The Feed and Yolk Experiment: Chicken feed and dark orange yolk color

[lazy gardener]

Excellent experiment. Now, I suggest, a follow up. If you have any of your older eggs (before you started the chili powder), I suggest that you do a "blind" taste test. cook some of your older yellow yolk eggs, and cook some of your orange yolk eggs. Then have blind folded volunteers taste them. See if there is a noticeable difference when visual input is removed from the gustatory experience. (forgive the big word. sometimes when I find one that fits, I just have to drag it out and play with it!!!)

 

[Tobiai]

after 2days of only free range on lawn + scraps I got the egg on the left:

 

[mobius]

omg

 

[GC-Raptor]

What mobius said.
Sorry girls, no more free ranging. Only non organic layers pellets for you!!!
Just kidding girls. You can free range 2 hours before sunset today and tomorrow, weather permitting. GC

 

[tomphot]

I bought some chili powder after reading about the effects on the yolk. I've tried mixing some into my Layena feed but it doesn't stick very well, so I then mixed about a tablespoon of powder into about 3 cups of dried meal worms. The powder sticks to them very well. I then fed them that amount once a day as a treat.
After 1 week, this is the result.

 

[centrarchid]

I go less exotic to get similar results. Free-range birds with quality plant and insect forages get the darker yolks and more interesting flavor to the eggs and meat.

Penned birds I am just more interested in darker yolks to promote stronger chicks. Three sources of pigment I use are paprika, chili, or cayenne powder as purchased from Sam's Club. The powder preferred because it is easier to mix into feed. Additionally, the pigment is absorbed better if the diet is not too low in lipid. With singly kept birds, I will mix in vegetable oil, olive is what I have more access to. Otherwise BOSS is considered to be oil source when representing about 10% of the diet.

 

[lazy gardener]

I go less exotic to get similar results. Free-range birds with quality plant and insect forages get the darker yolks and more interesting flavor to the eggs and meat.

Penned birds I am just more interested in darker yolks to promote stronger chicks. Three sources of pigment I use are paprika, chili, or cayenne powder as purchased from Sam's Club. The powder preferred because it is easier to mix into feed. Additionally, the pigment is absorbed better if the diet is not too low in lipid. With singly kept birds, I will mix in vegetable oil, olive is what I have more access to. Otherwise BOSS is considered to be oil source when representing about 10% of the diet.

How much of the pepper powders are you using? Have you found that the supplemented diet increases your hatch rate?

 

[centrarchid]

How much of the pepper powders are you using? Have you found that the supplemented diet increases your hatch rate?

I think it improves hatch rate, possibly voodoo in my thinking. It very much enhances hatching of my fish eggs that change in appearance just as the chicken eggs do.

The pepper powders applied at about 0.5% of diet diet on a per volume basis. They can eat a lot more more pushing 10% without issue. I do not know how my application rate compares with minimum needed to give desired color change. That would require a study that would be confounded my feed formulation.

 

[lazy gardener]

Curious, what kind of fish are you raising, and how are you feeding the dry pepper to them?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I've had my chickens for about 6 months now. When my husband first heard that I wanted chickens in Chicago, he was more than a little confused, but after a trip to Europe, and having the fresh, rich, dark orange yolked eggs there, he changed his mind, and jumped onboard.

When we first got our chickens, we fed them laying pellets and the yolks were a pale, store bought looking yellow. We read up and found that with free ranging, they would get the darker orange yolks, so we started allowing them to free range in the backyard for several hours a day and they still had pale yellow yolks.

We heard that corn gives the yolks the dark yellow color and rich taste, so we started feeding them cracked corn along with their laying pellets, and the yolks did not change.

We were told that the feed might be the reason for the pale yellow yolks, and we should try organic, so we gradually switched them over to organic, soy free layer pellets (at $30 a bag), free ranging throughout most of the day, and plenty of cracked corn. We still had pale yellow eggs.

We read that the more green foods they get, the darker the yolk would be, so we started giving them lots of fresh greens, spinach, lettuce, grass clippings, anything that we could find that was green, fresh fruits and veggies, cracked corn, organic, non soy layer pellets (at $30 a bag), and free ranging most of the day and still the yolks were pale yellow.

A few days ago we drove 45 minutes out of the city to a Tractor Supply store. They had Purina Layena feed for $15 bag. There were only 2 bags left, so I bought them on a whim. I started feeding it to my chickens 4 days ago. My yolks are a nice, dark orange.

I've spent 6 months trying to figure this formula out, so for all of you newbies (like me!) who are trying to get that dark orange color to your yolks, just do the easy things and switch to the Purina Layena brand food and save yourself a world of headache and experiments.

I also don't believe it has much to do with the breed. I have 1 Red Star, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, and 1 Gold Laced Wyandotte.

I hope this helps and saves others the frustration that I went through. Bottom line is that in MY experience, NONE of the things that people said would make my chicken have dark orange yolks worked. I will still give my hens treats, and they will ALWAYS be able to free range in our backyard because I want them to be happy chickens, but I'll be happy to FINALLY have my dark yolked, rich, delicious eggs that we missed so dearly.

My game hens mostly lay an orange or rich colored and tasty yoke pretty much regardless of what they eat. Many house wives in the U.S. today equate dark yoked eggs with the hens eating things that your husband would rather not know about. Therefor we usually have a more bland egg. BTW, I agree with your husband.

The down side is this. Whereas a commercial layer today can and do produce over 300 eggs per year, (I once had one who laid 365) 125 years ago, or back when most of the farmers' wives chickens were game grade hens these farmers' wives hens were producing a national average of only 85 eggs per year. Besides this as hens lay for longer and longer, their reservoir of color to impart to the yoke becomes lower and lower. I too have heard that in Peru that it is common practice to feed marigold flowers to commercial hens in order to fake organic eggs.