come in freshly laid eggs or from hens who are young or from hens who eat bugs?
I always thought the fresher the eggs the more deep orange colour but yesterday I was told it was due to the youth of the hens.
what’s correct? or is there a different answer all together?
The color of the eggs is affected by the amount of carotenoids the hen is consuming. Carotenoids are pigments in plants. Beta-carotene found in carrots, pumpkins and sweet potatoes is a type of carotenoid, for example.
that’s good to know–thanks!
we had hens for many years and their egg yolks were always bright orange.
they got layer pellets and oyster grit and any bug they could catch–sometimes frogs and snakes and mice too.
i found a farm store with a layer flock but their egg yolks are pale yellow–i guess i have to believe they are as fresh and tasty as we remember!
I would be suspect of fresh eggs with pale yellow yolks. Maybe they are at a farm store, but they are being raised the same as caged factory layers? Every fresh egg I have ever collected or eaten has had a dark yolk. The only ones I have seen with pale yolks were from factory layers.
My hens yolks get a little paler in the winter time, because they are not getting as much green food. Usually in the summer they get some grass clippings, tons of extras from the garden and whatever bugs they can catch. I’ll occasionally throw them hay in the winter and they get any leftover food that we don’t finish, but that’s pretty much all the extras they get this time of year. They are still much brighter than store bought though.
The only color difference between the younger and older hens is the color of the egg shells themselves. They get lighter colored the older they get.
It’s all about diet. I think about this one raisin commercial, the slogan was “just grapes and sunshine” and that’s what I think of when my chickens free range but I’ve tweaked it a bit to “just greens and sunshine” LOL!
It’s all about diet -as has already been pointed out -and a little about breed. Wellsumers are my favorite breed of chicken for their eggs -rough, dark brown egg shells and orange yolks. Put a wellsummer out on pasture and you’ll pass out for a gorgeous egg.
Not to mention the brilliant flavor and health benefits of a pastured chicken’s egg. Lower cholesterol and more omega fatty acids http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/eggs-zl0z0703zswa.aspx#axzz2pebS91OR
Paula
You can make “factory” eggs bright orange: feed marigold leaves. Some do. You can also enhance salmon color by feeding pigments.
Or you can just eat yard eggs LOL!
Paula
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