The great yolk color debate

[jolenesdad]

48 hours of paprika, not much of a change, but you can tell a difference, at least in person. (Left egg is from last week, right is from today.)

She hasn’t laid in two days, so I’m assuming this yolk was on its way to becoming an egg prior to the real influx of paprika.



I’ll photograph today’s leghorn egg tomorrow. She’s got the most “active” system, I’m sure it’ll be quicker to notice there.

Once I can determine how many days until you see a difference, I’ll stop using the paprika, and use that timeline as my standard for when I look for change from other dietary things.

I’ve been reading a lot of articles and it seems that there are way more carotenoids in radish sprouts then most all other sprouts, so I think I’ll start there, I can get radish seeds on amazon.

 

[Betsy57]

I have a bag of dried marigold flowers. I never tried it because I didn’t necessarily want to cheat, like is there even anything nutritional in that for them, or is it JUST for color?

Purina uses marigold in their feed for yolk color. So does Naturewise from Nutrena. I imagine most feeds do. I looked into buying that on line several years ago but you have to buy it by the ton. I also grew my old marigolds/calendula to feed chickens but didn't notice a difference. I have one gal who consistently lays very pale yellow yolks. They taste fine.

 

[Cyprus]

I've left for a couple days. I left my layers a lot of food mixed with quite a bit of Paprika.
My brother is collecting the eggs every day and labelling them for me. When I get back I will crack all that have piled up and get a picture for y'all.

I mixed 2 gals of feed with roughly 6 tbsp of Paprika.

 

[Akrnaf2]

If you Search in Google scholar "egg yolk pigmentation " you will find TONS of articles.

 

[Akrnaf2]

I've left for a couple days. I left my layers a lot of food mixed with quite a bit of Paprika.
My brother is collecting the eggs every day and labelling them for me. When I get back I will crack all that have piled up and get a picture for y'all.

I mixed 2 gals of feed with roughly 6 tbsp of Paprika.

They will need at least 10-14 days to start showing the difference.

 

[jolenesdad]

Google scholar?!?!? How did I not know this existed! Know where I’ll be today......

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

I had my husband pick up a large container of paprika from Sam's Club last night. I just started adding it to their mash this morning, and sprinkled some on their soaked alfalfa cubes as well. I'm hoping that feeding the soaked alfalfa cubes will help the grass in their fenced enclosure last a little longer into the fall -- it always ends up a total mud pit by spring . I do let them out for an hour or two in the afternoon but can't let them free range unsupervised because of foxes and coyotes.

 

[Akrnaf2]

Google scholar?!?!? How did I not know this existed! Know where I’ll be today......

?
Very known site, if you are looking for controlled reaserch, this is the place.

 

[snow5164]

I just have to say
Adding a coloured powder like paprika to make the yolks darker seems like cheating and silly your also affecting the bottom line for no reason .

Basically they taste the same but the hens have to injest large amounts of this flavour less powder because you like them better??? Sounds superficial

Add greens or marigold flowers and there are at least some nutrients in that ......

This is my opinion ,
I’ll stick to grass, ff and sprouted grains
Thank you

 

[TheSillyDingo]

I've given my hens onion scraps and it has never effected the taste of the egg. As far as color... my silkie hen seems to have darker yolk than the polish and they are all eating the same thing. It may have something to do with protein usage... and maybe not...

I should mention they get fresh corn, chick weed, and mealworms often.