Author Topic: light yellow yolk (Read 3595 times)

moors · « **on:** April 24, 2009, 10:43:58 am »

my isa browns are laying eggs with yolks that seem really light in colour - is there something that there are missing from their diet or is this normal for this breed

shetlandpaul · « **Reply #1 on:** April 24, 2009, 01:10:36 pm »

just give them flaked maise for a few weeks.

pigsatlesrues · « **Reply #2 on:** April 24, 2009, 02:06:49 pm »

I found this thread on the Poultry Site which is interesting. The reasons for different coloured yolks are made clear on there, but makes no difference to the quality of the egg for eating.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/31/pale-yolks

Kate

moors · « **Reply #3 on:** April 24, 2009, 04:33:25 pm »

that is a really good site but I didnt really understand how I go about getting the rest of these apart from corn into their daily feed

"The most important sources of carotenoids in poultry feed are maize (corn), maize gluten, alfalfa (lucerne) and grass meals; these sources contain the pigmenting carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, which, together with other oxygen-containing carotenoids, are known by the collective name of xanthophylls."

Any suggestions - would cooked carrots help? someone else has suggested turmeric or paprika?

doganjo · « **Reply #4 on:** April 24, 2009, 04:39:13 pm »

I always thought that the cheap supermarket caged bird eggs were very pale - I wonder why?

shetlandpaul · « **Reply #5 on:** April 24, 2009, 06:04:21 pm »

cheap food . just get them some flaked maize its about the same as mixed corn but it goes a long way.

Ross · « **Reply #6 on:** April 25, 2009, 03:03:59 am »

Are these the first few eggs from young hens that you are talking about. Early eggs frequently have pale yolks. Do you give a lot of bread to your hens? Bread, for some reason, causes pale yolks.

moors · « **Reply #7 on:** April 27, 2009, 09:52:46 am »

thanks for that - they were POL when I bought them about a month ago and are only laying small eggs although I have had two double yolkers which were brilliant - I have increased their greens and stopped the bread - but now one of the girls has decided not to lay in the coup but in a corner of the garden - so I have had to bring these eggs in and make up a broody box for her - but as these eggs are quite small I dont think that they are big enough for her to hatch - although that means that I wont have to get an incubator to increase my stock by buying hatching eggs - providing she decides to sit

shetlandpaul · « **Reply #8 on:** April 27, 2009, 10:38:12 am »

thats quite normal for young hens they will always find some odd spot to lay. make the nest box really nice and she should soon learn. destroy any nests that they make outside. would say that young hens need to get used to egg laying before you let them go broody.