Green yolks and shredded paper?

[heidilogic]

About a week ago we ran out of nesting materials for our chickens. We had just cleaned out a bunch of files so had a lot of shredable paper and thought we would give that a shot in the boxes. It's worked ok, though it's not ideal, and we'd planned to at least finish the papers we have before getting more bedding. But this morning when I went to make breakfast I was shocked (and quite discussed I'll admit) to find the yolks were a greenish-gray to black color. We cracked half a dozen just to see if it was one bird or another, but it didn't matter, they were all discolored. I broke the yolk to see if it was the same all the way through and was relieved that it still had it's nice golden color on the inside.

We'll be getting straw for the boxes as soon as we can. I'm reluctant to eat them but the only thing that seems wrong is the color. They smell fine and the only thing that has changed in the last week is the paper. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. The birds are locked in the coop as winter in Minnesota is just to nasty for them outside. I've been raising chickens for about 7 years and have never seen anything like this.

Thanks in advance.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

Is the ink going through the birds and coming out in the eggs?

 

[azhenhouse]

Hey, I was looking through the forum and found someone talking about dyed yokes. Check out MAIZEY's message left at 5:26, titled Interanlly Dyed Yokes. Sorry, I don't know how to copy post to this page. Anyway, maybe it can shed some light on your yokes.

 

[heidilogic]

they'reHISchickens - That's exactly what we're thinking. It seems strange that I've never seen anything about other people having experienced this. I did talk to a local friend though who said she went through the same things though. Thought it was a great idea and then her yolks turned green. After removing the paper it went away and she's never had a problem again.

And thanks for pointing me to those posts azhenhouse. It was good to see other people had weird experiences with eggs, and I'll have to keep an egg on the ducks I'm getting. Hopefully they are more interested in bugs then acorns but who knows.

It's been almost two weeks since we noticed the yolk color change and it's finally starting to fade. Such a weird experience. But now I know better and maybe this little thread will help someone else out there.

 

[wolftracks]

I use shredded paper a lot and have never had anything like this happen.

What it paper with ink from a printer?

 

[greenSearcher]

I use shredded paper, primarily non-glossy, office paper, nothing with ink that rubs off. Usually put it on the floor of the coop, but it does go in the nests. The girls don't eat it much. Haven't had an issue with discolored egg yolks and I've used it well over a year.

 

[jktrahan]

Sorry, I use it also in nest boxes and in coop with no issues, yet.

 

[LadyWoodsong]

This just happened to me today!

I cracked open a couple of eggs that were just laid today and they were an ugly green-ish/brown color! Scared the heck out of me. I threw them away, cracked open a couple more from yesterday and the same thing! I ended up cracking open about eight eggs that were freshly laid and gathered just this week and they ALL looked that way!

They didn't smell bad at all. Just looked really bad.

I don't know what would be causing this. They are eating the same feed/grain that I've been giving them all winter.

Any ideas??

 

[heidilogic]

We used a mixture of papers. It was newspapers first for a few days and then we started shredding office paper we'd printed. I checked the different papers over carefully (I thought) to make sure it wasn't rubbing off a lot. I'm thinking the time of year played a big part in this. We've had them cooped since the beginning of November and while this isn't that long they are use to ranging. They are probably bored and sick of being cooped and having something that new introduced was probable pretty exciting for them.

LadyWoodsong - that's exactly what my eggs have been like. Nothing has changed for them? The thread about Internally Dyed Yokes that azhenhouse talked about gave me a little bit of information, maybe you would find more there. Would post the link but I'm to knew and the forum is still worried I'm spam.

Thanks everyone. I'm as fascinated by this as I am frustrated.

 

[tuthillny]

I have been using, in all my nest boxes, paper from my shredder since 2009. I have never had any problems with yolk discoloration ... I do remember reading that sheppard's purse and acorns can cause a greenish yolk. I hope you find the answer.