How do you get that deep yellow/orange yolk?

[WoodlandWoman]

My experience has always been that green feed results in an orange yolk. With only corn in the diet and no green feed, the yolks are yellow.

 

[Arielle]

My girl is laying again! Since coming to us last fall, she's not laid an egg until last week. My boys are thrilled to race out to the coop and look for a "present" .
SHe has had layer pellets always available, free ranged all winer ( 2 feet of snow covering everything) visiting with the sheep and stealing pellets. . . . We marvel at the deep yellow, a gold really. Amazing eggs. On a diet of commercial pellets, she has produced very golden yolks. Deeper than I buy at shaw's. Go figure! She must be happy at her new home .. . . No greens . . .but I'll add that now!

 

[TigerLilly]

Add the greens & you'll be amazed at the difference in the color of the yolks!

 

[alpinefarm]

Quote:
Alpine Farm - would you share your recipe for suet cakes? I would like to make those for my girls next winter (I don't have any hens yet - chicks coming soon!), and for the wild birds too!

Thanks.

Sure~~it is my "feeling" that birds need fat in the cold months here in the high mountains. They get plenty of fats in the summer free ranging (worms, grasshoppers, esp).

My ingredients and amounts vary with my whims and with what I've got around. I'm still experimenting with this and nothing (with me, anyway) is written in stone:

3-6 c. Quinoa (rinsed to remove the bitter coating)--I purchase at Golden Organics in Arvada
2 c. Millet
Sometines small, high protein whole grains like amaranth, teff
5 lbs Lard (Walmart--bucket), melted in large pot on stove
1 c. Coconut Oil (Virgin--Golden Organics)
5 T spirulina or chorella (bulk at Natural Grocers)
5 T kelp (bulk at Natural Grocers)
1 c. ground egg shells or calcium powder
4-8 T. brewer's yeast (for B vitamins and amino acids)

I add everything together into the luke warm lard/coconut oil. I aim for a dense mix. Pour into a large cake pan. Let cool. Cut in bricks and then I just store each in wax paper baggies. I don't refrigerate but then our house is on the cool side.

 

[HogbackMtnChickns]

Quote:
Thank you! I am going to give that a try in November.

 

[pontoosuc]

Thank you alpine farm!!

 

[mistymeadowchicks]

Free ranging is the secret to those beautiful, tasty yellow orange eggs (& I swear their shells get darker in the summer too.) My dad, w/ a degree in Biology, laughs & swears it's all those bugs. IMHO, if there was something you could put in feed, do you not think the commercial farms would be all over it? They'd give their right arm to duplicate nature 10K hens at a time.

Thank you alpine farm! Sounds like a great recipe & a fabulous treat for the winter doldrums.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Plants have various pigments that transfer to the chicken, along with the vitamins and fatty acids that are incorporated into the egg. Beta carotene also effects color.

When you read literature written with commercial producers in mind you see comments about consumers preferring a yellow yolk, I think usually referred to as a medium yellow. Feeding too much of certain things and getting a darker yolk was warned about as a negative thing. One older source even said a darker yolk would be down graded to a B grade! I don't see that in the current egg grading information, though. Consumer preferences change all the time about things and eventually industry practices do, too. That's how you keep making money.

I always found it interesting that the consumer preference for the skin color of chickens varied in different countries or parts of the world. In the US it's yellow, in the UK it's white and in Asia it's black. You can see it in the breeds that were developed and also in what the producers choose to raise.

 

[BlackBart]

Quote:
They do put products in the feed to darken egg yolks here, where I live.
Our local feed company has just created a organic Heritage Poultry Feed. I don't have a label to tell you what is in it but it is all natural ingredients and natural enzymes for maximum absorption. It was developed with the help of local poultry breeders (not hatcheries) and the feed company nutritionists.
Organic feed has Calendula (pot marigold) petals in it while the straight commercial vegetable layer pellet has beta carotene.
Mine free range and have access to grass, bugs, wild seeds etc. but when I feed them the organic or vegetable feed the yolks darken noticeably.
I really don't care if the yolks are dark but I do care about making the best tasting egg possible, dark yolks are a bonus.

I have heard some people complain the yolks are too dark.........????
But some people just like to complain.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

Green = Orange
Orange = Yellow