4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Kit]

Hi

 

Can somebody tell me why our (all chicken mummies/Daddies) hens yolks are so much more yellow than the organic freerange ones that can be bought at supermarkets etc?

 

My hens eggs are all very yellow and we are complimented about them and also asked why?

 

My girls eat mainly organic pellets with daily teatime treats of either meal worms, raisins, grapes and occasionally sweetcorn. They also freerange for at least 7 to 8 hours a day four days a week, the other 3 days it is only for a couple of hours now that the evenings are lighter.

 

thanks

 

Kit

Edited April 17, 2009 by Guest

[Hangman]

It's because your hens have a diet which is richer in carotenoids (a pigment) which results in a yellower (or redder, depending on the food) yolk

[Minnie the Moocher]

Interesting, isn't it? Our girls lay eggs with such bright yolks that they make cake mixtures look oddly artificially coloured.

 

Mine have organic mash, a handful of mixed corn a couple of hours before bedtime, and not much else since they scratched away all the grass.

[Hangman]

Remember, commerical egg production is on the whole about quantity, rather than quality They feed their hens an extremely regulated and precise diet so that they are not "wasting" money.