Science Project Qeustion

[MichaelHough]

My daughter wants to add food coloring to our chickens drinking water to see if it will affect the color of their eggs for her middle school science project. Are there any concerns, suggestions or advice that can be offered? Thank you very much. A helping dad!

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Weird...my middle school daughter is planning on dying her snake for her science project. It shouldn't hurt anything, as it is food grade coloring. Just weird though.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Adding dye to their drinking water will not affect the color of their eggs. She can put a drop of color in their vents to see what happens.

 

[LALASD4]

Long time ago my mother used to give shrimp shells to the chickens and their eggs yolk looks a little orange.

 

[Organics North]

Quote:
Not really... It will teach kids to read labels...

Think about all the garbage they try and pass off as food with food coloring in it.. It does the same thing to us..

ON

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
yeah, that.

For reaction though... you could give them food color and see what colors it turns their poo. Egg shell colors are determined by the deposition of pigments from the reproductive tract. White shells are the native color of calcium carbonate, and if I remember right, brown shells are do to a byproduct of hemoglobin break down being deposited on the shells.

 

[FlipFlopFarmer]

i think it is safe, because we dye our chicken soup green every year for st.patricks day, and we havent started glowing in the dark so far....... nifty thought though, when i was in school, i just put an egg in vinegar to watch the shell come off and the membrane stay in tact and have a clear egg!...... some years ago, i had a roommate who was on a carrot kick, and ate a ton of carrots for about 2 months, and the palms of her hands turned orange, not slightly, but dramatically orange

 

[DawnM]

Even if it doesn't work it should still be ok for a science project. Food coloring won't hurt them and in science it's ok if your hypothesis doesn't work. She'll just have to change her hypothesis based on the results of her tests.