One hen lays pale yolks

[ralleman]

Mornin' all.

I have one hen out of 3, an australorp, that lays pale yolk eggs and has always laid pale yolk eggs since it started laying. All three hens are quite young - they've been laying about 6 months. The other two are an australorp and a leghorn. The eggs from those two are consistent and normal colour. The diet for all hens is the same - pellets, grass and weeds from my yard, scratch consisting of various grains and corn. I give them a small handful of the scratch every day. The pale yolk hen went on strike after about 3 months and stopped laying for 6 weeks. I did change the feed to a lower protein feed for that period which probably contributed to that.

All hens look healthy.

Given the others are laying well, could this just be a dud hen, or could there be something else causing it?

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

She's eating grain only. Try buying a grain that has Marigold Extract in it. That'll cause a change in egg yolk color.

 

[Folly's place]

Yolk color is related to diet, and she's got so many choices. She's choosing to eat some things you are offering, not everything.
Here we feed a 20% protein all-flock diet, with oyster shell in a separate dish, and very little else. Everyone gets a balanced diet that way, and then free range choices are still available (not now, they are in because of AI).
And most layer diets are 16% protein, the bare minimum needed. Then all the other things you are feeding lower that protein level even further, and may unbalance the amino acid profile, and change other parts of their nutritional profile.
Mary

 

[PopoMyers]

I had one out of 12 that had the same issue. She still laid, though. Unfortunately the heat wave killed her last summer.

 

[ralleman]

It's been a slog, but pale hen is laying more yellow yolks now, not as yellow as the others, but better at least. I can confirm the diet is the same for all hens and the yolk colour from the other hens is excellent. Hopefully she'll get them the same over the next couple of months.