How do you get orange yolks?

[Thebernards]

My girls have suddenly exploded with eggs!! But I noticed they are the store bought looking yellow color? They free range on 1/2 an acre from 6am to dark when I close the coop door. They have access to organic layer feed, and all the bugs/grass they could want. So...why are they yellow?

 

[Peeps61]

Not sure! I have a mixed flock that I free range several days per week. I've noticed some variability within my birds - some yolks are very dark, golden yellow, and others are much lighter. It just may be the type of food they are eating or the type of chicken they are - or both.

What kind of chickens do you have?

 

[Thebernards]

We have: a leghorn, Americaunas, RIR, Delawares, buff orpingtons, Wyandottes, and mixed varieties.

 

[poodlechicks]

That's really interesting. My Orpingtons + my cochin mix adults free range all day and have a beautiful, bright orange color to their yolks. I know that the carotenoids present in the grass should give the yolks the orange color. I wonder if genetics of an individual bird would play a role on yolk coloring...

 

[Gray Farms]

Feed some cracked corn, about 1/3 of their feed. That will darken the yolks. I feed about 40% corn in my feed and my eggs are dark dark orange.

 

[Peeps61]

Hmmm. I feed corn to my hens too, so that's the magical ingredient!

 

[Donna R Raybon]

It isn't the corn per se, it is carotids in the corn. You could feed carrots, sweet potatoes and make yolk orange, too.

 

[junebuggena]

The eggs are yellow because they are eating more feed than forage. It's dark, leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard, cabbage, and most common and abundant green - GRASS, that give eggs that bright orange coloring. Instead of letting them fill up on feed first thing in the morning, try tossing some feed out in the area just outside their run. This will encourage them to start working for their food.

 

[Dom'sHEns]

The eggs are yellow because they are eating more feed than forage. It's dark, leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard, cabbage, and most common and abundant green - GRASS, that give eggs that bright orange coloring. Instead of letting them fill up on feed first thing in the morning, try tossing some feed out in the area just outside their run. This will encourage them to start working for their food.

x2

This is what I do, they get all the kitchen scraps from the night before (mostly dark leafy green veggies) in the morning sprinkled all over there run. I think they started to figure out to wait for me to come out like clock work every morning. One skinny welsummer can get up on top of the gate when se seems me walking she sounds the alarm, everyone scrambles to the gate (even the one's in the middle of the egg laying process

). They forage around and eat and then later in the afternoon I notice them go for the feeder. Dom

 

[Thebernards]

So add corn and open gate and let them run out and then feed. Gotcha!!