No dark yellow yolks.

[country lady]

Bearcat is right. We give ours cracked corn along with other goodies and their eggs are yellow year round. I think the corn also gives them more energy in cold weather--just a thought.

 

[DTchickens]

Quote:
corn makes them fat, which keeps them warm

 

[jloftin60]

Corn is the answer. If you have plenty of grit, then feed whole corn. It's
cheaper, more nutrient and the chickens love it.

 

[momofchicks]

Thank you all. I will add some corn!

 

[miss_jayne]

fat chickens = less eggs. keep the corn in balance.

my yolks range from orange to dark golden yellow.

the color is due to the vegetation eaten. green things = dark yolks.

give them some leafy, dark greens and see what happens....

 

[gritsar]

From what I've learned here on BYC fat hens are also more prone to becoming egg bound.

 

[blueskylen]

i give my girls cracked corn and sunflower seeds every day, along with their laying crumbles. there is only one who is noticebly bigger ( or she just has extra fluffy feathers ), but none are really overweight. My Dad always said that corn makes the yolks orange too. I love the extra orange color and the taste is out of this world!.

 

[Wildsky]

The first few times I made scrambled eggs with my own fresh eggs I was SHOCKED at the color

Mine are a dark yellow/orange color. My girls get all the left over table scraps - scratch morning and night and they're on a general poultry feed, with supplimented Oyster shell.

 

[SproutGirl]

I definitely think that the yolk color has to do with the fresh vegetable content in their diet. Our hens laid eggs that had bright orange yolks all summer and early fall when they had access to plenty of fresh grass and weeds as well as scraps from the vegetable garden and kitchen. However, now that there is much less vegetation growing, and there are rarely any fresh veggie scraps for them from the kitchen, their yolks are paler in color. This is the only change in their diet that I can think of that would affect the yolk color. Oh, that and less insects this time of year. But our hens get layer pellets, rolled seven grain blends, and scratch grains with cracked corn each day. So, I don't think the corn is what necessarily gives them the bright orange yolks alone.

 

[jloftin60]

I planted some mustard greens, turnip greens, and collard greens for my family, but I think the chickens are going to eat more than us. I've never planted spinach, but I will next fall.