What can I feed my girls to produce vibrant egg shells?

[lazy gardener]

Very nice assortment!

 

[Lochte Farms]

Thank You! It's still exciting everyday to go collect eggs, I'm like a kid in a candy store. Can't wait to get home from work! Lol

 

[sharvc]

YVW. After making such a blanket statement about it not being possible to influence egg shell color, I decided to check it out. Summary of the article quoted: nutrition, including certain probiotics, can improve shell color. Anecdotal statements about free ranging having a negative effect on shell color IMO should be taken with a huge grain of salt. (I'd suggest a 20# salt lick.) All other factors pertinent to the back yard flock seem to have a negative impact on shell color.

I’m new to the hatchery business. But last week I moved all the pens to a different location. I was looking for information on this subject because I had also been experimenting with organic feed and making my own feed. After moving the pens from a well shaded area to a vast pasture with sand. I noticed a difference in the color of the eggs from my lavender Marans. The eggs were a pretty and slick medium brown color similar to what was shown in the pictures above to a pale dirty cream color with rough texture. However, beside the move, the brahma in the pen next door managed to make his way over to control the dominate self blue maran and have his way with the lavender ladies. I don’t know which form of stress caused the enormous difference in egg shell color. OR it did make me wonder if the rooster actually does have any influence on the egg color. Which I know sounds ridiculous but it is such a huge difference I considered all possibilities. First thing to rememdy the situation was to remove the brahma roo. However, his normal home is with two salmon favorolle which seem to be pretty casual and I effected by him. My next goal is to change their diet because I had also purchased some feed at the local feed store. They had no options to choose from. Upon opening the bag I could immediately tell the difference. Not a stale smell, but also not one full of rich flavor. With so many factors involve it’s no wonder they had a color change. I will definitely feed them some greens and whole grains. I also intend to add some oregano oil to their water. But for a fact stress definitely plays a huge factor in egg shell color.