Hatching
10 Years
Nov 22, 2009
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0
7
hello
a week ago i bought a few egg laying chicken.. they were are 8 months old so they started laying eggs right away
the first couple of days the eggs werent great (yolk was pale, tasteless) and i thought it must be their old diet. now i feed them layer's mash and i add to it some home ground soybeans and corn just to make their food healthier and i give them veggy peels in the afternoon. they have a bit of space to forage too.
The last 2 days though they egg yolks have started looking quite funny. when i boil the egg and slice it, the yolk has disks of yellow, and disks of white.. almost like what u would see when u cut down a tree.. its one circle around another of different shades of yellow. does that make sense ?
does anyone have any insight ?
and while we are at it can u please suggest feed to make my eggs the best tasting in the world?
i live in africa at the moment and i dont have alot of options for feed. the quality of whats found in shops isn't great
any home made recipes?
thanks in advance
 
i have no idea about your yolks, sorry. Can you post a picture?

As for your chickens, they will need a good lay crumble, which should give them most of the nutrients they need. The veggies are good. You can also give them left over food from your table, avoiding avocados and chocolate (any sweets). i supplement my chickens with treats such as hulled broken sunflower seeds, plain nonfat yogurt, scrambled eggs with peas and carrots, and mealworms when i can afford it. My kids don't get a lot of free range time.

Honestly, if they have a good layer feed and they get to free range, you should be doing good.

and i almost forgot to say
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The really dark yolks with lots of flavor, if that's what you like, generally comes from the greens they eat when free ranging. So if you have access to anything like spinach, kale, anything dark and leafy, it will help.
 
Jenscot is right. Greens, greens, greens. Live greens just picked or eaten live are the very best. Can be leaves of certain things too. Dandelions are great for chooks and people alike. Cabbage, lettuce, strawberry plant leaves, pepper plant leaves, grass clippings, celery tops and butts, beet stalks and leaves, radish stalks and leaves, carrot tops and leaves, all manner of leftover veggies and peels, BUT DO NOT GIVE POTATO PEELS OR POTATOES UNLESS COOKED. I made it a rule to never feed mine on store-bought feed only. They always got live greens from day 1. Lots of stems of greens will be eaten quickly too if only you will take time to cut them into 1/2" lengths (2 or3 cm)
 
thanks all for the replies, very helpful
one last question on how to feed them scraps and greens, do i just put them in their coop? assuming its spinach or lettuce for example, do i chop it up roughly and place it on the floor? do i grind it in the blender?
right now i throw in the lettuce leaves, i dont see them eat it but the leaves disappear
should i just continue like that ??
and not to sound impatient but to track progress, how long does it take before i see a change in quality of eggs ?
thanks again...
cheers
 
Everybody's right, green makes for yellow yolks. I spoil my girls, I chop lettuce, cabbage, fruit, etc., into small pieces so it's easier for them to eat. I do process carrots into shreds. Mine free range a LOT, 6-8 hours a day, so they also get lots of grass and other stuff. It would be interesting to know what diet your girls were on before you got them, to show us, evidently, what NOT to do!
 
When I feed my chickens spinach and grapes ect.... I rough chop it and just put it on the ground in a line so they can all have a chance at it....
this way they also get some grit in them from the dirt!
We just had some warm weather here and a bunch of clover and dandelion leaves sprung up... so I got my scissors out
and cut it all and gave it to my chicks... and they LOVED it!
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Mine love it when I hang leafy vegetables on the fence. But if I'm in a hurry I just scatter it around the run. They don't seem to like brussel sprouts or celery stalks. They like all kinds of squash and berries, probably doesn't add to the yolk color but its good for them.
 
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Well the main reason i decided to get "involved" with chicken is because of the quality off eggs here and the fact that i have a garden that could accommodate chicken
the eggs where i live have a grey yolk and a very bland taste-if any. i think a bit has to do with the chickens' breed and their genetics and alot has to do with diet
i dont know exactly what they eat but ppl around me are poor and they cant afford to to dispose of greens or buy soybean or corn
the feed their previous owner was giving them looked like saw dust but i don't know whats in it
i can find out if u are interested
i can already see a change in the chicken since they arrived, feather looks nice and shiny and eyes alert and bright
makes my heart warm aaaah
 
Well, a nice yellow, tasty egg yolk comes from err ahh BUGS. Thats right, free ranging your birds will give them protein from bugs and greens. They eat seeds and the occasional worm, yummy eggs yolks.

We take a few eggs in the fall a crack them (give them to the cat and dog) and see how the yolk looks. If it is a nice color we continue with how we are feeding. If it changes we try "hog finisher" first, then up the protein. In December through the first of March we are not so concerned with egg production as we are keeping the babies alive and happy.
 

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